The conundrum: dirt is bad; dirt is sometimes beautifully dramatic. Dirt and dust make sunset beautiful, many-veiled: that’s the magic particulate richness of dust. We’re alive due to excess, things leftover: cast-off matter forms planets; stars are globbed accumulations of recycled matter. We are of dust/dirt, as […]
Suburbia: a term which not only refers to the outer parts of a town stereotyped for its comforting (or discomfiting) uniformity but descriptive of a way of life associated with the people who occupy its margins. Both isolation and collective community can be found in these ubiquitous spaces. […]
Susan Makov was hiking the Uintas in 2015 when the surrounding stands of lodgepole pine suddenly mesmerized her, a moment that eventually would translate into the work she is creating today. “The trees were distressed and I became obsessed with it,” she says as we pull into the […]
Ties between Utah and China run deep: from the contributions of Chinese laborers that helped complete the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 to former Gov. Jon Huntsman’s appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from 2009-2011, residents of this quintessentially Western state have access to numerous […]
The late Adrienne Rich once described her use of received poetic forms as “asbestos gloves” for handling difficult material. In Tacey M. Atsitty’s new collection Rain Scald (University of New Mexico Press), sonnet, sestina, and villanelle surface amid prose poems, columnar incantations, a concrete poem with white […]
At the end of HEARTLAND (+ Dance Party), Molly Heller addressed the crowd, thanking us for exploring the many experiences of the heart together. “We entered into this time with the understanding that the heart is already whole,” she said. In this brief moment, Heller acknowledged the completeness […]
“By the Sea,” the characteristically collectible catalog Susan Meyer put together for her annual presentation of Brian Kershisnik’s new directions for 2019, includes a challenge from the artist to everyone who’s ever written, or even thought about, his art: The heavy symbolic weight of books in my […]
“Anything is possible once enough human beings realize that the whole of the human future is at stake.” The words of Norman Cousins, American activist and peacemaker, echoed over and over in Jessica Lang’s “us/we.” A farewell piece for her company, Jessica Lang Dance (which is currently on […]
“The artist Guy Dill has carved out a unique niche for himself on the borderline between abstract and figurative sculpture.” That’s the metaphor that first comes to mind, but the thing is, it doesn’t really work, because he doesn’t carve. They’re assembled in that distinctly American geometric style, […]
READ LOCAL First represents Utah’s most comprehensive collection of celebrated and promising writers of fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, and memoir. This week we bring you Shane Camoin, winner of the 60th annual Utah Original Writing Competition in the novel category. A second generation American, Camoin was born in L.A. and raised in […]
Tolerance, a worldwide touring poster exhibition, has made its way to Salt Lake City. This project, devised by New York-based Bosnian comics artist Mirko Ilić, explores and brings together various interpretations and understandings of what tolerance is through graphic art. Having opened in Slovenia in 2017, the project […]
Anyone who enjoys being hugged, or enjoys giving great hugs, knows that friendship is as much felt as spoken. In the newest production by Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, a collaboration with Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory inspired by the Red Fred Project, this is made abundantly clear. Words intermingle with […]
We are bleary eyed from looking at copy and images, but the book is finally at the printer’s, and we’re excited for the book release party Friday, February 8, at Rio Gallery, 6-8 p.m.. As part of our Utah’s 15 project we have been working on a book to […]
One snowy day in 2011, Stephen Trimble and his wife, Joanne Slotnik, arrived at a grove on the lower slopes of Mount Rainier with the ashes of his father. Trimble was born in Denver in 1950 to Don and Isabelle Trimble. Isabelle grew up in a small Montana town. Don was a geologist who worked his way through college and graduate school as a hard rock miner at the tail end of the Depression. He was responsible for Steve’s interest in photography and the natural world, Isabelle for his interest in people, and both for his respect for storytelling. “Every vacation was a new national park, and on our road trips Dad kept up a running commentary on Western history and landscape,” Trimble remembers. “His stories sounded more like parable. He retold them to communicate his values.” With reverential regard, Don Trimble, who hailed from Toppenish, Washington, referred to Mount Rainier as “The Mountain.”
Inspired by her artist mother, bouyed by the support of her husband — who gave her three tubes of paint as a wedding gift — and pushed by artist mentors at workshops, Stephanie Hock says she been able to find her artistic voice. She’s intrigued by art’s ability […]
Travis Lovell is an associate professor of photography at Utah Valley University who specializes in the history of the medium including various historic and traditional methods of photography. Much of his work is centered around the landscape and the unspoken stories and concerns of overlooked or minimized areas, […]
For Michael Aaron Hall, 2019 is shaping up to be pretty busy, with travel and a focus on monuments. In the spring he’s headed to Washington D.C. to see Daniel Chester French’s Lincoln Memorial, which has been a long-term goal. In the summer, he’s headed to New York as […]
Among the Utah literary set, “south of the border” can sometimes mean Utah County, but with its two major universities (Brigham Young—think former poet laureate Lance Larsen — and Utah Valley—think “sonosopher” and performance artist Alex Caldiero) as well as its robust independent lit organizations, you overlook it […]
With so much political art being made and shown these days, it would be easy enough to conclude that social criticism and satire are about the only ways art can help in troubling times. Yet however much contemporary art’s moralizing encourages its fan base, it’s far from being […]
Stewart Seidman creates expressive acrylic works on canvas and with recycled FedEx envelopes that once served as his paint palettes, transforming everyday materials into compelling contemporary art.
To discover more artists, visit our Utah Artists Directory
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