5/31 SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: A very American controversy on the art world’s biggest stage — with a Utah-born sculptor at the center
If a few thousand people see a gallery show in New York City, it’s considered a tremendous success. The Venice Biennale, which typically runs from May to November every other year and features work by hundreds of artists from all over the world, attracts more than 800,000 attendees. There’s an enormous amount of art on view all over Venice, but the proceedings revolve around more than 70 national pavilions organized and partly funded by the governments of their respective countries.
In the art world, which genuinely takes pride in (or at least isn’t hugely concerned with) its ability to alienate people, the Biennale is the most sincere populist ritual, a family-friendly exercise for the masses and a feat of diplomatic grandstanding unmatched by anything in our culture besides the Olympics. And like the Games, or any other collective show of nationalism, everything about it is intensely choreographed, self-important and at times a little corny.
5/22 DESERET NEWS: Salt Lake County’s newest art installations celebrate America250, give back to the community
Salt Lake County residents may encounter a variety of impressive sculptures made from canned food in the county’s different public buildings as part of America250 celebrations.
Eight large sculptures made entirely of cans of food are on display until the end of July. The sculptures were put together on May 15 by eight teams of designers and architects as part of a partnership with Utah Food Bank and AIA Utah.
The eight sculptures are also part of CANstruction, a national competition “where architects, engineers and other allied professionals create teams to build unique structures out of cans of food, and then the food is always donated to local food banks,” according to Amy Harris Roberts, the executive director of American Institute of Architects Utah chapter.
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5/13 CITY WEEKLY: Summer Guide 2026: Utah Arts Festival and artistic dissent: Local artists discuss their work in the context of presence, participation and belonging.
This year, the Utah Arts Festival marks its 50th anniversary. For attendees, it offers more than a celebration of creativity. It’s a shared space for artists and audiences to come together to express themselves, to see and be seen, and to connect across divides.
“The magic of the festival is the ability of the community to see what brings us together,” said executive director Aimée Dunsmore. “It is quintessentially American to gather and express opinions through art.”
This kind of gathering reflects a broader idea of what patriotism can look like. It’s not just salutes and slogans, but presence, participation and belonging. In Utah, artists are exploring those ideas in ways that are often quieter, but no less powerful.
5/13 SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: This Utahn said she is the ‘least likely’ to become an artist. Now she has an exhibit downtown.
When Jessica Smith was 5, in a fill-in-the-blank Dr. Seuss book, she scrawled her dream job in red crayon: artist.
And yet, Smith believes she is the “least likely” person to become an artist.
“I had no reason to believe that I could do this. I was just so poor. I was a single mom of five kids. You could imagine how much downtime you have under those circumstances,” Smith explains.
She spent 35 years of her life not painting and has no formal training.
It’s almost a fluke, then, that her first painting — a depiction of her favorite author — caught the attention of a family member of that muse.
That was the canvas that started it all.
5/11 UTAH VALLEY MAGAZINE: Dan Wilson, Hues of Hope
On the tall, reaching walls of Dan Wilson’s Lehi studio hang dozens of paintings and studies. Lions and landscapes. Dwight Schrute and Michael Scott. Dallin H. Oaks. Ballerinas. Buddy the Elf.
But amongst the forest of canvasses, one face is repeated again and again — that of Jesus Christ.
While this interview took place, Dan worked on a project as he spoke. He shared his story as he carefully crafted an outline of Christ praying, with eyes pleading toward heaven.
Though art has always come naturally to Dan — “I was drawing since I could pick up a pencil,” he says — leaning into it as a career was daunting to the point where he had a kind of Jonah-and-the-whale experience, running from the one thing he knew he was destined for. Since he bravely surrendered to the call years ago, creating uplifting art full time has become “the biggest dream come true.”
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