The Changing Faces of Meats Gallery

The former home of Gladstone Furnishings in Salt Lake City has gone through a series of changes over the past few months.  The building located at the corner of 3rd East and 17th South formerly housed an antiques shop.  Since February, however, paintings, photographs, digital images and sculptures have replaced chairs, cabinets and credenzas.

Jim "Meats" Meier, a local painter and digital artist, transformed the space into an art gallery and gave the building its new name, Meats Gallery.  Meier began his artistic career using pencil and airbrush.  When he began working for Salt Lake-based Beyond Games, however, he developed his digital skills in Photoshop and Maya.  Digital work has now become his principal medium.  He has used his technique to make an award-winning animated film which has been featured on the Independent Film Channel.  He also uses the work to create still images which are intricate in detail and alive with imagination.  Meier's type of  artwork is not normally seen in galleries in Utah, however.  Since February, Meier and like-minded artists have been displaying their unique brand of art to the public at the Meats Gallery.  Their styles include surrealism, fantasy art, and dark 

expressionism.  These sometimes dark somewhat moody works create a striking ambiance uniquely fitted to the crumbling brick that makes up many of the walls -- some of which seem works of art in their own right.

The artists in this show -- Dave Laub, Ryan Peterson, Miles Woods, Randall Sagendorf, Alex Ferguson, Eric Delphenich as well as Meier -- have displayed together before and find group efforts a valuable asset in their attempt to exhibit artwork that receives little attention in Utah's normal gallery circuit. 

On Saturday, March 30th, the group held a Closing Party to celebrate the end of the exhibit and the end of Meats Gallery in this incarnation.  Jim Bean, a cello and guitar combo with atmospheric effects, played on a

small stage in the front of the gallery while a number of young and enthusiastic art lovers enjoyed food, drink and some fantastic artwork.  The group looks forward to future exhibitions where their unique art forms can gain further exposure.

Meats Gallery: Second Helping The name is remaining the same, but during the month of April a new group of artists has taken over Meats Gallery.   Now showing at the gallery during the month of April is 12 Artists 12 Styles.  Jason Zimmer, adjunct professor of art at Salt Lake Community College and Brigham Young University, has arranged this show for his upper level students. Zimmer explains that these artists, whose style range from traditional oil paintings to comic book art, were chosen for their unique artwork and level of professionalism. 
 

All twelve members have devoted time and means to promoting the show as well as catering and hosting the gallery. For many, this is their first exposure into the art world and their first experience of showing their work beyond the college campus.

The Meats Gallery will be open during the month of April, monday through Saturday 10am-1pm and 6pm-10pm.  A reception for the exhibit will be held April 19th, 6-10pm as part of Gallery Stroll. 
Participating artists: Jeff S. Shirley, David M. Shirley, Andrew Ballstaidt, Chris Deaver, Mica Petersen, Kelly Powers, Kathleen Dahlin, Alex Evans, Jared Miller, Cory Bjarnson, Jason D. Zimmer and Jim "Meats" Meier.
 

Michael Bingham grew up in the farmlands of Southeastern Idaho within sight of the majestic Teton Mountains.  As a child, he was surrounded by the beauties of nature and now yields credit to the great outdoors as his main source of inspiration.  Bingham finds beauty in all things – in people, animals, and landscape.  He also believes that this “beauty” has helped to instill in him a passion for art and creation.

 Bingham, a graduate of the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, has been painting professionally for more than twenty years and has had much success.  His fine art paintings can be found in several galleries across the country and in many private collections.  He was recently 
selected to show 12 of his original paintings in the Olympic Organizing  Committee headquarters during the 2002 Winter Olympic games in Salt Lake City Utah.

Last year, Bingham, his wife, Suzanne, and their seven children, moved to Logan after living in Kansas City for 12 years where he painted as a full-time illustrator for Hallmark Cards, Inc.  Bingham wanted to follow his dream of creating an art school that would allow rising artists to learn from pro- fessionals.  Today, this dream has come true as professional artists from around the world are coming to Bingham’s art school, Paint Utah, to present their authentic style during art-skills seminars, to teach participants how to fine-tune their individual skills, and to inspire creativity.

Bingham says inspiring creativity is the power behind Paint Utah due to its location in Logan-- where people travel to get away from the rest of the world. Among the many mountains and valleys of Northern Utah, one can regroup and relax as part of this wonderland of beauty and splendor.

Bingham continues to paint professionally and can be found presiding over his school of artists in Logan, Utah.

PAINT UTAH'S UPCOMING WORKSHOPS INCLUDE:

*Indicates classes held at Beaver Creek Lodge.  This price includes food, accommodations and instruction. 
 All other prices include instruction, model fees and field trips.  Accommodations and food NOT included

May 6-10  Phil Starke  (landscape, Still life, oil) *$950 Recently one of his images graced the cover of Southwest Art magazine  He is a very good teacher
May 13-17  Del Parson  (head painting, oil) $425 Globally recognized portrait artist. One of his paintings has had more than a million copies distributed worldwide.
May 20-24  Jim Lamb  (landscape, oil) *$950 Award winning plein air painter from Seattle, you may have seen the feature on him in Southwest Art Magazine.
June 3-7  Russell Case (landscape, oil) *$950 Fast becoming one of Utah's best artist. Russell will help you simplify and add depth to your landscapes.
June 10-14  Richard Bird  (variety of subjects, watercolor) $400 Years of teaching college art, Richard is an amazingly versatile, knowledgeable and helpful instructor.
June 17-21  Vicki Reece  (people, oil & pastel) $400  Inspiring models, great teacher! This promises to be a week you will not soon forget.
June 24-28  Mike Malm  (people, landscape, oil) $375 This Artist is gaining national attention, When you see his paintings you will know why.

Display, a multimedia company turned art gallery will host woks by Valerie Martinez  with the help of Derek Dyer. Derek was approached by Donnie Martinez after her daughter Valerie was murdered last year. Valerie had always wanted to display her art in her own art show. In attempt to heal and allow her daughter's dream to come true, Derek and Donnie have put a show together in Valerie's honor. The paintings were all done by Valerie before she passed on and give the on-looker a brief look and Valerie's life, loves and ambition. This show runs Friday April 19 for Gallery Stroll 6pm to 9pm 400 West Pierpont Ave. 

Art Access II Gallery will be showing AT THE CROSSROADS, featuring 22 digital paintings and drawings of Harry G. Taylor. Harry is well known for his wood block prints. This will be the first show of his digital work. Taylor chose the Crossroads exhibit because of the many crossroads he has faced most recently with Lou Gehig's disease. Losing the use of his left arm Harry was not able to make his block work anymore and at this crossroads he moved on to digital works. You can see Harry's latest work at Art Access from April 1st through April 30th with an opening reception on Gallery Stroll night April 19th from 6pm-9pm,  339 West Pierpont Ave. 

Art Access Gallery (the original) will have Lenka Konopasek and her MEMORY GAME. The images in Konopasek's painting are solid glimpse of her memory. They pose the question of what is real and what was just your memory of the reality. Lenka is a very talented artist in Utah. She mocks the reality of real objects by imitating them and copying them. A definite must must see! Art
Acess is located at 339 West Pierpont Ave.

There is so much local art and music to be seen in Salt Lake, get out there do it. Remember Gallery Stroll is FREE. As always there is no way this could be a complete list. If you would like to see your favorite gallery in this article email me at mariahm@worldstrides.com 
SUPPORT LOCAL ART!!!!!!!!