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In Plain Site: Provo
Public Art in Downtown Provo
Provo is getting serious about art in its downtown. This summer, the Provo Downtown Business Alliance announced the unveiling of fourteen new sculptures in the downtown area. On August 11, the Business Alliance announced the commissioning of a new 75-foot mural to grace the walls of Bingham Cyclery.
These announcements herald a facelift for the downtown area, centered at the intersection of University Avenue and Center Street. Downtown already features the work of Gary Price, Tyler Meadows Davis |1| and two pieces by Andrew Smith, and these fourteen new works, by established and emerging artists, have created a tremendous visual impact, exposing drivers and pedestrians alike to the area's local talent.
“We have art that requires contemplation and may take a while to digest, while other pieces are easily consumed and enjoyed instantly,” says Raquel Smith Callis, program director for the Downtown Alliance. “But, each work of art—each gallery—adds its own spice to the downtown mix.”
Many of the pieces are being loaned to the Downtown Alliance while the artists gain exposure for their work.
Dahrl Thomson, 56, says she is excited to be displaying two of her pieces on the streets of her hometown. |0| “I think it will be fun for people in Provo who maybe don’t go to many galleries to have the chance to come out and see art on the streets,” Thomson said. “Hopefully, people in Provo will react positively.”
In addition to Thomson, sculptures by the following artists can be found downtown: Laura Lee Bradshaw |2|, Michael Coleman |3, 4|, Tyler Meadows Davis, Anton Brent Gehring |5|, Carol Jackman |6|, Jason Millward |7|, Rod Morgan |8|, Nick Ryan |9| and Kelly Thurgood.
The Bingham Cyclery mural, which is being painted by international artist and sculptor Asen Balakchiev, is progressing smoothly, and is expected to be completed in early September |10|. The mural revisits a time when downtown Provo featured locomotives and tradesmen rather than minivans and restaurant enthusiasts.
“There were a fair number of bars downtown for entertainment, a few restaurants, a few confectionary stands and some drug stores,” says local historian and author D. Robert Carter. “Some of them had soda fountains.”
Mayor Lewis Billings also noted during the recent sculpture unveiling how the downtown streets once accommodated Brigham Young and presidents of the United States.
The mural is part of the Downtown Alliance’s commitment to make downtown a destination for the arts. This intersection is already home to an oceanic mural painted on the wall of Starry Night in 2003. It can be found on the west wall of Bingham Cyclery (187 W Center St.).
photos Matthew Graff, except 0, 1, 3 courtesy Provo Downtown Alliance. For more information on Downtown Provo visit www.downtownprovo.org
Exhibition Announcements
Up and Upcoming to the South
UTAH COUNTY
Simple Earth Foundation UP: Universe, a group show featuring Terry Rosenberg, John Sanders and Jeff Whyman. Washington sculptor Jeff Whyman visited the Simple Earth Foundation earlier this year and immediately became excited about the foundation's goal to integrate art into community building and humanitarian efforts. Whyman helped organize this current exhibit, which includes seven artists, including Rosenberg and Sanders from NYC, who visited the gallery, with Whyman, for the opening. in July. As a gift to the community, the artists have created a sculpture commemorating Geneva Steel.|12|
Harold B. Lee Library (Auditorium Gallery, Level 1, BYU, Provo) — "Recent Works: Clay & Rebecca Wagstaff" through Oct. 25.
Brigham Young University Museum of Art
UP: Just Enough Is More: The Graphic Design of Milton Glaser, on view through October 7, 2006 (see July edition).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. (see July edition).
UPCOMING: Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence, on view from Sept. 15, 2006 through Jan. 6, 2007, is the first North American survey exhibition devoted to this celebrated artist. Over the last 30 years, German photographer Candida Höfer has created meticulously composed images depicting interiors of public and institutional spaces — spaces marked by the richness of human activity, yet largely devoid of human presence. Together, her images present a universe constructed by human intention, unearthing the patterns and logic imposed on these spaces by their now absent creators and inhabitants.
The exhibition consists of 50 chromogenic prints that embrace the full spectrum of her career, with an emphasis on her most recent work. The photographs of libraries, academic facilities, lecture and performance halls, painting and sculpture galleries, waiting rooms and cafés in this exhibition are captivating for their formal qualities of precise composition, saturated color and rhythmic pattern, as well as for her focused interest in buildings as containers for the diverse cultural traditions enacted within them.|11|
Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence will be on view in the Conway A. Ashton & Carl E. Jackman Gallery on the museum’s lower level. A companion exhibition, on view in the Paul & Betty Boshard Gallery, Types and Typologies: German Photographers from the Norton Museum of Art, an exhibition of photographs selected from the Norton Museum of Art’s permanent collection, provides a brief overview of the stylistic heritage to which Höfer’s work and that of other students of Bernd Becher at the Düsseldorf Art Academy is indebted. Both exhibitions will be on view from
OPENING RECEPTION: An opening reception for “Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence” will be held Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Milburn Gallery on the museum’s lower level. The reception will begin with brief remarks by MOA Curator of Photography Diana Turnbow. Light refreshments will be served. This reception is free and open to the public.
LECTURE: Virginia Heckert, associate curator of photography at the J. Paul Getty Museum and one of the exhibition curators, will present a lecture titled “Contextualizing Candida Höfer’s Architecture of Absence” on Friday, Oct. 13, 2006 from 7 to 8 p.m. The lecture will be presented in the Museum Auditorium and end with a reception in the Milburn Gallery. Light refreshments will be served. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public.
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Gallery OneTen UP: Botanical Art by Janet Beck Clark. A Herbarium Collection celebrating Nature's Beauty, the exhibit includes plant identification, interesting facts, history, and lore. The artist's reception will be held Friday, September 8th, from 5-8:30 p.m. The Botanical Art Exhibit runs through September 23rd.
Springville Museum of Art UPCOMING: 10 September - 15 October 2006 three new exhibits in the museum's galleries. Opening Reception, 17 September, 3-5 pm.
Painters of the North - Stozharov, Popov, Semenyuk and Matsyutov
In Memoriam - H. Lee Deffebach, Wallace Lee, Ed Maryon, Francis Zimbeaux
This exhibit honors the work of four recently deceased giants of Utah art: two watercolor masters, Wallace Lee, and Ed Maryon, the mystical visionary Francis Zimbeaux and nationally recognized abstract expressionist Lee Deffebach. The passing of these four artists has been a great loss to the Utah community and this exhibit will show you why.
Town and Country - Painterly Visions of Karen Horne and Phyllis F. Horne.
This traveling exhibition will highlight the complementary subject matter of two of Utah’s noted artists - Phyllis F. Horne and her daughter, Karen Horne. Both were chosen for the “100 Most Honored Artists of Utah” – the only two generations of a family to be awarded this distinction. The paintings of Phyllis F. Horne celebrate her deep attachment to the western landscape. |13| She was born and raised in Richfield, a rural community in Southern Utah, later settling in Salt Lake City. Many of her works capture the fast-disappearing open spaces of the Wasatch Front. Phyllis F. Horne is remarkable for her ability to convey the mood of all four seasons -- from the glory of hollyhocks in the summer, to the melancholy of aspens in the fall, to the brilliance of snow-laden woods in winter, to the delicacy of the first tulips of spring. In contrast to her mother, Karen Horne is inspired by the vitality of urban settings. |14| Her latest paintings are a series of expressive, coloristic restaurant scenes. Although she grew up in Utah, she trained at Yale and lived for a dozen years in Manhattan. Since returning to Utah she continues to visit restaurants, parks and festivals for inspiration -- recording the local spectacle. Several works in this show depict cafes, street and canal scenes from her travels, including a recent tour to Italy sponsored by the Springville Museum. This mother-daughter duo present complementary visions of the urban and rural life -- as well as different stylistic approaches -- Karen more coloristic and contemporary, Phyllis more earth-toned and traditional. "Town and Country" demonstrates that both visions are powerful.
Terra Nova Gallery UP: Terra Nova Gallery welcomes the fall with an exhibit honoring our fine feathered friends. This group exhibit features the works of some long-time favorites of Terra Nova as well as a few first-timers, including: Brett Larsen, Rebecca Lee, Dahrl Thomson, Kelly Thurgood and Rebecca Wagstaff. The exhibit, which includes both 2- and 3-D works, encompasses a variety of styles and medium, from the delicate, realistic creations of Kelly Thurgood to the bold, stylized works of Dahrl Thomson. Through September.
Thanksgiving Point UP: Lift the Human Spirit Through Sculpture, featuring more than 30 new and past sculptures by Gary Lee Price, through September.
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.
College of Eastern Utah, Prehistoric Museum Art Gallery (155 E. Main, Price) — "Brush Strokes & Bronze Art Exhibit," featuring work by Joseph S. Venus, Gary Prazen, James Madsen and Dan Blanton, through Sept. 30.
CEDAR CITY
Braithwaite Fine Art Gallery UPCOMING: Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos, open September 21 to November 11, features the full set of 80 black and white etchings from the Spanish master. This series of etchings was begun shortly after the artist contracted a disease that resulted in complete deafness for the rest of his life. They were not commissioned pieces so the artist worked on them in complete freedom. This series of etchings, one of the most famous in Western art, gives life to Goya's dark vision of his times. |15|
EPHRAIM
Central Utah Art Center UP: Printmaker Stefanie Dykes (see page 1).
ST. GEORGE AREA
St. George Art Museum UP: Through October 14, 2006 Arts for the Parks exhibit in the Main and Mezzanine Galleries and Wallace Lee’s Park Legacy in the Legacy Gallery.
The Arts for the Parks competition was created in 1986 by the National Park Academy of the Arts, in cooperation with the National Park Foundation. The program is designed to celebrate representational artists, enhance public awareness of the National Parks, and to contribute to programs benefiting the National Park System as well as the public. Each year jurors review over 2000 entries of artwork that depict areas governed by the National Park Service. One hundred artworks are selected to travel throughout the Nation including for the first time ever, the City of St. George Art Museum, and catalog of this exhibit is available for purchase in the Museum Store.
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