Ari by Andrew Roth, latex and collage

Later this month Williams Gallery will host their annual UofU Student Show, a juried exhibition for both MFA and BFA students, with selections chosen by local artists. In its third year, the show grew out of the gallery’s tradition of supporting young students at the university that goes back more than a decade.

Gallery founder Clayton Williams helped establish the Utah Fine Arts Institute, which awards scholarships to young promising students (our first edition of 15 Bytes, in September 2001, featured one such winner: a young Jeffrey Hein). The gallery continues the tradition by awarding scholarships at their now annual exhibition. Last year’s winner was Andrew Roth, a student at the University of Utah who graduated this May with a BFA in painting and drawing and a BA in History. Along with the $1000 prize, Roth was invited to exhibit his works this year as a featured artist.

Roth said receiving the prize (for his piece “Ari” was a shock. “I felt like a lot of other pieces in the show, particularly the really strong work from the grad students would take the top spots for sure, but something clicked with the juror and my piece, which was a nice surprise. I had no real idea of what was involved until after I won, and I can’t really express how grateful or nervous I have been for the opportunity that Tom and Kim at William’s gave me with this show.”

Roth names the portraiture and historical paintings of Jerome Witkin and illustrators like Shaun Tan as influences. His professors at the University of Utah have also left their mark. “There’s bits and pieces of all their work in mine,” he says. The influence of John Erickson in Roth’s portrait work will be evident to anyone who remembers Erickson’s recent show at Phillips Gallery.

Maureen O’Hara Ure (who is showing this month at Finch Lane Gallery) helped him refine his historical portraiture, an attempt to bring his two fields of study together. “My last few projects in the art department were historical portraits from the Antebellum and Civil War periods of U.S history. One of the pieces that will be in the William’s show, and one of the last I completed before I graduated, is a triptych of abolitionist portraits in collage and latex paint.”

His most recent work blends personal portraits of family members with touches of surreal elements.|3|

“I’m still trying to sort out what’s next,” says the young graduate as he prepares for the exhibition. “I’m teaching a bit at the Visual Arts Institute, and looking into doing some intensive study under an artist or in an atelier-type situation once this show is wrapped up. My work is a split between a few divergent ideas and media right now, and I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I want to say and what I want it all to look like.”

The UofU exhibit will feature a couple of dozen works by 17 students from the University of Utah. Though Williams Fine Art is known for its historical paintings and contemporary artists working in traditional modes, the work on exhibit mimics a variety of styles and mediums. Works like Sue Martin’s colorful acrylic montages or Kevin Marcoux’s landscapes will not seem out of place in Williams Gallery, but the exhibit will also feature more contemporary work, like Melanie Hopkins earthenware molds of a woman’s body or the multi-media pieces of Meredith Hendricks. The range of media are equally broad: the exhibit will feature ceramics, sculptures, painting, photography and prints.

This year the gallery will award three scholarships, with the show winner being offered a chance to exhibit at next year’s exhibition.

Introspect No. 3 by Adam Daniel Watkins, 16 x 24 photographic C-print

15 Bytes

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.