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35 x 35 . . . from page 1

Like the original 35 x 35 show, 35 x 35² is a juried exhibition open to all Utah artists under thirty-five. "In juried shows around the state there are frequently hundreds of entries, many from well-established, professional artists," explains Artists of Utah board member Stefanie Dykes. "Numerically, it makes it harder for younger artists to get noticed. Limiting the show to artists under thirty-five solves that. Plus it gives us a unique opportunity to take a look at what is coming out of the most recently established studios." What's magic about the number thirty-five? "Well, you have to have some sort of cutoff point," explains 15 Bytes editor Shawn Rossiter, who helped plan the first exhibit. "And at thirty-five you can run for president, so by then you'd be considered mature, right?"

A number of the artists in the initial 35 x 35 show are now mainstays in Utah's art world: Anthony Siciliano, Nathan Florence, Kim Riley, Holly Pendergast, Brandon Cook. Cook, now a board member of Artists of Utah remembers the first exhibit fondly and petitioned to have the age limit raised so he could participate again.

Not all of the artists who participated in the first show have matured beyond entry, though. "In the first exhibit Jen Suflita was, I think, a first-year student at USU, doing these large format close-up paintings of friends," says Dykes. "At the time, the show helped her get into gallery representation at Horne Fine Art. Now she's back. I like the idea that even through all her schooling her interests are the same. She's now doing etchings, but they've still got that same crowded, intimate feel of her paintings."|0|

Linnie Brown, of Lehi, is another returning artist and her interest in collage has continued. "I remember at that first show certain themes, certain similarities between the artists arose," says Rossiter. "Collage, like in Linnie's work, was one of them."|1| Different trends have appeared in this second installation of the concept, says Rossiter, who did not participate in the jurying process but is helping to curate the show. "There's a strong narrative trend in a lot of these artists work," he says, "and not just because they're coming from the same place. Matt Glass, up in Ogden, is doing these large, staged photographs that have a very baroque quality to them.|2| Chad Tolley's work has a fairy tale narrative aspect about them;|3| and Chad Crane is dealing with myths of the west. All very different narratives but that story-telling aspect is central."|4|

Rossiter also notes the amount of work that deals with photography. In addition to Glass's work, there's also Cris Baczek, who Rossiter says "continues to experiment with what exactly constitutes a landscape and what exactly is a photograph."|5| Van Chu will have a large multi-piece abstract work inspired by Chinese landscape painting that employs digital photography, and Mallory Qualls uses photography to create abstract works.|6|

You may recognize many of the artists in 35 x 35 from coverage in 15 Bytes -- Chad Tolley, Zane Lancaster, Chad Crane, Joey Behrens, Cris Baczek, Blue Critchfield, Justin Wheatley and Hadley Rampton have all appeared in the magazine's pages. But there are plenty of new names as well. "I think the exhibit is great for the public, a way for them to get to know some of the artists of the upcoming generation," Dykes says. And Rossiter says the exhibit helps 15 Bytes. "It saves 15 Bytes a lot of time going out looking for new talent. Here we have a bunch of new names we didn't know about before. And now they're in our radar and our writers can keep track of them and see what's going on."

35 x 35² opens at Finch Lane Gallery on September 18th as part of Gallery Stroll. Gallery director Kim Duffin says that this is the first time in 20 years the whole space has been given over to one artist or organization. Works will fill the two upstairs galleries, the Park Gallery below, and may even spill onto the balcony. The curators realize they will have a difficult task ahead of them, fitting over sixty works by thirty-five artists into the space. But that hasn't made them timid. They will be showing a number of large works, some of them seven feet or more. Michael Handley will have videos of his performances at the gallery, but he has also been invited to create a performance for the opening night; and Travis Nikolai will create a site-specific installation.

The show, however, is not only for people looking for works in a contemporary or experimental vein. Landscape works by Hadley Rampton, Aaron Bushnell and Woody Shepherd |7| show a variety of approaches to Utah's favorite genre. "We're not trying to push an agenda of where art should be going," Rossiter says. "We want to say, here's what's going on. We try to reflect that in the pages of our magazine as well."

A second reception for the exhibit will occur on October 16, at which time three juror awards, a Board of Directors award and a People's Choice award will be presented.

35 x 35² is at Finch Lane Gallery September 18 - November 6. Reception September 18, 6 - 9 pm and October 16, 6 - 9 pm.

Economic indicators . . . from page 1

Sproul is excited about the response the program has received from artists, patrons and the art community in general. Heather Farrell agreed to host the program at the Art Center, and 337 Project director Adam Price (who has been known to moonlight as an attorney) has provided assistance. The first round of patrons were all invited guests and so far forty pieces from seven different artists have been requested.

Future rounds of the program will be open to the public. Sproul plans to grow the project slowly, adding more artists and participants each round, which he hopes will occur quarterly (click for more info). "There will also be events related to the mission of the program," he says, "which is to create a more dynamic and engaging experience between contemporary art and the community."

Sproul isn't the only artist being inventive about how to bring contemporary art to the public. The Red Call Box, a new group project that will premiere later this fall, plans to display contemporary art inside an old British phone box. The idea began about two years ago when Sundance artist Jann Haworth learned of a call box in the UK being used as a local museum. It made her think of the old call box outside The Antique Shop in Salt Lake. The idea sat on her "C" list for a while until she heard the Antique Shop would be moving out. "I thought: A, the price might be low or negotiable and that it might disappear." Artist friend Edie Roberson was excited about the idea and immediately began negotiations to buy the relic. Trent Alvey, another artist, suggested they could pay for the box by offering time-shares to artists. After a few calls, sixteen artists were quickly on board and the call box was purchased.

Buying the box was just the beginning, however. The group, which now numbers twenty and includes painters, filmmakers, writers, actors and sculptors, is busy preparing it for installation. They first moved the 1600 lb behemoth to a warehouse space in Salt Lake's west side. After stripping off the old paint they have been waiting for most of the summer: by the time it became dry enough to work on it (without fear of rust) the nintey plus degree temperature made the iron box too hot to work on. With a scheduled debut of November, though, the group is planning to get back to work after Labor Day. They first have to weld some cracks, then they will be blasting off the rust and will begin painting it a vibrant red.

The Salt Lake City Library has offered to let the group install the box in the Main Library's Urban Room, where four to five thousand people could walk by it every day. Haworth describes the project as "the world's smallest Mini-Multiplex: theatre/Cinema/Gallery and Museum." In addition to the exhibits by time-share artists, the Red Call Box will be a site for the work of Spy Hop in music and film, showing work by children, teens and young adults. Haworth says the possibilities for its use are endless: "puppet theatre, one minute film fest, radio programs on an installed phone, live drama performances, a luau, Xmas exhibit and Santa, music composed in SL from plug-in ports for i-pods. We hope too to host a children's exhibition as well as a miniature 'all comers' show with a purchase prize to establish our museum 'collection.'" You'll hear from us (and probably your neighbors) when the Red Call Box is finally installed at the library, but you can also keep up to date at their website.

The recession isn't having much noticeable impact on the 337 Project, which seems to be charging ahead with its creative plans, the economy notwithstanding. The 337 Project is relaunching its Art Truck this fall with paid commissions by local artists Pam Bowman and Trent Call. Moreover, in the last month, the 337 Project also sent out a call for proposals for its newest event, an 18-hole, fully-playable, artist-designed miniature golf course to be opened in early 2010. Adam Price, Executive Director of the 337 Project, hopes that the exhibition "will create a wonderful synthesis of thoughtful, artistic creations tempered by whimsy and very accessible to the public at large." The miniature golf exhibition will be, by far, the most expensive undertaking by the 337 Project to date, with over $45,000 allocated just to commission the 18 original works of art. (The deadline for miniature golf proposals is September 15 and is open to all interested Utah artists-- go to www.337project.org).

Not all the news in the arts community is good, however. MoabArtWorks in Moab recently closed their doors, as did The Sego Art Center, which has been an anchor in Provo's art scene since its inception in early 2008. A number of other venues in Provo have also diminished their presence.

But if we can apply to the art world the proverb that when one door is closed another is opened, then the closings in Provo are being balanced by openings elsewhere in the state. The 15th Street Gallery is busy putting the final touches on its space in Salt Lake's 15th & 15th neighborhood (in a building formerly occupied by the Framery). And Wes and Ellen Clarke recently braved both a bad economy and a remote location when they opened their gallery of contemporary American art in the small town of Tropic (located east of Bryce Canyon on route 12). With the help of gallery director Irene Schack von Brockdorff, they have transformed a former restaurant into The Gallery at Clarke's. The gallery features plein air landscapes, abstract art, primitive pottery, sculpture and works by professional photographers. The upcoming Escalante Canyon Arts Festival (see page 10) would be a perfect time to stop in and check out the gallery.