{"id":102894,"date":"2026-05-15T10:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T17:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=102894"},"modified":"2026-05-18T12:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:32:32","slug":"crossing-the-divide-rethinks-american-art-at-the-byu-museum-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/crossing-the-divide-rethinks-american-art-at-the-byu-museum-of-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Crossing the Divide Rethinks American Art at the BYU Museum of Art"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Exhibition view of the BYU Museum of Art’s Crossing the Divide.<\/p><\/div>\n

Envisioned as a 5-year long exhibition that updates the permanent American Art collection galleries, BYU Museum of Art\u2019s latest iteration is a significant re-conceptualization not just of the collection, but of the way the institution views historical perspectives and artists\u2019 roles in history. But instead of presenting a straightforward chronological march through American art, Crossing the Divide<\/em> is built around comparisons\u2014works from different eras, regions, and lived experiences placed into dialogue with one another. The show is scheduled to remain on display through the end of 2029 and includes familiar icons of the collection, newer acquisitions, and some unexpected, rarely or never-before-seen pieces that create an intriguing mix of the familiar and the unexpected.<\/h4>\n

The curators were faced with a collection that does not fit neatly into a chronological display, namely because of the gaps in the collection\u2014years, movements, and artists that are not represented. So instead of trying to tell America\u2019s history from 1776 to now, co-curators Miri Kim and Isaac King grouped the art into 5 sections (Vision, Manifest, Wayfarers, A New Age, and Perspectives) plus an annually rotating works on paper gallery that for 2026 is focused on Climate. Within each of these sections are many comparison hangings where two different works from two different eras start dialogues about what has endured and what has changed about this country over its history. Sometimes those dialogues are about very painful and brutal aspects of our history. Sometimes they are about different perspectives and vastly different life experiences. Sometimes they are complementary and show links from one century to another.<\/h4>\n

An unexpected comparison involves \u201cSouthern Utah Range Part I,\u201d a 1975 ceramic piece by Japanese American ceramic artist Ban Kajitani on a pedestal that allows the viewer to look through its plexiglass cover at other views of the Utah landscapes in the background from each side. The ceramic landscape is abstracted, but still matches up beautifully with the imagery and colors of the paintings beyond it.<\/h4>\n

Another powerful comparison includes one of the collection\u2019s icons, \u201cFallen Monarchs,\u201d by William Bliss Baker, and Conrad Heyd\u2019s \u201cLeurenkill,\u201d ca. 1862-63, commissioned by the owners of an upstate New York tannery factory. Heyd painted what the owners thought of as the unlimited resource of hemlock trees surrounding their plant, where the bark (and the bark only) from the trees was processed into tannic acid to tan leather. But these forests were not unlimited and the industry mostly shut down by the 1880s-1890s. This painting has been enhanced by another partnership\u2014this time between the curators and the campus\u2019 former arborist, Max Darrington, who was consulted on the research of this powerful piece of forest history. He helped identify the trees themselves as well as the historic and detrimental procedures of those who logged the area. Both \u201cFallen Monarchs\u201d and \u201cLeurenkill\u201d speak to our current understanding of conservation and preservation of the land.<\/h4>\n