Twenty-five years ago this week, in the first issue of 15 Bytes, Casey Jex Smith made an appearance in these pages. He was fresh out of art school and participating in his first exhibition, In and Out of Habit, a six-person collaborative show at the Salt Lake City […]
A charcoal-grey smog sweeps across an American highway, the acrid tang of exhaust fumes so strong they snake into the cabin through the front windshield. A motorcycle, indefinitely rendered useless under a layer of cold plastic, leather, and steel. A single, perpetually parked car. The moment between calling […]
If you’re a newcomer to Salt Lake City’s art scene—say, sometime in the past decade—you may have no idea that this stretch of 500 West was once one of the most vibrant corners of the city’s cultural landscape. It began 25 years ago. Downtown was looking west, […]
Our Delicate Ecosystem, on view at Phillips Gallery through September 11, continues the enduring environmental mission of gallery owner Bonnie Phillips. It is a cohesive collection of photography, mixed media, painting, sculpture and more that—in and of itself—creates its own “delicate ecosystem” of art, mirroring the exhibition’s theme […]
It was a dark and stormy night. Perfect for reading a good mystery novel, and I had a few on hand that looked promising. The weather seemed a harbinger of winter and I determined to lay in more who-done-its before Utah’s fall/winter season kicks in hard, assuming it […]
How do you cultivate and sustain a thriving arts economy when you aren’t located in a major global art city? It is a question many art institutions and organizations are asking, especially at a time when the art world is wavering and feels uncertain. Material, a local art […]
In a recent article, Art in America cited a somewhat vague statistic: 95 percent of museum collections are hidden from view. The magazine hedged on the accuracy of the figure, but it could be off by ten, twenty or even thirty percent and still drive home the point: […]
Photography officially turned 200 years old this year (or next year, we don’t know for sure. Perhaps Joseph Niépce neglected to organize his EXIF files properly). Initially just a clever employment of physics and chemistry, photography became a powerful player in politics, culture, and commercialism, and one of […]
Thanks to the mighty efforts of artists, history lovers, and people who care deeply about rural life, Helper, Utah has transformed from a near‑abandoned coal mining town into a thriving arts destination that is on a path of rapid growth. It started more than thirty years ago, when […]
Utah has never been as monolithically Mormon as the cliché would have us believe. As evidence: the many virgins of Salt Lake City. Of course, native peoples were here first. Then, after 1847, whole towns were established by Latter-day Saint immigrants, and many remain predominantly Latter-day Saint to […]
When Western Minerals and Their Origins first appeared at the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival in 2024, the creative team faced an unusual challenge. They would have just minutes to load in and out of a black-box theater, forcing them to imagine how a story rooted in Utah’s […]
Nicole Bishop receives Best in Show at Eccles competition Utah artist Nicole Bishop received the Best in Show award at the 2026 Eccles Community Art Center Annual Statewide Competition for her oil painting Everything is Gray. The exhibition was juried by artist David Dibble and features work by […]
At first glance, Heather Stamenov’s paintings depict people interacting with the landscape in playful ways, or responding to natural elements and seasons through athletics. But soon, something uncanny begins to surface. Synchronized swimmers glide through snow in the middle of winter. Aerialists swing from a ski lift chair, […]
Myth and memory can be both very personal and very universal. In The Stories We Hold: Journey through Myth and Memory, at the UVU Museum of Art, six artists display more than five dozen works that boil down to one thing: myth and memory unite us. Even the […]
The gas station may have become America’s true third space—that place outside home and work where strangers and neighbors still routinely cross paths. Banking has gone online. The post office is going bankrupt. Even grocery shopping increasingly happens through apps and home delivery. But until electric vehicles charged […]
After pushback from community members—more about the site than the visual content—Sabin Howard announced this week that he’s leaving Utah and looking for a new home for his Grand Liberty Arch, the massive bronze monument he’d proposed for a park near the Capitol. The Grand Liberty Arch is […]
“About an hour in, you start to really relax,” Dallin Orr says in this video profile by Austin Smock. “You start to feel really connected to things. That deep sense of purpose and peace, that’s what I’m chasing every time I go out.” For years Orr has […]
He was a painter of vivid, luminescent wildlife paintings and energetic plein air works, but James Kirkland will probably be best remembered for three major mural projects he executed in Salt Lake City. The Utah artist died July 20, 2026, at the age of 66. His niece, Amy […]
Whale Sculpture Gets New Mural This Fall Jiyoun Lee-Lodge has been selected to paint a new mural on “Out of the Blue,” Stephen Kesler’s whale sculpture at the 900 South and 1100 East roundabout in the 9th & 9th neighborhood. The piece, titled Open Your Eyes, wraps the […]
Stewart Seidman creates expressive acrylic works on canvas and with recycled FedEx envelopes that once served as his paint palettes, transforming everyday materials into compelling contemporary art.
To discover more artists, visit our Utah Artists Directory
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