For Utah artist Jim Frazer, 2025 became a year defined by watching his books travel—moving into exhibitions and collections across the country while remaining rooted in the landscapes that shaped them. His work has been in book arts exhibits in Texas, Wisconsin, California, and Washington.” Even […]
When Salt Lake City artist Sam Forlenza decided—almost accidentally—that he would go to his Sugar House studio every day and post a new creation to Instagram each day, he describes it as “the brilliant, albeit naïve idea” that took hold simply because he was already there so often. […]
Elise Wehle mentions two big accomplishments in 2024: For the first time in her career, a museum purchased her work; she also potty-trained her youngest child. “Although I’ve been creating art professionally for twelve years, this year was the first time a museum acquired my art…not just one […]
This has been a big year for Scout Invie, an emerging Salt Lake City artist. Invie studied English and Writing at Westminster College (during which time we’re proud to say she served as an editorial intern for 15 Bytes), where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. Post graduation, she […]
It’s been a significant year for Bailey Rigby. She graduated from Utah State University in May and shortly after began working at Salt Lake City’s Modern West. Perhaps most importantly, she now finds herself at a juncture where her artistic identity is flourishing. Her journey into photography began […]
“Three vaccinations and four negative tests later, I still feel as if I am sneaking around like a thief to Home Depot, the studio, going to the river to walk the dogs and increasing my list of Life Birds,” says Bernard, referring to the birder’s count of specifies identified in the wild. “160 birds at this point.”
“It has been very quiet in the halls here at Poor Yorick Studios,” says Salt Lake City artist Lisa McAfee. Originally from the California coast, McAfee earned her BFA from California State, Long Beach, before coming to Utah. She works with painting, printmaking and mixed media to depict “expansive landscapes, objects, and animals integrated with personal symbolism.”
Mike Jensen says he has used positive affirmation statements to help guide him through 2021. “It has been a year of introspection and growth. With everything going on in the world, and all of the isolation, my fear was that I would struggle. Fortunately, I’ve learned to thrive … and I have created more artwork than any other year.”
“There is nothing more interesting to me than how light bounces across the surfaces of a front porch,” says Elise Zoller. “I love front porches. Reflected light might be the whole reason I do this,” she says of her practice of painting architectural landscapes en plein air. A graduate of Princeton (in architecture), Zoller has studied drawing and painting at the Academy of Realist Art in Boston and Masters Academy in Springville, Utah. In the warmer moths, Zoller works primarily in northern Utah and heads south, to St. George and points beyond, in the winter.
Twice a year — generally around the equinoxes — Poor Yorick Studios opens its doors to thousand of Utah art lovers for their open studio event. Located in South Salt Lake, the studio complex comprises four adjacent and connected buildings and is home to dozens of artists working […]
Brigham Young University art professor Brian Christensen says the “most seminal experience of epiphany in 2018” happed during the second season of BYU’s Art Advanced Summer Intensive program, which he organized with colleague Collin Bradford. During the program students visited land art sites and engaged the landscape with […]
When Bill Whitaker died earlier this year, he left behind an impressive roster of talented and accomplished artists he had help to come into their own. Casey Childs is one of them. The Wyoming native studied formally at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming and Brigham Young University, but he says […]
“It’s always been a wonderful experience and great form of communication to talk in an abstract manner and problem solve while laying down paint or putting together sculpture,” says William Kranstover, a Park City artist who has been contributing to the town’s art scene as a sculptor, painter […]
“I am constantly trying to better understand—and if need be, reconfigure, subvert, or topple—accepted and repressive systems, ranging from the design of a street to the systemic oppression throughout society,” says Provo artist Susan Krueger-Barber, who holds an MFA in Studio Arts from the School of the […]
Michelle Franzoni Thorley, an only child, was raised by “a savvy single mother, whose favorite color is green.” Her father taught her about Mexican culture and art. “I have always felt inspired by the indigenous and Latin art. I love to share my view of the world through […]
As evidenced by his exhibition of recent works that went up at Anthony’s Fine Art on December 7th, Bryan Mark Taylor travels the world for inspiration. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Taylor studied art at BYU and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and now resides in […]
Professionally, the 2018 high water mark for Jethro Gillespie was the successful defense of his doctoral dissertation in Art Education from Concordia University in Montreal – “Rethinking and remaking a high school art foundations curriculum” was the title. His research for it was as much practical as theoretical: […]
Out of her studio in the Salt Lake City area, Cristall Harper has painted series of vibrant contemporary interpretations of traditional genres like seascapes and florals, but she is best known for her portraits of dogs. She’s looking forward to an exhibition of these canine canvases at Park […]
Ask most people about their best times and they’re likely to mention family and friends (if only because it’s the socially acceptable thing to do). Not Laura Hendricks. “The best thing to happen to me in 2018 was a solo trip I took to Yellowstone National Park. I […]
