Utah Visual Arts articles published in 15 Bytes, arranged by category.
I don’t usually think much of exclusionary shows, unless it’s by medium or genre, but it was just International Women’s Day and I trust that the curators at and for Adobe took that into account when they organized this exhibition of strictly female Utah artists. (Did you, Andrew Ehninger?) […]
A report from Utah’s 2017 legislative session You probably know Utah has a state bird (seagull) and a state flower (sego lily), but did you know there’s also a state rock (coal), a state fossil (Allosaurus) and not one but two state vegetables — a historic one (the […]
Should you not know what “Fringe” means, a new Salt Lake City gallery by that name wastes no time in defining it for you: “not part of the mainstream; unconventional, peripheral, or extreme.” They also say it’s “Utah’s hottest new contemporary art gallery.” We shall see March 17 […]
Identity is a tricky thing. It’s hard to know anymore if we are supposed to proudly declare our differences or attempt to blend them seamlessly into the larger tapestry; be aware of color, gender, ethnicity, or blind to it. The task is made more difficult for the hyphenated […]
Walk into the Kimball Art Center in Park City and the space feels open, warm, and inviting. It’s quiet, but there’s a comfort to the quietness, much like one would find at a library or a cozy café. It’s a place perfect for contemplation, and through April 16 […]
Between Force and Fragility Lydia Okumura and the gendered nuances of Minimalist sculpture by Scotti Hill When writing about sculpture, critics often use inadvertently masculine vernacular, expending such terms as “dominant” or “forceful” in describing a work’s construction and effect. While feminist scholars are right to point out […]
If you reached into your refrigerator and pulled out a carton of plump strawberries, only to find they’re covered in fuzzy, circular patches of fungus, you’d grimace and throw them away, right? You’d hardly examine the tiny, flowering patterns of decay and growth. But fascination with such microscopic […]
Once a stuffy place for plays, recitals and lectures, Salt Lake City’s Ladies Literary Club recently has become a stylish place for plays, recitals and lectures. Purchased about a year ago by a young and very hip couple who renamed it Clubhouse (to honor its previous incarnation), the […]
Let’s face it, the landscape is no simple subject to be easily understood, let alone painted, without much study. Its intricacies need to be learned on many different levels in order to break its code and come away with a credible painting that captures the essence of a […]
Annie Poon’s short film The Split House depicts and reconciles her personal struggle with bipolar disorder. The title comes both from the separated emotional nature that Poon experienced in the treatment of her condition, and the location of Split, Croatia, where she served as a missionary for The Church of […]
Long ago relegated to the domestic sphere, embroidery is often seen as a decidedly feminine form of labor. Which is why, taking a renewed interest in practices such as textile work and ceramics, feminist art sought to question society’s often demeaning classifications of such mediums as ”women’s work.“ […]
People of a certain age start to think about how and where, and with whom, they want to live out the rest of their days. How long can I live at home without help? If I downsize, how can I continue to make art? What if I don’t […]
photos by Simon Blundell John O’Connell’s new work fascinates on several levels: they are abstracted 3-D compositions with spare painted portions that beg for lots of time to absorb. Mark-making and writing are there but mostly obscured beyond recognition; inexplicable cuts are evident in the surfaces of the […]
No one is as greatly affected by the violence of war as children. The most vulnerable population, children absorb the physical, emotional and psychological traumas of war in unique ways. Brian McCarty’s exhibit WAR-TOYS: Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip, at the Woodbury Art Museum through March 16th, approaches […]
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times . . .” So Charles Dickens celebrated an era that has resonated far too often with human history, but perhaps never more so than it does with the Americas today. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens […]
Our attention was riveted first by the election. Then, the transition. And now by the new administration. Political engagement in America seems to be surging, with people from both sides of the political spectrum taking to the streets. One wonders, though, if that energy will be turned into […]
Originally from a small Midwest town in rural Indiana, Steve Smock moved to Utah for its alluring outdoor adventure and rugged nearby mountains. An avid biker, Smock found a home in Salt Lake City’s cycling scene as a bike technician in various shops around the city. So when […]
The complexity and depth of Jylian Gustlin’s paintings are the true intersection of science and art. Entropy, the Bay Area painter’s current exhibition at Gallery Mar in Park City, is a vision of calculated beauty that results from infusing technology, mathematical theory and creative expression into a body of […]
Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change, into something rich and strange In a now-legendary time, Howard Brough carried primary responsibility for the splendid, if spatially challenging gallery on the fourth floor of the City Library. During those years of service he must have […]
