The epigraph to Lance Larsen’s new collection of prose poems is attributed to Paul of Tarsus: “Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need.” Evoked, of course, is the ever-famous notion of negative capability […]
15 Bytes is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2025 15 Bytes Book Award in Poetry. Presented annually since 2013 by Artists of Utah, the award recognizes outstanding literary achievement by Utah poets or works with significant ties to the state published in the previous year. This […]
“I love Pablo Neruda’s big-hearted exuberance, especially his odes,” says former Utah poet laureate (2012 – 2017) Lance Larsen. “Linguistically and metaphorically, ‘Ode to My Socks,’ goes everywhere. Neruda the man was a collector of antiques, maritime flotsam and jetsam, glassware, seashells, figureheads of ships. In 2019 I […]
Salt Lake City poet Rob Carney has been awarded the 15 Bytes Book Award for Poetry for his collection The Book of Sharks from Black Lawrence Press. Originally from Washington state, Carney is the author of four previous collections, including 88 Maps (Lost Horse Press 2015), which was named a finalist for […]
Artists of Utah is excited to announce the finalists for this year’s 15 Bytes Book Award for Poetry. 2019 marks the 7th year for this annual award, given to recognize excellence in publishing for books written by a Utah author or with a Utah connection. We received a […]
Getting people to your show is one of the hardest parts of exhibiting—and one of the most important. Artists can spend months making the work. Galleries and institutions spend time shaping the presentation, installing it, writing about it, and putting their name behind it. Then the doors open […]
There are two populations avidly discussing Artificial Intelligence, or AI, of late. One is the group that created it and promotes it while anticipating soon becoming rich, or at least finally making some money. The other is the rest of us, who have heard a lot about it […]
With a name like Alma, you knew he had to be Mormon. Not necessarily a Utahn, not necessarily LDS, but definitely Mormon. Anyone who grew up around the culture knows the name is a giveaway—for a man, at least. Alma is the name of two major prophets, father […]
“It just wasn’t a good fit anymore,” says Elpitha Tsoutsounakis, who after a decade and a half as a professor at the University of Utah has resigned her position—to open a bookstore.
On a quiet stretch of Salt Lake City’s historic Film Row, inside a former film-reel vault that once housed Cosmic Aeroplane, Elpitha Tsoutsounakis is hoping to build a new kind of creative space—Books & Supply, an art and design bookstore that doubles as a studio, gallery, classroom, and community hub.
At the entrance to Saltgrass Printmakers’ Salt Lake City studio, a sinuous form winds across the wall. The dozens of two-foot-square woodcuts, each carved by a different artist and fitted edge to edge, form the Year of the Snake Exquisite Corpse, a sprawling, collaborative print project conceived by […]
Cutting and baling hay is an indescribably difficult task. It requires every muscle and every ounce of endurance in your body. Stacking bales in a hot barn is like no other weightlifting activity. The deep exhaustion of this work is standard daily life on a ranch or farm. […]
“I paint what I feel through what I see.” —John Sproul “If I’m going to be isolated, I’d rather do it alone and not in a crowd.” This familiar wish of one beset by strangers comes to mind when contemplating the art of John Sproul. Consider the painting […]
Nationally and internationally renowned researcher, potter, and beloved educator John Childs Neely IV passed away at his home in Logan, Utah on Sunday, June 1. He was 71. His colleague, Massachusetts-based studio ceramicist Christopher Gustin, described Neely as “an ambassador who traveled the world passing on his knowledge […]
They are part ceramic, part painting; filled with girls, in fancy dresses, climbing trees and mountains in exotic landscapes; and there are monsters, lots of monsters, threatening or doing battle with the young ladies. In one work, a girl hefts a giant sword to slice open the gut […]
Now is a difficult time for transgender people. From the current president’s attacks on what he calls “transgender ideology” and the “sexual mutilation of our youth” on the federal level, to HB 257’s ban on trans people’s ability to use restrooms of their choosing in Utah’s government-owned buildings, […]
In a fever dream, a teenager makes a solitary visit to a relative’s home when no one is around. Descending to the basement, the youth passes swiftly through the familiar game-and-TV room, friendly and open to the sky through windows high in the walls, and enters an inconspicuous, […]
Under the right circumstances, the entrance to an exhibition can be a portal to another reality. With good art, though, that strange land will soon reveal itself to be the one the audience sought briefly to escape, only transformed. Eugene Ofori Agyei, one of ten ceramic sculptors being […]
Each of the three satellite galleries at BDAC currently offers an individual artist’s view on the theme of what we eat: how it’s grown, harvested, and handled. It’s not a common theme in art, but these artists have found creative ways to explore it, and the staff at […]
Artworks are vessels of mystery. How could they not be when no one really knows where they come from or how they get here? Even so, there’s an uncommon amount of mystery in the front gallery at BDAC this month. Artist Antra Sinha and musician Megan Simper have […]
