{"id":35178,"date":"2016-09-26T13:32:14","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T19:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=35178"},"modified":"2020-03-19T09:37:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T15:37:08","slug":"an-artists-city-t-k-stephens-greater-salt-lake-at-sprague-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/an-artists-city-t-k-stephens-greater-salt-lake-at-sprague-library\/","title":{"rendered":"An Artist&#8217;s City: T.K. Stephens&#8217; Greater Salt Lake at Sprague Library"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-35178 gallery-columns-5 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/an-artists-city-t-k-stephens-greater-salt-lake-at-sprague-library\/biketaxi\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/biketaxi-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/biketaxi-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/biketaxi-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/biketaxi-1-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/an-artists-city-t-k-stephens-greater-salt-lake-at-sprague-library\/canyonpass\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/canyonpass-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/canyonpass-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/canyonpass-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/canyonpass-1-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/an-artists-city-t-k-stephens-greater-salt-lake-at-sprague-library\/peakexperience\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/peakexperience-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/peakexperience-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/peakexperience-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/peakexperience-1-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/an-artists-city-t-k-stephens-greater-salt-lake-at-sprague-library\/red_butte_by_t-k-_stephens\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Red_Butte_by_T.K._Stephens-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Red_Butte_by_T.K._Stephens-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Red_Butte_by_T.K._Stephens-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Red_Butte_by_T.K._Stephens-1-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/an-artists-city-t-k-stephens-greater-salt-lake-at-sprague-library\/rushhour-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rushhour-2-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rushhour-2-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rushhour-2-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rushhour-2-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Wending your way through the basement corridors of Sprague Branch Library in Sugar House, you\u2019ll eventually come across a group of 20 artworks by Terence K. Stephens. (I\u2019ve never had to actually hunt through a building for an exhibit before, but thought this one worth the effort.)<\/p>\n<p>Titled <em>Greater Salt Lake<\/em>, the show primarily is composed of cityscapes with some skillfully painted regional mountain scenes thrown in. The kicker? Most of the cityscapes are of scenes sketched from the artist\u2019s lofty apartment windows located on several floors high above his gallery, Art270, on Salt Lake City\u2019s Main Street.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s TRAX, for example, and the Judge Building that belonged to Stephens\u2019 late Great Aunt Mary Judge and can be viewed from the artist\u2019s living room. Mary Judge was the sister of Jenny Judge Kearns (Stephens\u2019 great-grandmother), wife of U.S. Senator Thomas Kearns who was an owner of Park City\u2019s Silver King Mine and of <em>The Salt Lake Tribune.<\/em> Yes, it\u2019s complicated. Stephens also has a dog named Cougie. The two moved here from San Francisco two years ago to turn AJ\u2019s Kwik Mart into a narrow but workable gallery that is always open for the Stroll, and Wednesday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>But, back to the Sprague show. It\u2019s not particularly well hung \u2013 the paintings are quite precisely lined up along a couple of walls like elementary kids in a bus line \u2013 and not well lit, either, though the extraordinary colors still manage to pop pleasingly, as in \u201cCanyon Pass,\u201d oil on canvas, 20\u201d x 16\u201d. But you have to lean way in to see anything of the work.<\/p>\n<p>With \u201cRush Hour,\u201d o\/c, 16\u201d x 20\u201d, one gets a sense of the energy of the city. Set against a sunset sky, TRAX cars line up against their platforms, automobiles with lights gleaming move single file down a tree-lined street, lights sparkle in tiers of business buildings and condos as the street lamps start to glow. It\u2019s a very busy downtown and probably more exciting than Salt Lake City really gets \u2013 even at \u201cRush Hour.\u201d But then, I pretty much stay in my own \u2018hood, so wouldn\u2019t know for sure what T.K. Stephens sees out his window. He paints quite a beautiful city that makes me glad to live here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBike Taxi\u201d appears to be near Abravanel Hall (you could play the <em>Deseret News<\/em> feature \u201cItty Bitty Salt Lake City\u201d with this exhibit) with a woman taxi driver pedaling two men across the cobblestones. At the opening, Stephens graphically described one of them as \u201ca drunken slob\u201d and seemed sympathetic to the woman driver. Not chauvinistic, mind you, sympathetic. Again, the buildings against a very dark night sky are elegantly portrayed in colors that bring Hopper to mind. Street lights are white orbs; trees are lush on this summery evening. This 16\u201dx 20\u201d oil is meant to make you smile, and it succeeds.<\/p>\n<p>In the foothills, Stephens does even more detailed trees and marvelous clouds. With \u201cRed Butte,\u201d 20\u201d x 18\u201d, he demonstrates a facile use of acrylic. It\u2019s an interesting study of trees and brush, with reds and greens, whites and blues used so well you want to stand and look and go back and look some more.<\/p>\n<p>However poorly hung and hard to find, this is perhaps a better show than we\u2019ve seen from this artist in his own gallery on Main Street. There is a cohesiveness; a concentration of energy and lack of distraction from the paintings themselves that is appealing. No sculpture, no work by other artists, just solid paintings by T.K. Stephens.<\/p>\n<p><em>The show runs at Sprague Library, Sugar House (<span class=\"_Xbe\">2131 S. 1100 East, Salt Lake City<\/span>), through Nov. 5<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wending your way through the basement corridors of Sprague Branch Library in Sugar House, you\u2019ll eventually come across a group of 20 artworks by Terence K. Stephens. (I\u2019ve never had to actually hunt through a building for an exhibit before, but thought this one worth the effort.) Titled [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":844,"featured_media":35179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[1520,3007],"class_list":["post-35178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-sprague-library","tag-t-k-stephens"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rushhour.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 14:54:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35178"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52290,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35178\/revisions\/52290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}