{"id":506,"date":"2010-05-06T12:07:13","date_gmt":"2010-05-06T18:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15bytes12\/2010\/05\/06\/josh-and-catherine-kanter\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T21:13:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T04:13:41","slug":"josh-and-catherine-kanter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/josh-and-catherine-kanter\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh and Catherine Kanter"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Josh and Catherine Kanter stand in an installaiton at the Salt Lake Art Center.<\/p>\n

In most families certain things are givens. Religious affiliation in some. Political parties in others. Even which sports team to root for can be an unspoken bond in a household. At the Chicago home where Josh Kanter grew up the given was art. It was talked about the way some families talk about the Yankees, was as much a family ritual as a first communion or bar mitzvah, and instilled as much sense of community involvement as any participation in a political campaign. Whatever it was that made Josh\u2019s parents love art and serve their community it was contagious: his wife Catherine caught the passion when she came into the family and now both wonder how best to pass it on to their own children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Josh and Catherine met when they worked at the same Chicago law firm. Their migration to Utah began because Josh was spending his winters here, telecommuting when he wasn\u2019t on the slopes. \u201cWhen I was looking for land to build a house [here] my only requirement was that it be near the canyons,\u201d he says about his love of Utah\u2019s powder. Catherine began spending her winters here too, and when they married in 1998 they did so in the home they had built at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon. In 2002 the Kanters came to Utah for the Olympics and one of their extended stays while Catherine was on maternity leave with their first son. When maternity leave ended and became telecommuting, an office out of sight became one out of mind and Catherine decided to give up the law to raise their children and devote her time to things that were more important to them: like art and the community.<\/p>\n

\"Catherine<\/a>\u201cWe\u2019ve been influenced by his parents,\u201d Catherine says, \u201ctheir notion that if you can afford it through your means and your health and opportunities then you really need to come up with some idea of service, you need to do something for your community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh\u2019s parents came from humble beginnings, but their desire to have beautiful things in their home was consistent throughout their life. When they could afford nothing else they used to frame swatches of wallpaper and hang them on the wall. As their financial circumstances improved, the wallpaper was replaced by paintings. Josh\u2019s father would troll the old town art fair in Chicago and buy things he liked, or jump at an opportunity a friend mentioned to him and purchase something sight unseen. There was no intent in building a particular type of collection. He just bought what he liked. What he liked, the core of what became a family corporate collection, was postwar abstract expressionist artists as well as living contemporary artists. Josh was a young boy when this art was coming into the home, and it was a natural part of life, a given. \u201cThey wanted to have things that they thought were beautiful around them, in their home.\u201d Catherine says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t so when someone walked in they would see it. \u201d<\/p>\n

Some children turn away from the enthusiasms of their parents. Josh embraced his. \u201cIt was certainly a bug that bit me,\u201c he says. \u201cMy backpacking trip through Europe as a junior in college for the summer was going through every sculpture market and every museum I could find . . . it was about searching these people out and going and seeing their stuff\u201d (he does admit to one detour: the Heineken factory).<\/p>\n

Catherine\u2019s upbringing in Oklahoma was more modest than Josh\u2019s but when she began spending time under the Kanter roof she became intoxicated by whatever was in the air. \u201cThe kids couldn\u2019t not be influenced by it because it was such an important part of their lives, and I couldn\u2019t not be influenced by it when I came into the family because you couldn\u2019t go to a Kanter family event without the subject of art coming up . . . you were immersed in it . . . I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With their love for contemporary art you might think the Kanters would want to live in a more metropolitan area. \u201cNo,\u201d is Catherine\u2019s firm reply. \u201cI now feel like Utah is our home. This is where we\u2019re from. This is where we want to raise our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they first moved to Utah they knew few people and nothing about the art scene. Gary Vlasic, who catered their wedding, told them about the\u00a0Salt Lake Art Center, which became an extended social network for the couple. They were soon on the board.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/a>Josh talks frequently about how important these types of relationships are, how connections can coalesce into amazing projects. One of his proudest achievements is the Jun Kaneko glass piece at the Park City synagogue,\u00a0Temple Har Shalom. It exists, he says, \u201cbecause I was on the board of the Salt Lake Art Center, and I was on the board of theInternational Sculpture Center\u00a0(ISC), which is why I know\u00a0Jun Kaneko, and I was involved in building the synagogue.\u201d Three relationships came together to facilitate \u201ca fantastic piece of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was through the Art Center that the Kanters got to know Adam Price, who was then launching the\u00a0337 Project. Catherine was serving on the board of\u00a0Neighborhood House\u00a0and her relationship with Price resulted in the 337 Project\u2019s second initiative, the Urban Gallery. The two continue to work together now that Price has taken over as Executive Director of the Art Center and Catherine is the board president. Not to be left out of the fun, Josh used his connections at the ISC to bring Launch 11, an exhibit of contemporary sculpture, to the Art Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are opportunities . . . neither of us would have had in Chicago, or frankly would have come with a different entry price,\u201d Josh says.<\/p>\n

Sometimes in Utah the price to getting things done is a connection that goes back generations. But Josh doesn\u2019t see it that way. How else, he says, can you explain the fact that Peter Corroon asked him to chair the finance committee for his gubernatorial campaign. \u201cThis is something I never would have thought I\u2019d be doing when I came here eight years ago,\u201d he says. He jumped at the opportunity because he thinks Corroon will make a great impact on education in the state. And he took advantage of his connections in the art world to come up with a grassroots organization for the campaign: Artists for Corroon.<\/p>\n

Josh says these things never would have happened for them in a place like Chicago. \u201cThe opportunity here is limitless. It\u2019s really amazing how much of an impact you can have when you want to in this town.\u201d<\/p>\n

A more subtle impact the couple has had is as collectors. Their collection of modern and contemporary art is unique in this valley. Much of it is part of Art Enterprises, Ltd, the original family collection, which totaled 1200 pieces at one point and is now held in the homes of the three children. It\u2019s eye-popping stuff, the type of pieces museums borrow for exhibitions.<\/p>\n

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Josh and Catherine have added to it with purchases of their own. The first was a\u00a0Misha Gordin\u00a0photograph, bought through the Salt Lake Art Center.|3|<\/strong>\u00a0They loved the piece and appreciated the opportunity to get to know Gordin and were fascinated by his process. That the purchase supported one of their causes sealed the deal.<\/p>\n

Besides the moratorium Catherine put on Josh\u2019s acquisitions when the economy collapsed, the Kanters say they usually defer to each other on purchases. They share an interest in work that \u201cis visually beautiful and makes a profound statement\u201d (similar, Catherine points out, to the Art Center\u2019s mission statement). When Josh talks about art \u2013 or any of his projects \u2013 he is as animated as a ten year old at the ball game. Catherine is more poised, but her enthusiasm is evident when she explains her personal tastes, \u201cI tend to gravitate towards thing that I think are aesthetically, astonishingly beautiful.\u201d She is drawn to color and likes to acquire pieces from artists she knows. Because of his participation in the International Sculpture Center Josh has gravitated towards sculpture, and the couple now owns works by a number of nationally and internationally recognized artists.<\/p>\n

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Catherine says some of her favorite pieces are the ones Josh has given to her as a present. Art gifting is a prevalent practice in the Kanter family. When they were part of Josh\u2019s sister\u2019s wedding party they received a Thomas King Baker painting as a gift.|8|<\/strong>\u00a0For their own wedding one of their good friends bought them a piece by\u00a0Anna Kunz.|9|<\/strong>\u00a0They later acquired several other pieces by Kunz and commissioned her to do a large-scale piece through the Hyde Park Art Center\u2019s\u00a0Not Just Another Pretty Face\u00a0<\/em>program. The Kanters encouraged the Salt Lake Art Center to adopt Hyde Park\u2019s fundraising idea, and when they did the Kanters commissioned two pieces from it \u2014 portraits of their two boys by Anne Morgan Jespersen.|10|\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Looking to those two faces Josh and Catherine think about the values they have been heir to: the beauty of art and purpose of service. And as they go about their busy lives, Josh asks, \u201cHow do you instill these values, that, somehow, without saying anything, my parents instilled in all three of their kids?\u201d<\/p>\n

Launch 11<\/em>\u00a0is at the\u00a0Salt Lake Art Center\u00a0through May 22. The next installment of\u00a0Not Just Another Pretty Face<\/em>\u00a0opens at the Art Center with the Annual Benefit Gala on June 5.\u00a0Artists for Corroon\u00a0will be holding a meet and greet with Mayor Peter Corroon on Friday, May 14th at\u00a0Kayo Gallery.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Josh and Catherine Kanter stand in an installaiton at the Salt Lake Art Center. In most families certain things are givens. Religious affiliation in some. Political parties in others. Even which sports team to root for can be an unspoken bond in a household. At the Chicago home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[20,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art_professional_spotlight","category-visual_arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/50s.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 16:56:02","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\/506","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97950,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions\/97950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}