{"id":29416,"date":"2015-07-29T10:55:27","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T16:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=29416"},"modified":"2020-03-15T11:04:39","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T17:04:39","slug":"the-enduring-power-of-art-katie-marie-liechty-at-byu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/the-enduring-power-of-art-katie-marie-liechty-at-byu\/","title":{"rendered":"The enduring power of art: Katie Marie Liechty at BYU"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mormondoctrine\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On July 16, in the Harris Fine Arts Building, a traditional showcase for BYU student projects, senior Katie Marie Liechty installed what might have been intended to be three separate ensembles, although the complete installation also works well as one compound work. Given the subject matter of this innovative triptych of installations, she surely must have anticipated some critical feedback, but she couldn\u2019t have anticipated the scandal that erupted four days later. By then, as reported in the The Salt Lake Tribune<\/em><\/a> on July 28, part of her elaborate mixed-media ensemble had become, so far as is presently known, the first student work to be stolen off the walls of a BYU gallery. Not only were a photograph and an accompanying text removed by someone unknown, but the notice calling attention to the theft that Liechty replaced them with also subsequently disappeared.<\/p>\n

Taken as a whole, Liechty\u2019s three-part installation uses aesthetic means ranging from straightforward sincerity to sophisticated innovation to highlight the crucial, almost universally misunderstood difference between theology and culture. Some of her elements repeat: most notably reference to the 1956 book Mormon Doctrine<\/em>, by the late LDS General Authority Bruce R. McConkie. The left-most third of her entire display contains half a dozen photographs, each inspired by a quotation from McConkie. The quotations, his advice concerning how the faithful should think about Evolution, Chastity, Hot Drinks, Equality, Card Playing, and Heavenly Mother each hang above the artist\u2019s photographic response. An actual copy of Mormon Doctrine<\/em> can be found in the left side of the vitrine, in the center of which case are three untitled, handcrafted volumes. Another sign identifies these as \u2018Coptic Bindings\u2019 meant to represent the presence of the three persons of the Godhead. Appropriately, they form the centerpiece of the entire installation. To the right side of these volumes, balancing the McConkle volume, are two typical editions of the Book of Mormon. Beyond the glass case on the right, five untitled photographs of trees labeled \u201cThe Modern Mormon Church\u201d echo the six photo and text pairs on the left.<\/p>\n

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