Research for this month’s article on recent developments in Still Life painting took Geoff Wichert to St. George, where 21st century development around the Tabernacle impressed him as much as the painting he came to see. Remodeled or restored buildings and lavish displays of public art serve as setting to a true jewel: the art museum itself. Visit it Friday as part of St. George’s March Gallery Walk.
All over the post-industrial world stand obsolete commercial buildings left behind when the local economy abandoned them. Many have been converted for use as art studios, galleries, retail shops, and museums. Reallocation makes functional sense; space is expensive to build and art, always a rich person’s prerogative, has no inherent public means of housing itself. Either wealthy collectors with generous egos or tax payers have done the majority of the work of providing public access. Utah is blessed with many fine old buildings washed ashore on the margins of dried up enterprises, and so it comes as no surprise that some of our finest pubic art spaces are former mills, granaries, and factories. One of the most beautiful is the St. George Art Museum, which climaxes a neighborhood of historical buildings surrounding the old tabernacle, its sidewalks, parks, and traffic circles ornamented by literally dozens of outdoor sculptures.
Since 1945, art works of all kinds have grown ever larger, which is one reason why huge post-industrial spaces are a boon to art. But long before the waning of the audience prompted this appeal to spectacle, artists routinely took advantage of the large spaces in palaces and churches for a different reason. Proximity is crucial in virtually every work of art. Being able to “back up and take it all in,” then approach to see how the work changes as the viewer moves about is important to a painting or sculpture in much the same way progression from beginning to end makes a story. Next time you’re in a gallery, notice the scanners: viewers who maintain a fixed difference from the wall as they stroll past painting after painting. Then look for someone who backs away, approaches, and backs away again. Who is getting more out of the encounter?
While old factories and warehouses offer plenty of space, vast volumes that dwarf whatever is brought into them are rarely best. Most spaces built deliberately to house art join many smaller rooms to a few very large ones. The old sugar factory in St. George offered the challenge of presenting art in an environment that could easily make visitors feel cold and small by comparison—hardly the desired mood. It was out of the question to leave the shoebox-shaped factory an undifferentiated void, where small works and shows would be marooned on a sea of visual noise. It could theoretically have been made into many smaller rooms with partition walls, but that would have wasted the great resources that are its long sight lines and open ceiling, with muscular trusses that eloquently bespeak the work of supporting a roof that can keep the desert climate at bay.
Instead, the architect employs a mezzanine that creates a second viewing area and doubles the wall space available for hanging, punctuated by bridges and a staircase that, along with a vestibules and niche at either end, create a series of human-scaled gallery spaces. Skylights fill the overhead space with light and bring out the harmonious color scheme on carpets, columns, banisters and railings. Instead of lost in a barn, one feels as one might in the home of tasteful patrons who have opened their home for our pleasure. And the beauty of it (note to critics of “government,” who seem to think that is some alien group that bestrides us) is that we aren’t guests in such public amenities: they belong to us, and are part of our birthright as citizens of this country and heirs to a truly great culture.
“Lost in a Dream” by Jack Morford, outside the St. George Art Museum
The St. George Art Museum is presenting “Into the Mysteries of the Super Real: Charles Becker Paintings” from January 22nd through March 19th, with a chance to meet the artist and hear his ideas about art making on March 17th at 7 pm.
The Spring Art On Main Gallery Walk will happen Friday, March 11 from 6-9pm in downtown St. George. Begin at the St. George Art Museum on 200 North, then walk down Main Street to see fine artists and musicians and enter to win a piece of original artwork given away at 9pm. Visit StGeorgeArt.com for a map and more information.
“
Categories: Happenings
