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Exhibitions
What's Up & Upcoming: To The South
UTAH COUNTY
Gallery OneTen: UPCOMING: Sculptures, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints by Benson Whittle opens with an Artist's Reception Friday, June 9th from 6 to 9 pm. Live music by Nate Buhrley.
Artist Benson Whittle is traveling from his homestead in New Mexico to revisit his roots in Provo with a retrospective exhibition of his works including carvings, sculptures, paintings, drawings and prints. Following military service, an LDS mission to Brazil, and a degree in Russian (BYU, 1971), Whittle spent much of the 1970s and early 80s in England, Spain, and France pursuing courses at the University of Sussex, Oxford University, and Universidad Complutense (Madrid.) His studies resulted in two Masters of Arts. His Thesis in Comparative Literature addresses the influence of philosopher Soren Kierkegaard on Spanish author Miguel Bunamuno, in particular the religious writings of both while his thesis in Art History treats the influence of pagan mythology in Medieval Christian sculpture in England.
Whittle's studies in Medieval sculpture spurred his own interest in woodcarving, a hobby that turned into a passion for art that branched into other areas including oil painting, printmaking, architectural decoration and design, timber-framing and stone-masonry. For the past thirty years Whittle has made his living from varying combinations of his artistic activities, supplemented at times by subsistence farming on smallholdings in San Pete County, UT and now in New Mexico. Gallery Director, Raquel Smith Callis, after having visited Whittle’s homestead attempted to describe the unique home by saying, “Their place looks like they dropped a seed into very fertile ground and up sprouted the most beautiful, well-crafted house ever. Until you see it for yourself the closest thing it can be compared to is a lovelier and larger version of Bilbo Baggin’s hobbit house as portrayed in the Lord of the Rings movie.”
Whittle has worked on many large-scale projects including restoring and reproducing original sculptured stone components from the LDS Temple in Nauvoo, Illinois, later used as prototypes in that building’s reconstruction. Whittle was diagnosed with aggressive cancer in 2005, but since surgery has had no resurgence of the tumor.
Gallery OneTen is located in the old Provo Seminary building on 110 South 300 West. Gallery hours are Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 6-9 PM or by appointment.
Terra Nova Gallery UP: Historic Provo: Andrew Ballstaedt, David Hawkinson and Todd Orchard thru July 28. Three local artists have captured the character of Provo's architectural heritage -- including the Reed Smoot Home, the Paxman Home, and Academy Square -- using various styles and mediums.
Brigham Young University Museum of Art
BYU's new exhibition at the MoA of their permanent collection, American Dreams is divided into three thematic sections -- "The Dream of Eden," "American Aspirations," and "Envisioning America" -- and will be on display for the next five years.
"American Aspirations": The portrayals of comfort, refinement and leisure in this section reflect and perpetuate the vision of America as a land of opportunity for achievement and success. “American Aspirations” explores the historic promise of an abundant and comfortable American way of life.
Portraits and still lifes in this section illustrate an American ideal of affluence and ease. The portraits depict individuals at the pinnacle of comfort and culture, members of genteel, upper-class society. Their portraits are visible proof of the realization of the American Dream.
Artistic conceptions of leisure activities from traditional horse racing, to ballet, to images of popular entertainers also appear in this part of the exhibition. These artworks create a dialogue about the ideal of affordable leisure and entertainment, a privilege typically associated with refined, genteel society, and its transformation into a democratic principle inherent to the American Dream. Over time, leisure and entertainment became increasingly accessible to a wider range of American society. The growing culture of entertainment and recreation began to shape a new American way of life.
ALSO CURRENTLY AT THE MUSEUM: a selection of Juan Rulfo's photographs in an exhibition titled Photographing Silence: Juan Rulfo's Mexico. (see February edition for more details. ALSO SHOWING:Tapestries: The Great 20th Century Modernists, features works by Picasso, Matisse, Calder, Kandinsky and many of their contemporaries who were inspired to transform their own compositions into monumental wall hangings. The 19 tapestries brought together by the Trust for Museum Exhibitions from both European and American collections offer a fresh perspective on 20th century modernism and its intriguing relationship to the time honored tradition of weaving.
B.F. Larsen Gallery at BYU: UP: Jordan Wood UPCOMING: Sonita Khan and Amy Fisler.
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Springville Museum of Art UP: 82nd Annual Spring Salon thru July 2, 2006. This exhibition, modeled after the famous Paris Salon, is open to all Utah artists, and is one of the longest standing traditions at the Museum. This show encourages diverse applications of style and technique, and seeks to promote varied conceptual and formal directions in art.
ALSO: High School Traveling Show Returns thru June 28, 2006. The Utah Arts Council Traveling Show makes a final stop at the Springville Museum of Art. Enjoy the fabulous talent and creativity of these young high school artists one last time.
PRICE AREA
Museum of the San Rafael (64 N. 100 East, Castle Dale, 435-381-5252) — "Prehistoric Wildlife and Western Art of Utah," featuring paintings by Joseph S. Venus, Clifford Oviatt and sculptures by Gary Prazen and Eldon Holmes, through 2006.
ST. GEORGE AREA
St. George Art Museum UP: Through June. ::Window of West: Views from the American Frontier, an exhibit from the Trust for Museum Exhibitions in Washington D.C. features 60 paintings from the Arthur J. Phelan Collection. These artworks were selected to give an historically accurate cross-section of what really happened in the expansion of the West. (see April edition). ::The Regional Exhibit, an exhibition with artists from Arizona, Nevada, and Utah invited to submit their work in any media or style completed in the prior two years to be juried for inclusion (see May edition) Thru July 8.
Juniper Sky Fine Art (851 N. Coyote Gulch Court, Ivins, 435-674-1994) — The art of Kate Starling.
CEDAR CITY
Braithwaite Fine Art Gallery: UP: Through June 24 J. Daniel Murphy: Ceramicist. A stunning exhibition of ceramic works by this accomplished ceramicist and SUU professor of art. UPCOMING: June 29-September 2 the 63rd Annual Art Exhibition Presented by the Cedar City Art Committee. Cedar City's finest artists will display their artwork at the gallery. This exhibit is organized by the Cedar City Art Committee.
EPHRAIM
Central Utah Art Center UP: Brian Kershisnik and Kathleen Peterson in a two-person exhibition in the main gallery through June 28.
Both artists have experience exhibiting their work all around the Western United States in such diverse places as Utah, Hawaii, Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, California, and New York City. Each of them has grown to be considered among Utah’s most well respected and most successful artists.
Kershisnik is best known for his whimsical, narrative paintings while Peterson is known for her beautiful Central and Southern Utah landscapes. In this exhibition, Kershisnik will show work from a style typical of his featuring the human figure, while Peterson will explore portraits of trees. The image of trees in her paintings is treated like that of a human figure in traditional painting. This is a new and exciting direction for Peterson and should complement Kershisnik’s figure work nicely.
All works will be for sale. Proceeds from sales will go to support the mission of the Central Utah Art Center. The CUAC’s mission is to promote contemporary art and the understanding of contemporary issues in art in Utah; to promote artists of Central Utah; and to educate the people of Utah, especially Central Utah, about art and contemporary art. This program has been funded in part by Ephraim City, UAC, and the George S. Eccles Foundation.
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NEWS NIBBLES
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--The Central Utah Art Center has received a Utah Humanities Council grant to fund a monthly, art history, lecture series. Geoff Wichert, art history professor at Snow College and art critic of 15 years, will be delivering monthly lectures at the CUAC based around art historical concerns surrounding each exhibition. These lectures will address concerns central to each exhibition and will serve to help the public understand the art being exhibited at the CUAC and its art historical context. These lectures will be open to the public.
--The Oil Painters of America's prestigious American National Award of Excellence was awarded to Robert Coombs of Logan.
-- Bryce Cameron Liston of Salt Lake City also received the Jack Richeson & Co. Award of Excellence.
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CALL FOR ENTRIES
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-- Ogden Valley Plein Air Competition
-- Mural at Tanger Outlet
-- Helper Plein Air Competition
-- Midway Art Association Plein Air Competition
for more information go to http://main.artistsofutah.org |
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