{"id":97623,"date":"2025-10-29T09:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=97623"},"modified":"2025-11-17T09:09:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T16:09:23","slug":"projects-like-the-year-of-the-snake-exquisite-corpse-is-why-stefanie-dykes-keeps-showing-up-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/projects-like-the-year-of-the-snake-exquisite-corpse-is-why-stefanie-dykes-keeps-showing-up-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Projects Like The Year of the Snake Exquisite Corpse is Why Stefanie Dykes Keeps Showing Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Image by Shawn Rossiter.<\/p><\/div>\n

At the entrance to Saltgrass Printmakers\u2019 Salt Lake City studio, a sinuous form winds across the wall. The dozens of two-foot-square woodcuts, each carved by a different artist and fitted edge to edge, form the Year of the Snake Exquisite Corpse, a sprawling, collaborative print project conceived by Saltgrass c0-founder Stefanie Dykes.<\/h4>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like the old surrealist game,\u201d Dykes says, referring to cadavre exquis<\/em>, where each artist adds to a hidden drawing, discovering new forms at the seams. \u201cEvery panel connects to the next. Some are playful, some are heartbreaking. You can see the conversations happening between them.\u201d<\/h4>\n

The snake will travel from one venue to another (including a major showing at the Salt Lake City\u2019s Gallery at Library Square in fall 2026), reconfigured each time it\u2019s installed . It\u2019s collaborative, unpredictable and a little chaotic: exactly the kind of project that has kept Dykes coming back to Saltgrass for more than two decades.<\/h4>\n

Earlier this year, Dykes wasn\u2019t sure she had the energy for another big idea. After spending months living with and caring for her aging father, he passed, and then she faced several more months settling his affairs. \u201cHe built radio-controlled model airplanes, from scratch,\u201d she says. \u201cThere was this huge workshop that had to be placed in the right hands\u2014tools, wood, all of it. It took months.\u201d<\/h4>\n

This all left her drained. \u201cI\u2019ve really begun to question how much I\u2019m investing in other people,\u201d she admits. \u201cI spend my time keeping the shop running so others can work, and I don\u2019t have a body of work that\u2019s my own right now.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>But when she floated the idea for The Year of the Snake, artists from all over Utah answered the call. Some hadn\u2019t carved in years; others were new to printmaking entirely. They came to Saltgrass through the summer to proof their blocks and pull prints on muslin. \u201cThe whole thing became a conversation,\u201d Dykes says. \u201cThat\u2019s what Saltgrass does\u2014it builds community. And when it happens organically, it\u2019s brilliant.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Saltgrass Printmakers was born from the impulse to connect. In the early 2000s, Dykes and fellow artist Sandy Brunvand had just finished their masters degrees at the University of Utah when they realized how abruptly access to printmaking facilities ends after graduation. So, helped by Brunvand\u2019s husband Erik (who became a founding member), they rented a small bungalow behind a Subway in Sugar House and filled it with presses, rollers and brayers. It was cramped and improvised, but alive with energy. \u201cWe often saw people take off into something they never dreamed of before,\u201d Dykes recalled in an early interview. \u201cThat excitement\u2014that moment when someone realizes what they can make\u2014that\u2019s the best part.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Over the next decade, the studio became a hub for printmakers, offering classes in etching, relief, collagraph, and monotype, as well as community print exchanges and small exhibitions. It was Utah\u2019s first nonprofit printmaking cooperative, and for many local artists, a lifeline.<\/h4>\n

Their first home was eventually claimed by development. In 2016, Saltgrass was forced out to make way for a new housing complex. After a difficult six-month hiatus, they found a new space along 700 West, the former Bogue iron foundry being transformed into a new arts campus. It offered tall ceilings, exposed brick, and open floor plans. \u201cIt had the look we wanted,\u201d Dykes said then. \u201cIt\u2019s airy, industrial, and built for work.\u201d<\/h4>\n

The new space shifted Saltgrass\u2019s identity. There was less room for formal exhibitions, but new opportunities for outreach\u2014workshops with schools, library programs, and partnerships on the city\u2019s west side. The studio\u2019s membership remained loyal, and its sense of purpose\u2014access, education, community\u2014endured.<\/h4>\n

More than two decades since its founding, Saltgrass continues small but steady. The organization continues to receive modest city, county, and state grants \u2014 \u201cfor now,\u201d Dykes says with a grin\u2014and membership is higher than ever. With growth comes new pressure: more people using the presses, more materials to manage, more demands on her time.<\/h4>\n

These days, Dykes knows she needs to be more selective about what she takes on.\u00a0 She\u2019s designing programs that emphasize depth and play: a Creative Aging series that unfolds over six to eight weeks, and a new drop-in format she calls Parallel Play\u2014short, craft-based afternoons that encourage simple experimentation. \u201cIt\u2019s about quality over quantity of attention,\u201d she says. \u201cSaltgrass is this tiny little moment in the city that lets people be creative and playful. I love that we can hold that kind of space.\u201d<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Image by Steve Coray.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now in her sixties, Dykes is candid about being in transition. She has begun talking with her board about succession\u2014not because she\u2019s ready to leave, but because she wants to reclaim some balance. \u201cFrom here on out, nobody knows how your health will hold. I\u2019d like time to just sit and draw.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Still, she can\u2019t quite imagine stepping away. Every time she tries, something pulls her back \u2014 a community project, a student\u2019s request, a new idea that demands company. \u201cIf I ever did walk away,\u201d she says, \u201cI would know how to rebuild it somewhere else. But I don\u2019t really want to check out for good. I can take a few months off, sure. But then I\u2019d come back.\u201d<\/h4>\n

She’d be drawn back by things like the exquisite corpse project, which is taking shape along Saltgrass’ walls.\u00a0 She looks at the rows of woodcuts, light and dark panels coiling together like a visual dialogue, and imagines how the piece will change with each installation, expanding or tightening depending on the space. \u201cThat\u2019s the point,\u201d she says. \u201cThey all connect. You can see the year these people experienced\u2014the playful moments, the heartbreak, all of it. But they still come together.\u201d<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s hard not to see the metaphor. Saltgrass itself is an exquisite corpse\u2014continuously reshaped by the artists who pass through, sustained by collaboration and conversation. Every time Dykes thinks she\u2019s done, another idea\u2014another print, another gathering\u2014brings her back.<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Image by Shawn Rossiter.<\/p><\/div>\n

To sign up for a class, become a member or learn about more community projects, visit saltgrassprintmakers.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the entrance to Saltgrass Printmakers\u2019 Salt Lake City studio, a sinuous form winds across the wall. The dozens of two-foot-square woodcuts, each carved by a different artist and fitted edge to edge, form the Year of the Snake Exquisite Corpse, a sprawling, collaborative print project conceived by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97624,"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":[17,21,14],"tags":[196,195],"class_list":["post-97623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist_profiles","category-organization_spotlight","category-visual_arts","tag-saltgrass-printmakers","tag-stefanie-dykes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251031_144911-scaled-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 02:13:17","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\/97623","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=97623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97625,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97623\/revisions\/97625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}