Artist Profile: Moab
The Perfect World of a Frank Landscape
The life and art of Jonathan Frank
Jonathan Frank knew early on that he had both the desire and talent to create art; finding his medium took longer. A native Westerner, he grew up mostly in Denver, spending a great deal of time on the Colorado Plateau amid the majestic landscapes which he wanted to capture and recreate. He began photographing the natural splendor, but he claims he lacked patience with the encumbering equipment and need to wait for the convergence of the right conditions. He found the photos dull, despite his obvious ability to create good composition. The colors lacked impact. So, Frank began to paint.
In Memoriam
To Be In This Country
V. Douglas Snow, a Tribute
by Frank McEntire.
Almost thirty years ago, V. Douglas Snow began building a studio half way between the small southern Utah towns of Grover and Teasdale. He expanded it over time to accommodate his bourgeoning art and family life. "It has grown into a jewel over the years," said friend and Salt Lake City-based fine art appraiser, Allen Dodworth.
The place eventually reached capacity, so Doug and his wife Susan squeezed out living space in the rear of the studio for their daughter Felicia. This was an unsuitable arrangement as she became a teenager, so Felicia finally got a room of her own when the Snows built a new house just a few yards away.
Doug could then use his entire studio space (see page 2). "I'm pleased at the difference in the quality of my work and my productivity," he said about the family's changed living arrangements. "In the morning I say, 'I'm off to work,' and out the door I go."
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Exhibition Spotlight: Provo
Family Resemblance
Hagen Haltern's Intensive Drawing Studio
Mark England. Bruce Robertson. Jacqui Larsen. I came to know and be intrigued by the work of these three Utah artists separately, but have always felt there was something that linked them. England I came to know through his late father, Gene England, a brilliant professor of literature who proudly showed off his son's stained glass when I visited his home and later invited me to an exhibit of Mark's works at Finch Lane Gallery. Robertson's work I came across years ago at an unmanned booth at the Utah Arts Festival, back when it was held at the state fairgrounds. After that I made a mental note each time I saw his work, unaware for years that that he was spending every day at the Visual Art Institute, just a few hundred yards from my home. Larsen's work I came to relatively late, at an exhibit in 2004 at Library Square (when Biggs was still part of her professional name).
Though each artist has a well-developed and individual visual language, I felt in them an undefined quality, something each shared that made their work part of a family. I still find it hard to pinpoint in words. I could attempt to describe the formal elements the artists share: an interest in mark making and drawing; the inspiration of collage; a search for unity out of disparate elements; an air of searching and experimentation. It's like trying to describe what it is that make cousins look alike, though one's a redhead and thin while the other's a hefty brunette.
Then one day Larsen made an offhand comment -- all three had been together in Hagen Haltern's Intensive Drawing Studio at BYU -- everything seemed to make sense. And it made me wish I'd been there.
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