{"id":105225,"date":"2026-08-31T11:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T18:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=105225"},"modified":"2026-09-01T13:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T20:35:58","slug":"art-in-a-delicate-balance-at-phillips-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/art-in-a-delicate-balance-at-phillips-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Art in a Delicate Balance at Phillips Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trent Alvey, “Great Salt Lake River,” altered photograph, 18 x 24 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

Our Delicate Ecosystem<\/em>, on view at Phillips Gallery through September 11, continues the enduring environmental mission of gallery owner Bonnie Phillips. It is a cohesive collection of photography, mixed media, painting, sculpture and more that\u2014in and of itself\u2014creates its own \u201cdelicate ecosystem\u201d of art, mirroring the exhibition\u2019s theme of protecting the fragile interdependence of our natural world.<\/p>\n

Each piece in the group show is skillfully conceived and executed. For example, in Liberty Blake\u2019s collage, “Speyeria Nokomis Nokomis,” the artist employs an array of earth and sky colors, along with ink drawings and Victorian book illustrations of endangered butterflies that appear \u201cpinned\u201d as specimens hovering over the injured ecosystem. At the very bottom of the piece, the word FRAGILE appears upside down.<\/p>\n

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Cordell Taylor, “Fall,” painted steel, 87 x 32 x 18 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

Trent Alvey\u2019s altered photograph, “Great Salt Lake River,” is an indictment of humankind\u2019s incompetent stewardship of the Great Salt Lake and its environs. Yet, through the photographer\u2019s experienced eye, even this marred ecosystem becomes a thing of abstract beauty: an arresting grayscale composition that concludes with a splash of tar.<\/p>\n

Most everyone has witnessed the debris of tree branches and bushes collected and stacked for disposal. There can be something visually satisfying about gazing upon such a bundle. Cordell Taylor\u2019s painted-steel sculpture, “Fall,” however, is not a soliloquy on that subject. Instead, it is a tactile testimony to how an abandoned collection of steel junk\u2014material that has marred ecosystems for centuries\u2014might appear if haphazardly posed as vertically stacked sticks. It is an absorbing sculpture that, in a sense, makes amends for its past offenses.<\/p>\n

The watercolor river stones in Rebecca Livermore\u2019s “Stones 03: Too Hot” are rendered with hard-edged precision and arranged in what might be called a \u201cCircle of a Dangerous Life\u201d motif, incorporating the colors of a fragile ecosystem. The subtle gradation from dark to light within each color gives the piece its simple elegance.<\/p>\n

When studying Corinne Geertsen\u2019s “Eve,” a tour de force of digital wizardry, one is left guessing at its meaning. Unquestionably, when you see a snake and an apple together, you think of Eve. But there is much more going on here, as the digital collagist explains in the work\u2019s exhibition art card. Beware, though: if you stare too long at the incredibly rendered Native American Eve, you might succumb to its pure surrealism and great craftsmanship.<\/p>\n

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“Eve,” Corinne Geertsen, digital collage (1\/25), 25 x 21 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

Kamelia Pezeshki\u2019s delicate photograph, “Watermelon & Pear,” is a tastefully designed still life, a small collection of Earth\u2019s abundance when everything works as it should within the bionetwork. Here, nothing looks out of sorts. Yet the symbolism behind each fruit, the photographer cautions, is pregnant with warnings about the fragility of our ecosystem. Nevertheless, the resulting color photograph is a well-organized and impactful image.<\/p>\n

“Root Matter,” a diminutive totemic entity of wool and silk sari by Josanne Glass, is a curiously successful work of art that cries \u201crealism\u201d out of one side of its mouth while shouting \u201cabstract\u201d out of the other. Examining the faux rocks for vestiges of root remains is a satisfying and worthy visual pursuit. This is a wonderful piece and quite a statement on our delicate ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Wendy Van de Kamp\u2019s watercolor, “No Climate Change, My Ass?!,” has a Fauvist zeal that agrees with the title\u2019s acerbic assertion: a firefighter battles a blaze that disrupts the delicate ecosystem\u2014loss of homes, family displacement, wildlife deaths, burned forests, and more. The expressionist watercolor\u2019s brushstrokes generate emotional impact, compelling the viewer to ask, \u201cWas the fire human caused or a result of nature?\u201d Either way, the ecosystem\u2019s balance has been altered.<\/p>\n

“Ghost,” a monotype by Tom Bettin, reaches out to the viewer with abstract-expressionist fingers, as it were, clutching at our eyes with the complementary colors of a forest floor that has been stirred together by the passage of multiple seasons.<\/p>\n