Exhibition
Review--Park City
The Art Must Stand Alone:
Utah Arts Council's Utah 2002
by Laura Durham
 There
are few competitions like it in Utah: Your reputation is irrelevant. Your resume is immaterial. There is no entry fee. Any Utahn
18 years or older has a fair chance. First-time applicants may get juried
in; strong, well-known artists may get juried out. The artwork must
stand alone, independent of its creator. Every year, two out-of-state jurors
enter a different host gallery, walk among hundreds of paintings and sculptures,
and begin a daylong task of creating an esteemed exhibit from what Utah
artists have placed before them.
Since 1899, the Utah Arts Council's
Statewide Annual Exhibition, an attempt to "advance the arts in all their
phases," showcases artwork of all styles, genres and media. Recently,
to avoid an overwhelming amount of entries, the Visual Arts Program decided
to divide the media into three categories, creating themed shows that rotate
every three years. The three themes are: Mixed Media and Works on
Paper; Crafts and Photography; and this year's theme: Painting and
Sculpture.
Park City's Kimball Art Center hosted
Utah 2002: Painting and Sculpture. Ben Mitchell, Senior Curator
for the Yellowstone Art Museum, and Patty Ortiz, Curator at Denver's Museum
of Contemporary Art, were this year's jurors. They had a responsibility
to choose quality artwork, but they also needed to curate a show. The pieces
they selected were strong enough to stand on their own, but they also needed
to complement the other pieces chosen for display. They accepted
works that not only manifested an obvious talent, but possessed a voice
as well. The jury process moved rather quickly at first, but eventually
difficult decisions had to be made. By the time they finished, Mitchell
and Ortiz selected 92 entries out of 486 to be included in the exhibit
at the Kimball Art Center for the next six weeks.
 The
result is an extraordinarily varied show including artists aged 18 to 70
that represent the best of each genre submitted, including landscape, still
life and abstract art. So how did the jurors make their decisions?
Juror Ben Mitchell stated,
"Some of us are more drawn to traditional
approaches to materials and subjects. Some are more focused on just
plain and good craft and hang the content. Others applaud the experimental.
Or we like work with apparent social and political themes. Or work
which shows a clear debt to art history. I believe you can find examples
of all these in our selections."
Juror Patty Ortiz explained,
"My criterion in selecting work for
this exhibition was based on the presence of three important factors:
the artist's personal experience, transcendence to the common experience
and an obvious dialogue with the ever-changing contemporary visual issues
of the day.
Both jurors were impressed with the
high quality and number of works submitted for this year's exhibit.
Ortiz finds it refreshing that artists no longer flock to New York or Los
Angeles to realize their artistic careers. This exhibition
exemplifies how the arts thrive in Utah. Artists in this exhibition
would proudly stand up against any other artist succeeding in New York
or Los Angeles. Mitchell and Ortiz chose six outstanding pieces by
six artists to receive a cash prize. These artists demonstrate technical
excellence and their work embodies an excitement and freshness that explores
a new concept or idea.
The jurors' awards went to:
Steve Broussard
Lenka Konopasek
John O’Connell
Wilson Jay Ong
Casey J. Smith
Paul Stout
Utah 2002: Painting and Sculpture
hung from October 7th through November 25th, but a portion of the exhibit
will travel for the next year. The Utah Arts Council's Traveling
Exhibition Program awarded a cash prize to twenty-four artists whose pieces
were selected to travel to various venues throughout the state. These
awards went to:
Ricky Allman, Liberty Blake, Paul
Vincent Bernard, Sandy Brunvand, Brian Esparza, Carole H. Evans, Sharron
Evans, David Hoeft, Satoko Iwasaki, Carla Jimison, Jason N. Jones, Veera
Kasicharernvat, Jamie Kirkland, Jossy
Lownes, Chris Miles,
Joseph Ostraff, Joshua Ostraff, Woody Renzetti, Gretchen Reynolds, Casey
J. Smith, Marha Tarnawiecki, Adrian Van Suchtelen, Clay Wagstaff, Jason
Wheatley
Art
in the Community--Salt Lake City
Feed the Hungry Foster
the Arts
Catholic Community Services
of Utah has a unique way of raising money to help feed the homeless and
also benefit some of Utah’s best artists -- Feed the Hungry Foster the
Arts Festival. Salt Lake businessman John Henkels started the festival 14 years ago
and the festival caught the public’s imagination.
>This year for the
first time in its history the festival was held away from St. Vincent
DePaul / Weigand Resource Center for the Homeless. “Due to
the increased use of the Center, it’s difficult to close it for a fundraising
event.” said Sharon Downing, Director of Emergency Services for Catholic
Community Services. The festival was held at the historic
Union Pacific Depot at the Gateway Center on December 6, 7 and 8.
 Dave
Malone of Huddleston Malone Sligting created an original sculpture, Movement
Within, for the festival. “My sculpture is what you see and feel.
Human beings -- like art -- require interaction and interaction stimulates life,
passion and a longing for self-reliance.” said Malone. The sculpture
was on display at the Gateway Center from November 27th until December
5th before being raffled off at the festival.
Proceeds from Feed the Hungry
Foster the Arts go to support St. Vincent dePaul / Weigand Resource
Center for the Homeless. The Center provides hot meals, showers, temporary
job referrals, medical and mental health referrals and legal referrals.
Services and outreach activities at the Center are offered free of charge
to participants.
For more information about the center or to inquire about next year's festival visit: http://www.ccsutah.org/. |
Gallery
Spotlight--Ogden
Bartholomew Gallery
by Shanna Kunz
Just one block off the beaten path
of Historic 25th Street in Ogden, Utah, is the first-class, family-owned
and operated Bartholomew’s Fine Art and Frame Gallery. Bartholomew’s
is a full-service fine art, frame, and art restoration gallery that provides
quality framing services to serious art collectors as well as novice art
lovers.
Lee Bartholomew is the owner/manager
of the framing and fine art gallery while his mother, Debra, is the shop’s
art conservator and restoration expert -- one of only a very few in the
western United States. John has been a cabinet maker and owner of
a mill, where he gained his expertise in woods, finishes, and fittings.
The Bartholomew frame shop carries
higher-end frames from all over the world, including Italian handmade mouldings
from Roma, LaMarche, and Genuine Gold and Burl, as well as more budget-minded
frames. Lee incorporates all the most current archival procedures
in matting, glass, and supplies. He also has a strong art and art history
background that has helped him develop an eye for design, and he feels
that giving his clientele his personal touch gives each piece its best
value.
Lee was an architecture student at
BYU Idaho, where he started building frames for his own artwork.
He fell in love with the process. He started as a senior frame shop
manager for another local shop and enjoyed the customer relations so well
that he started his own business with a wonderful clientele. His
vision for a gallery was to find  the
finest local artisans in an area rich with talent to exhibit and merge
with his own services. The result is a relationship that is supportive
to the artists of this area and to the community.
Bartholomew’s Gallery carries an array
of contemporary and traditional fine art and crafts – the latter of which
includes such as ceramics artist Suzanne Storer, glass artist Cathy Cartwright,
wood turning artist Joe Deru, silk artist Roberta Glidden, and potters
Craig Hasser, Claudia Van Wagoner and Kevin Parsons. The gallery
carries the work of painters Brandon
Cook, Kelly Donovan, Doug Braithwaite, Shanna
Kunz, Kevin Wasden, Greg Lloyd Batt, Eric Zieschie, and Jerry Hancock.
For images of the work in the gallery, see www.bartholomewgallery.com.
artwork before restoration
Debra Bartholomew has had years of
experience in art restoration and maintenance. She recently completed
a course in archival restoration from highly acclaimed conservator, Carol
Carney. There are only about two or three conservators who graduate
each year and less than a half-dozen people on the West Coast who have
learned these restoration skills. The conservator must clean, patch
holes, clean mold, and repair smoke or fire damage and damage caused by
folding or rolling a painting. Debra has mastered the skills of lining
a canvas and stabilizing the paint so that a painting doesn’t deteriorate
further. She also must maintain the integrity of the piece, and the
original concept of the artist, putting aside any personal style.
Many times, she must research the artist and his/her style, the time period
of the piece and the history of the painting.
artwork after restoration
Together Lee and Debra Bartholomew
have created a unique business providing valuable services both to the
local Ogden community as well as the entire Wasatch Front. Bartholomew
Fine Art and Framing is located at: 206 24th St. Ogden, UT (801) 334-7911.
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