Kimbal Warren’s painting of Horseshoe Mountain won first place at last year’s plein air competition. The distinctive geological feature is also the inspiration for the name of the new radio program being broadcasted out of Spring City.
For some, Spring City’s annual plein air competition and studio tour marks the end of the summer (it doesn’t hurt that it happens on Labor Day
weekend, which despite what the calendar says is the end of summer for most of us). While it’s not the last open air painting event of the season (you’ve still got Everett Ruess Days to look forward to at the end of September), it’s one of the better known. Spring City is home to a number of well-established Utah artists, and a getaway for an equal number well-heeled enough to afford a second home. So, when the Spring City art crowd decides to open their studios to the public, and invite others to paint the landscape they know so well, people pay attention.
The artists, including George Handrahan, Randall Lake, Susan Gallacher, Ken Baxter, Doug Braithwaite, Kimbal Warren (last year’s winner) and M’Lisa Paulsen, have already hit the area. They’ll be finishing up their works Friday, August 30th. Laura Hurtado, curator at the LDS Art and History Museum and a regular contributor to our pages, will be jurying the competition with painter Kate Starling. The $3000 in prize money is provided by The Sam and Diane Stewart Foundation, sponsors of the event.
The works will be on sale Saturday the 31st, 10am – 4pm. New this year, Spring City Arts is putting on a “quick paint” event Saturday morning — from about 7:30 am to 11:00 am, to be followed at noon by a live auction of the paintings completed during the morning.
It’s the end of the summer, so maybe you’ve seen your fill of plein air competitions, or after 5 years you’ve visited pretty much all the artist studios in Spring City (for those who haven’t the studio tour happens Saturday the 31st and Monday the 2nd, 10am – 4pm) — in other words, you’re looking for something new to draw you down to Sanpete County. Well try “Life Under the Horseshoe,” the old-time radio program that has been broadcasting out of the newly restored Victory Hall every Saturday this summer. It may not yet be at the caliber of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” but that reference gives you an idea of what’s going on: a live show featuring music, poetry, jokes, a radio drama and live sound effects. The show goes on air live on KMGR FM Radio 95.9 and 102.7 at 7pm Saturday evening. If you’re in town you can be part of the audience. Visit lifeunderthehorseshoe.com for more details.
You can find information on the Spring City Studio Tour and Plein Air Competition at springcityarts.com.
UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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