Ken Baxter showed up at our gallery a couple of weeks ago at my invitation to paint the lilies and goldfish in the courtyard. I reminded him that my first art acquisition in the early 80s, purchased from Maryann Olsen at Tivoli Gallery, was his creation. The charming staging of two gents sitting on a Liberty Park bench captivated me immediately. When I first observed Baxter’s serene painting, which included the old bandstand, I reasoned it would reduce my blood pressure after a long day in the mortgage banking zoo. My wife was not as convinced with the rationale as she was with the wonderful painting that still graces the area above our mantle. The $800, in retrospect, was one of our best investments. The blood pressure? Who cares, it’s a great painting!
For this month’s Alder’s Accounts column, I’ll be departing from my usual practice of revisiting the artists of the early Utah period, to remember Ken’s younger brother, Danny, who would have celebrated his sixtieth birthday this year.
– Tom Alder
UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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