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JAY LENO
Fri, March 25
Sat, April 2
Sat, March 19
PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDERS April 8 & 9
HEART
Fri, APRIL 15
THE BEACH BOYS APRIL 28 & 29
More Spring and Fall concerts will be added, visit Tuacahn.org for more information.
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REO SPEEDWAGON
JARED SANDERS
60" x 60"
UNDER THE EVERGREENS
Painting Demonstration Saturday, February 6th, 2016 1:00 - 5:00 PM
OIL
Opening Reception Friday, February 13th, 2016 6:00 - 9:00 PM
608 MAIN STREET, PARK CITY, UT 435.655.3264 WWW.MONTGOMERYLEEFINEART.COM Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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Beauty Made By You "We are so proud of what we made! Thanks for your time and patience." -Kelly & Terry 2
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www.BrittanyGolden.com
Jewelry Classes, Workshops and Group Parties
Steve Songer
Robert Moore
36" x 40"
POLPERRO BOATS
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Jake Songer
24" x 12"
WINTER FRIENDS
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30" x 24"
PARK CITY NIGHTFALL
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Three-Man Show: Idaho & Utah Artist of the year award winners
Opening Reception Friday, February 26th, 2016 6:00 - 9:00 PM Preview the collection online beginning February 20th
608 MAIN STREET, PARK CITY, UT 435.655.3264 WWW.MONTGOMERYLEEFINEART.COM
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Contents
For the Love of Art Featuring 9 Talented Artists including Whitney Horrock, pg. 33
12 From the Publisher
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People of Fibonacci
24 A Day in the Life
33 COVER: For the Love of Art
16
Around Town
26 Creative's Corner
43 Essense: Gary Lee Price
28 An Artist and their Tools
47 Studio Pages
The faces and inspirations behind the Fibonacci team- Meet a handful of us
The People and Events throughout the Mountain West- open to submissions
20 Events Guide
2016 Calendar of events- What's hot in Arts and Entertainment in our region
Wine & Dine
Reviews and hidden gems- finding great plates all around
A hardworking, lovely woman whom you wouldv'e never guessed her hidden talent
A giant in our community, and today is the day you learn a little more about our borders
Sleepy paintbrushes have a secret life of their own
30 Culture Beat
Spurring Curiosity in Utah's Wine Scene
Inaugural Feature- introducing and celebrating the art
Making history- bookending the Statue of Liberty and being a lovely human
Including Bill Larsen, Lindsay Huss and Heather Laughter
CELEBRATIONS
Peter Christie
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” ~ Fr. Alfred D’Souza
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Brighton Beauty |A Dream in Summer and Winter Luxurious with Views | $639,900
801-793-6550 Justin@WinUtah.com www.JustinDock.com
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Contents
SpyHopDevelopsYouth,pg94
56 Jimmie Jones
80 Festivals
100 Career Push
61
Etiquette & Experience
86 Still Rolling
102 18b: Off the Strip
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Important Questions Answered
89 Disney to Here
106 Collector's Destinations
94 Giving them a Shot
110 Poetry
Painting our canyons for the world to see; he painted and left a legacy
What you never knew, but should understand about Art Auctions
Plein Air shows, conventions and everything in between: become a feature of the landscape
72 Art for Everyone
A gem at the heart of Dixie- Sears left a work of his heart
76
Intimate Experience
Chamber Music celebrated with culture and movement built in
Touching the core of being a connected human being
Combining religion, culture and hardcore tradition into something worth celebrating
Once a hidden gem, now a legacy: Judge Whitaker exposed
Americans for the Arts helps artists and creatives do a better job
Growing enthusiasm for this place, people are taking notice
Directory of Gallerys, Studios, and Venues according to area
Some kids just get a second chance; Mrs. Obama honors a star organization
A single mom, a troubled time, creates a powerful message for future generations
98 Canvas for Community
112 Editor's Choice
Police know this artist, maybe all too well, and he is gaining national momentum
Getting sassy with herself, artist paints a pretty pose and creates change
CELEBRATIONS “I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours… In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ~ Henry David Thoreau 6
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DIGEST
THIS PIECE
The story of our cover.
PUBLISHER Molly Bitton
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Asenath Horton
EDITORIAL TEAM Jerusha Pimentel Elif Ekin
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT D’Ann Millward Elizabeth Barbano
Janice Brooks Daniel Pimentel John Hughes Dr. James Aton
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Josie Luciano Peter Christie Nathan Bowen Elif Ekin
Mike Schlutter Alexa V. Morgan Dernice Samuel Jerusha Pimentel
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS The Hive Winery c12 Photography Jerusha Pimentel Edlynn Horton Kresta Stavre Julianna Christie
Molly Bitton oksanvarol Asenath Horton NOVA Amanda Anderson Shae Peterson
UMOCA Brookelynn Judeman Jessey Jones & Ben Stableton Ballet West
For advertising information send inquiries to: Fibonacci Fine Arts Company 221 E Broadway, Salt Lake City, UT 84111 P 385.259.0620 www.fibonaccifinearts.com advertising@fibonaccifinearts.com The opinions contained in the articles and advertisements published by Fibonacci Fine Arts Digest are not necessarily those of Fibonacci Fine Arts Digest, its officers, directors or employees, nor does publication in Fibonacci Fine Arts Digest constitute an endorsement of the views, products or services contained in said articles or advertisements. The publisher is not responsible or liable for errors or omissions in any advertisement beyond the paid price. Fibonacci Fine Arts Digest is published six times annually and is distributed throughout the Moutain West Region, including Las Vegas, NV, Denver, Co, St. George, UT, Salt Lake City, UT, Sun Valley, ID, and Jackson, WY. Any reproduction, electronic, print, or otherwise without written consent from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Address requests for special permission to the Editor-In-Chief at asenath@fibonaccifinearts.com. To subscribe to the Fibonacci Fine Arts Digest, make changes to your current subscription, or purchase back issues, call 385.259.0620 or visit us online at www.fibonaccifinearts.com. Copyright © 2016 Fibonacci Fine Arts Company, LLC. All rights reserved.
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It was a tough battle- art vs. music, photography vs. sculpture. And then, like magic spewing out of a massive geyser, it appeared. Celebrate an artist MR. DARRYL ERDMANN
with his piece Broken Arrow Acrylic 25" x 30" From the board of directors when reviewing the finalists, “These two are the top natural winners for the cover piece. They have talent, gumption, possess grit, are in it for the longhaul.” From our staff, “I love this one... and this one... I'm having a hard time?” ...and then it happened. “Feel how this one moves you. How you feel connected to something. It is like all the flavor of life resides in this one. Wintery, sound, lovely.” Darryl, we thank you for being a pure genius... your work is adored and we can feel the impact you have made on the arts community.
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From the Publisher
W
hen I was a young girl, my parents called me their princess. I knew we didn’t have a castle with a mote or servants. My mom didn’t wear gowns or a diamond encrusted tiara. My dad didn’t wear royal robes or have a crown of gold on his brow. Even without all of this stuff, I believed I was a princess of a royal king
and queen. I would tell my friends stories about my parents coming from far away, leaving the land they ruled to be with the people they loved. I truly believed, and was able to convince them, that I was a princess, loved and cherished like royalty. We lived in a little town in southern Utah called Big Water. The sand was rusty red and an anthill was a pleasurable source of entertainment. These anthills, loaded with biting red ants, were a special treasure trove filled with something we termed doll coins. They were about the size of a Sharpie marker tip, and were plastic-like and smooth in texture. I would collect these ‘doll coins’ and save them to put with the furniture I carved out of large, red, temperamental dirt clods. Using sticks as our tools to carve these clods, we had to be oh, so gentle. My friends and I would spend hours on our bellies in the warm sand creating meticulously carved couches, tables, beds, and whatever else we could think of to go in the houses for our dolls that we never had. This was pure happiness. At the age of twelve, we moved to a small town in northern California called Tulelake. My sister, Asenath, my friend, Megan, and myself would spend every day together, roaming around town and creating new dance moves in the park. Our lives revolved around exploration, creativity, and entrepreneurship. We would explore the town to find the perfect spot with soft green grass and huge shady trees to dance under and sing any song we could remember. After creating our dance routine, we would head back home to put on a show for all our family and friends. Just a nickel apiece, and that was a well-spent nickel indeed. With that money we would go to the store and buy a treat for us to share while we created our next routine. Looking back, remembering the unfiltered excitement I had at these times in my life, I celebrate childlike curiosity and feel the need to bring this innocence and sense of unlimited possibilities back in to my life. There is a whole world of limitless freedom and sparkliness in life that many us have forgotten about, and we have limited our lives to what we know. Celebrate this innocence and childlike creativity with each of us. Let’s show the world what creativity does for the heart and soul.
Molly, Publisher CELEBRATIONS “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
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“We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most—feels the noblest—acts the best.” ~ Philip James Bailey
Enhancing your art, not competing with it.
www.framegilders.com 801.298.1227 1403 S. 600 W. Bountiful, UT 84010 A division of Apple Frame Gallery Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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People of Fibonacci Elizabeth Barbano, account
Jerusha Pimentel, Editorial
manager. I celebrate the
intern. The most cherished,
sincerity and ambiguity
indelible moments in my life
of abstract art. There is
have always involved two
a boldness to this form of
essential components: food
art; a mystery of integrity
and riveting conversation.
awaiting discovery.
Be it one of the sporadic
I celebrate abstract art
reading events hosted by
beyond the simple surface
my English professors at an
impression and instant
Italian wine bar, a potluck
gratification for a more
with close family over a holi-
meaningful translation. In
day, or an intimate dinner
every discipline, knowledge
with my dashing fiancé, I've
precedes understanding.
remained certain that there
It is my wish when ques-
is no better way to celebrate
tioning abstract art, to please consider joining me as I appreciate,
life than when the belly and
contemplate and celebrate this cause to feel happy; completely
mind can feast simultane-
satisfied in sincerity and ambiguity.
ously!
Peter Christie , con-
Josie Luciano, writer.
tributor. Christie has
Favorite celebration for
worked with Ballet
me during the year is
West for 33 years; danc-
Christmas. For all the
ing for 16 years while
reasons you might expect,
rising to the rank of
snow, food and magical
soloist. He currently
feelings, as well as oth-
serves as the Director
ers more specific to my
of Education, beginning
ilk. Luciano-Glassberg
in 1998, and served as
Christmases always
Director of the Ballet
include poppy seed
West Academy from
moon cookies, childhood
2004-2015. He has
ornaments with words
taught and conducted
attached to them, dreidel
master classes around
wars, and a family that
the world. He feels pas-
gets along until we don’t.
sionately that through
It’s the ‘Super bowl’ of the holidays and we like to go big.
education and experiences, the power of the arts can change the world for the better.
CELEBRATIONS “Quit hanging on to the handrails . . . Let go. Surrender. Go for the ride of your life. Do it every day.” ~ Melody Beattie 14
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"What do I celebrate? I celebrate accomplishment. Especially educational, personal and cultural accomplishments, both individually and collectively."
“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.” ~ Danny Kaye
Credits: Pimentel: Jerusha Pimentel, Barbano: Elizabeth Barbano, Luciano: Josie Luciano, Christie: Julianna Christie.
BEHIND THE PAGES OF THIS ISSUE
Fibonacci Fine Arts Company in collaboration with Fibonacci Foundation Presents
TheCrimson Ball For the Love of Art
Join us for an actionpacked night in Salt Lake City, February 11, 2016.
Join the MountainWest's most ambitious creatives as we celebrate this year's feature winners. Celebrate great art, mingle with the movers in the industry and share in a good time. Wear all the red you can- "Best Of Dress" prizes awarded.
17 + Shades of Red
9 Awardees & Families
21 Honorable Mentions
6:00 PM, THE LEONARDO FEBRUARY 11, 2016 TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW.FIBONACCIFOUNDATION.ORG RECIPIENT DETAILS: PAGE 33 Fibonacci Foundation is a registered 501 (c)(3) Utah based corporation. All proceeds raised from events will go towards supporting MountainWest Artists, Creatives and Performers, including those who would consider themselves either an amateur, emerging, or estblished creative. Our mission is to cultivate a strong arts community by creating opportunities for full self-expression across all ages and mediums. Sponsorships and donations are appreciated, and will help support programs like our international study abroad and master programs for these individuals.
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Around Town
Dan Toone & Josh Toone Exhibit September 13, 2015 - Salt Lake City, UT
Photos by Asenath Horton & Dan Toone
Poetry Reading, Mary Giuseffi October 18, 2015 - Salt Lake City, UT
Photos by Asenath Horton
CELEBRATIONS “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations.” ~ George Bernard Shaw 16
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Nurture the Creative Mind 9th Anniversary November 20, 2015 - Ogden, UT
Photos by Brookelynn Judeman
Kyle Hicks, Local Concert Series
Photos by Molly Bitton
More event photos at w w w.FibonacciFineAr ts.com/events. To submit your events and pics, send us an email events@f ibonaccif inear ts.com.
Januar y 2, 2016 - Cottonwood Heights, UT
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Around Town
Fibonacci Open House November 20, 2015 - Salt Lake City, UT
Photos by Molly Bitton
Bayard Art Walk for Work October 15, 2015, 2015 - Denver, CO
Photos by Jessey Jones & Ben Stableton
CELEBRATIONS “The notion of the infinite variety of detail and the multiplicity of forms is a pleasing one; in complexity are the fringes of beauty, and in variety are generosity and exuberance.” ~ Annie Dillard 18
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“Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die, Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.” ~ Langston Hughes
Kids Art Show, Ulysses Salon November 18, 2015 - Salt Lake City, UT
Photos by Asenath Horton
Karen Horne Paints Ballet West Playbill Cover, 60th Anniversary More event photos at w w w.FibonacciFineAr ts.com/events. To submit your events and pics, send us an email events@f ibonaccif inear ts.com.
December 2015 - Salt Lake City, UT
Photo Courtesy of Ballet West KarenHorne,PrincipalArtistEmilyAdamsdressedasSnowQueen,AtisticDirectorAdamSklute
Photo by Karen Horne
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Event Guide 2016
JANUARY 21-31 Park City, UT Sundance Film Festival sundance.org
JUNE 25-26 Estes Park, CO Scandinavian Midsummer Festival estesmidsummer.com
FEBRUARY 11 Salt Lake City, UT Crimson Ball: For the Love of Art Awards and Reception FibonacciFoundation.org
JUNE 25-28 Salt Lake City, UT Utah Arts Festival uaf.org JULY 1-3 Breckenridge, CO Breckenridge July Art Festival mountainartfestivals.com
MARCH 15-18 Jackson, WY Grand Teton Winter Music Gtfm.org APRIL 16-17 Boulder City, NV 31st Annual Boulder City Art Guild Spring Artfest bouldercityartguild.com MAY 22-24 Denver, CO 17th Annual Downtown Denver Arts Festival downtowndenverartsfestival.com MAY 23-25 Estes Park, CO 16th Annual Estes Park Art Market artcenterofestes.com JUNE 6-7 Denver, CO Capital Hill People's Fair - Art & Music Festival Peoplesfair.com DIGEST
JUNE 18-20 Logan, UT Summerfest Arts Faire Logansummerfest.com JUNE 19-21 Glenwood Springs, CO 118th Annual Strawberry Days Festival strawberrydaysfestival.ning.com JUNE 19-21 Alpine, WY Alpine Solstice Fine Art Show Alpinesolstice.com JUNE 20-21 Lyons, CO Art on the Green Arts Festival Lyonsartfestival.com JUNE 25 Boise, ID Boise Music Festival Boisemusicfestival.com
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2/17/15 9:12 PM
JULY 2-4 Denver, CO Cherry Creek Art Festival Cherryarts.org JULY 3-5 Colorado Springs, CO Pikes Peak Art and Music Festival Pikespeakartsfest.com JULY 4-AUGUST 20 Jackson, WY Grand Teton Music Festival Gtfm.org JULY 4-AUGUST 14 Park City, UT Deer Valley Music Festival Deervalleymusicfestival.org July 10-12 Jackson Hole, WY Art Fair Jackson Hole Jhartfair.org July 11-12 Steamboat Springs, CO Art in the Park Steamboatarts.org JULY 11-12 Salida, CO The Salida Arts Festival Salidaartsfestival.com July 17-19 Kalispell, MT Arts in the Park July 18-19 Salida, CO 7th Annual Salida Riverside Fine Arts Festival coloradoeventsandfestivals.com
JULY 18-19 Evergreen, CO Summerfest Arts Festival Evergreenarts.com
AUGUST 7-9 Jackson, WY Art Fair Jackson Hole Jhartfair.org
AUGUST 30 Littleton, CO 4th Annual Affordable Arts Festival affordableartsfestival.com
JULY 25-26 Aspen, CO 13th Annual Downtown Aspen Art Festival artfestival.com
AUGUST 8-9 Denver, CO Denver Arts Festival at Sloan’s Lake Coloradoeventsandfestivals.com
SEPTEMBER Lad Vegas, NV Life is Beautiful Festival Lifeisbeautiful.com
JULY 25-26 Denver, CO Cheesman Park Art Fest
AUGUST 8-9 Loveland, CO 51st Annual Art in the Park artintheparkloveland.com
JULY 31 - AUGUST 2 Coeur d'Alene, ID Art on the Green & Coeur d'Alene Downtown Street Fair
AUGUST 8-9 Frisco, CO 9th Annual Main Street to the Rockies Art Festival Artfestival.com
AUGUST 1-2 Avon, CO 28th Annual Beaver Creek Art Festival artfestival.com
AUGUST 8-9 Nampa, ID 29th Annual Nampa Festival of the Arts AUGUST 8-9 Sandpoint, ID 43rd Annual Arts & Crafts Fair AUGUST 15-16 Steamboat Springs, CO The Downtown Steamboat Springs Art Festival on Yampa Street
SEPTEMBER 8-18 Jackson, WY Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival Jacksonholechamber.com SEPTEMBER 19-20 Durango, CO Durango Autumn Arts Festival OCTOBER 8-9 Las Vegas, NV Festival of the Arts at DOWNTOWN SUMMERLIN® Summerlin.com/festivalofarts
AUGUST 5-7 Crested Butte, CO Crested Butte Festival of the Arts Crestedbutteartsfestival.com
AUGUST 15-16 Golden, CO 25th Annual Golden Fine Arts Festival goldenfineartsfestival.org
OCTOBER 19-23 Sun Valley, ID Sun Valley Jazz and Music Festival Sunvalleyjazz.com
AUGUST 7-9 Ketchum, ID Sun Valley Center Arts & Crafts Festival AUGUST 7-9 Bozeman, MT Sweet Pea - A Festival of the Arts
AUGUST 22-23 Evergreen, CO Evergreen Arts Festival Evergreenfineartsfestival.com
NOVEMBER Denver, CO Denver Film Festival Denverfilmfestival.denverfilm.org
JULY Salt Lakt City, UT Tumbleweeds Film Festival Tumbleweedfilmfest.com
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Send Your Events! events@f ibonaccif inear ts.com.
JULY 31 - AUGUST 2 Park City, UT Kimball Arts Festival Kimballartcenter.org
SEPTEMBER 11-13 Boise, ID Art in the Park SEPTEMBER 13 Las Vegas, NV Second Sunday Artextrordinair
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Wine & Dine
PORTNEUF GRILLE & LOUNGE
Lava Hot Springs, ID
Van Morrison’s Moondance was gently humming in the background and snow was peacefully tapping on the windows. Our hostess, Gail, stood next to our table, happily chatting with us about our dining experience. “Was there something like licorice in the crème brûlée?” he asked curiously. Brock and I had just enjoyed a most decadent dinner finished with Lavender Crème Brulee by the infamous Chef Alonzo. “One second and I’ll find out,” she says. Gail turned toward the low-lit serving area, where Chef Alonzo was working. “Alonzo, does our crème brûlée have something with a licorice flavor?” she inquires. Chef Alonzo smiles as he looks in our direction, and you could see the gleam in his eyes at the inquiry. He strutted over to our table. “I do put star anise in my lavender crème brûlée. You’re the first person who’s ever noticed in my four years of being a chef here.” Chef Alonzo kept smiling as we enjoyed this delicious moment together.
DIGEST
Chef Alonzo Thomas, a graduate of the Art Institute of Salt Lake City, is a chef alongside Chef Paul “Pab”Jessop at the Portneuf Grille & Lounge fine dining establishment in Lava Hot Springs, ID. Reservations a must, at riversideinnhotsprings.com.
CELEBRATIONS
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“Grace is the celebration of life, relentlessly hounding all the non-celebrants in the world. It is a floating, cosmic bash shouting its way through the streets of the universe, flinging the sweetness of its cassations to every window, pounding at every door in a hilarity beyond all liking and happening, until the prodigals come out at last and dance, and the elder brothers finally take their fingers out of their ears.” ~ Robert Farrar Capon
The art is excellent...
Lemon Dill Salmon Hand cut wild salmon filet, lemon dill caper sauce, mushrooms, tomatoes, and toasted ciabatta points
now just wait until you taste it. Reservation Line: 435-656-0165 815 Coyote Gulch Ct. | Ivins, UT 84738 www.Xetava.com "Nestled among vibrant art galleries, and only minutes away from the Tuacahn Amphitheatre, Xetava Gardens Cafe is one of St. George Area's Finest Dining Establishments."
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A Day in the Life
Vulnerability Brings Joy
A Poetess triumphs through expression of her natural self As told by Dernice Samuel
I
t was a Sunday afternoon. After returning home from
tunnel of darkness for quite some time with no light in sight,
church I was sitting on the sofa in my family room
I believe that writing in private, subconsciously brought a
when I heard the Holy Spirit speak to my spirit and say,
ray of light into my life as my poems eventually transformed
“write the Transformation.” Now, I must tell you, up to this
from Pain to Peace, and from Sadness to Joy.
point in my writing career, I had always written the body of
When writing a new poem, my main writing process is
a poem first, and then would title it afterwards. So when I
to focus on the opening line, which comes to me naturally
heard “The Transformation,” I said “Lord I don’t have the
and is usually the inspiration for the body of the piece. My
story yet;” and He said “You are the Story.”
next focus is the closing lines where I’m thinking about what
I started writing poetry in 1998 during a perpetual rough
the ultimate message of what I want to say is, what I want
patch of my marriage, and as I went from various stages of
the reader or listener to know and feel in order to “seal the
depression to feelings of hopelessness (at that time, it had
deal.” Then I basically work on the “in between” verses.
been 13 years of bad times in an unhappy marriage). My
It is not often that I re-write a poem, and rarely have I
experiences of inspiration seem to have revolved around inci-
ever changed a poem, although I have touched-up some old
dents that trigger varying degrees of emotions, and the feel-
poems. However, I have added to a poem–one in particular,
ings of helplessness within me. Whether it was an emotion
“The Controversy,” as incidents occur. Sometimes, I modify
of fear, sadness, anger, hopelessness, empathy or sympathy,
one for a presentation in order to meet a particular theme of
they were all able to inspire me to write a poem that paral-
program, timeframe, and so on.
leled the situation or triggering incident. Now I am certain that writing poetry was a survival
I know that a poem is truly finished when I can feel the depth of the message in my soul. It may cause tears to come
mechanism for me, as it allowed me to release my feelings on
to my eyes, or I may have a feeling of accomplishment of
paper that no one else knew about. After having lived in a
creating a message poetically that others could relate to and could touch the heart of someone and make a difference in their life. My poems are meant to be both performed and privately conveying the intensity of the poem’s feeling, I believe my poems are also equally potent to those who love to read. In my opinion, there can be a significant difference between merely reading one of my poems versus watching me performing it. When I recite a poem, I am delivering the heart of the message, conveying my feelings and expressions which resonate through me from my soul to my voice, thus touching the soul of others who hear. In other words, the audience can feel my passion as I not only recite, but also through my actions, which reflect everything I’m feeling and
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Photos courtesy of Dernice Samuel
read. Although my live recitations are highly effective with
allow the audience to visualize and follow along with me. The
sharing my poems, especially with the release of the book,
feedback that I have received in response to my work has all
The Spirt of Passion; Pain Prayer, Praise, Peace. Many of the
been very positive from both readers and live audiences, which
poems in this book are expressive of the pain, the fear, and
has humbled and blessed me.
hopelessness that I lived in, thus exposing the truth of my life
Many listeners are captivated when I’m reciting and often
and marriage. It truly epitomized the phrase “Don’t Judge a
tell me that they felt goose bumps, or that tears were evoked
Book by its Cover.” On the surface, my life at the time seemed
as a result of my words and motions. My readers indicate
perfect, but it was far from and it's appearance was merely
with more emphasis on being fascinated with each poem story
a shell, as described in my poems, “The Disguise”,” The Act”,
and how they were emotionally moved by the dynamics of the
“The Subjection”, and “The Mask.”
poems, and the need to slowly absorb each one. Many have
Some of the changes I have seen in myself are reflected
stated that a particular poem personally spoke directly to
in my poetry, as I have come a long way from such poems
them as it mirrored their own situation from some point in
as “The Desolation”, “The Malignancy”, and “The Disguise”
their lives.
as evidenced by my journey of “The Revitalization”, “The
Despite what many may think, there has been a remarkable change in my ability to publically share and perform my poems before live audiences. My entire life I’ve struggled with public speaking—I mean seriously fearful. But poetry has forced me to face this chal-
Restoration”, “The Forecast”, “The Deliverance”, “The Transformation”, and “The Potion”. My poems always reflect
“I believe that writing in private, subconsciously brought a ray of light into my life...”
lenge, and although I am still very nervous before performing
my life, and have shifted from themes of sadness, fear, and hopelessness to happiness, joy, and peace in God. The advice I would give to young poets is to not be afraid to share your work with others, and to follow
(though you would never know it, I am told), I am also told by
your heart and dreams. You’ve been given the incredible gift
many, of the moving affect I have on them. My audiences are
of writing—not to keep it for yourself, but to bless others. I
captivated by my performance and, more importantly, hearts
quickly learned that although many of my readers and listen-
are touched with a sense of encouragement and inspiration.
ers had had similar experiences and feelings as mine in their
The first major theme reflected in all my poetry is the
own lives, they were unable to express themselves on paper.
title. All of my poems are one-word titles, and that one word
When they heard my poems, it was as if they were hearing
never appears in the body of the poem, (with the exception of
their own story, and as such, I found that my poetry is touch-
one…or two), though that one word is descriptive of the poem’s
ing lives and making a difference. That is my dream; I hope
story. A second major theme is that the nature of the poems is
to touch the world with my work.
metaphoric, lyrical and inspirational. My poetry’s message is that even though we go through the “storms of life,” be encouraged, because there is always Hope in God. There is a high level of vulnerability for me in writing and
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Creatives Corner
David Meikle by Elif Ekin
A
s an emerging artist, it is rare that so many elements converge and connect creating a seamless integration of art, life, and local. David Meikle’s
life is that lovely example of life converging into a path toward purpose. A local, raised in Salt lake with roots in rural Cache Valley, he easily blends the two worlds into his signature paintings and illustrations. An admirer good illustration, he went to the University of Utah to study illustration and graphic design. While still in school, he scored a job at the studio that turned into a full time job after graduation. Twenty-one years later, Meikle’s life is twofold between the University as well as developing his own landscape-painting career. Always inspired by the mountains and the surrounding landscape, he never gets bored and says, “I am doing exactly what I want to be doing and get to create images of things I have grown up loving.” Having a foot planted in both the commercial and fine art worlds, he can easily shift between graphic design/art direction, freelance illustration, and fine art gallery work. Returning to University of Utah to get an MFA in painting gave him experience that was invaluable in helping him eventually break into the gallery world and start selling oil paintings. “We never imagined that we’d be the tourist attraction,” he reminisces about a time recently when he had the opportunity to bring a group of painters, students and still learning the art of plein air, down to the Zion Canyon area for a painting trip. The plan was overlooks areas to paint outside. “After a short while, we were getting our pictures taken, and big tour buses would pull over to let the crowds out to snap their shots. So many of us take only a second to breathe in the view, but plein air paintings absorb everything from the painter and the environment, absorbing the scene into their whole being, which then becomes a visual representation of what is happening on the inside. It is a great reminder 26
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Photos by Kresta Leigh Portrait Couture
to have a shuttle-bus take the group to various
“When you look at a good painting, you want to learn to paint, yourself.”
~Tom Bayless
that as an artist, it is important to slow down, stop rushing
and shade.
through life, and appreciate the area you are in, both literally and
The influence of traditional painting on his digital artwork
figuratively. He sighs with a smile, “Spending the day painting in
has blended into his own signature digital style. Using this digital
the canyon creates a deeper level of connection between you and
style, he created the artwork that is used for all of the “Welcome
the world around you.”
to Utah” billboards that are at all of the main entry points into the
Art director by day, at the University of Utah, and painter and
state. The State of Utah had seen some Utah posters and cards in
beloved artist by night, this love of landscape also emerges in his
this illustration or travel style that were created and sold during
travel style illustrations he creates during his day job. “It’s excit-
the 2002 Winter Olympics.
ing to be able to use both skills, as an illustrator and as a painter,
Looking at David Meikle’s art brings me back to college and,
for my work. There is a natural exchange of color knowledge I can
wistfully, I wish for my own painting studio from my campus days.
easily apply into my digital designs,” he states, and, conversely,
There is a moment of clarity in everyone’s life when we recognize
he applies computer-based color blending techniques into his fine
our purpose and when we find our life’s calling.
art painting. Over the past few years, he has been asked to create
Meikle knew he would be painter for life way back in
travel illustrations for the Continuing Education department for
September 1993 during a super intensive workshop in Moab, UT.
their travel programs. The art draws people in and they call in to
After a long week of painting all day, he felt alive, transformed
inquire about the programs. It is very satisfying to know that the
and this active expression kept him going. That was the moment
work he does is helping his client’s program succeed.
he realized that he could paint like that any day, all day, and
Looking at Meikle’s work, whether in design or painting, the influence by painters such as Maynard Dixon, Ernest
never get tired of it. As I stepped into his life for just this millisecond to spend time
Blumenschein, LeConte Stewart, and Edward Hopper are easily
with his art, it made me want to unpack my paints and brushes
apparent. Contemporary aviation artists influence his landscape
again. Feeling inspired, I think it’s time I slowed down, stop rush-
designs because of their tendency to be skilled in both machinery
ing, and appreciate all the beauty around me.
and natural forms, such as clouds and mountains. For his illustra-
Meikle’s art is represented in Salt Lake City by Evergreen
tion style, Meikle looks to the silkscreen artists of the WPA poster
Framing Co & Gallery, David Ericson Fine Art and also by Mark
projects from the 1930’s because of their use of strong shapes, light
Sublette’s Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, AZ.
"Welcome to Utah Delicate Arch", photo coutesy of Utah State Office of Tourism
Bottom Left"Wotans Throne" 36" x 42" oil on canvas, 2015 Bottom Right "Desert Thunderhead" 24" x 30" oil on canvas, 2015
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An Artist and Their Tools
Brushes for the Oil Painter by John Hughes
L
et's discuss brushes, covering the major brushes used by oil painters, and describe what they are used for. First of all, let me say that there are a number of them, but, in
Now in order to get the full effect, I’d suggest imagining the voice of Brimley reading this to you! So here goes… The first brush on the left is “Mr. Flat”, that’s because he’s a Flat brush. Flats are just like their name implies: flat on the
them up in the photo according to their usefulness, with the
top, and are the real workhorses for the landscape painter. The
most important brushes starting at the left, working my way
flat is so useful that I will occasionally do a whole painting with
to the least used on the right. I’m very fond of these brushes,
this one brush! The next in line is the Filbert. Filberts are just
though, sometimes they feel like old friends, and some have
like flats except their tops are rounded off, which makes them
been with me a long time—I’ve even named a few!
real good for painting things like clouds and forms, when you
Photos courtesy of John Hughes
my experience, only one or two are really necessary. I have lined
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don’t want a real mechanical-looking edge. I just call him “Bert”. Then comes the Bright, I call this one “Bufford”! Bufford is real good at depositing thick strokes of paint where you want a definite, crisp edge. I don’t use Bufford all that much, but when I do send him off the bench, he usually scores a touchdown! Next in the lineup comes the Round, he’s mostly good at hang ‘in round! I haven’t figured out a real good use for him yet, mostly just to draw in the initial design on the canvas. So for now he’s just known as “Roundy” cuz he’s round. Then you have some specialty brushes like “Miss Fanny”, or the Fan Brush, she’s real delicate and does a fine job at sluffing off an edge here and there. She’s just a joy to have around, and is real good for the team’s morale! Next in line is a Soft Hair Badger brush. He’s a lot like his sister, Fanny, and does just about the same thing as she does so I haven’t named him yet. Second-to-last in line is “PeeWee”. He doesn’t like being called PeeWee and is a Liner brush like his cousin the Rigger. You can see the cousins come as both short and longhair models and are used mainly for making thin lines, like tree branches and rigging on boats. I don’t use either of them all that often because I can get a nice thin stroke using the side of a small flat, as well. PeeWee and his cousin Rigger are quiet and unassuming—and I like that! Finally…I’ve saved the best for last: “Old Eggy,” or more formally known as the Egbert Brush. Egberts are mostly used dry, for working edges and things like that, but I used to know an old California painter that used Egberts exclusively for dragging large, thick applications of paint onto the canvas. The reason I saved Old Eggy for last is because he’s a real nonconformist. He’s a long hair… related to Bert, except for being a bit unruly! Yep— he’s a hippy, and he doesn’t get off the bench all that often! Old Eggy has been with me for thirty years or more, but in that time I have only used him occasionally. It’s not that he can’t play or that he’s a troublemaker or anything, it’s just that he has a mind of his own and you never know what he’s going to or where he’s going to end up. One time I let him off the bench and he went out and danced willy nilly all over the field! Besides that, he always hogs the earth colors and does victory dances on the Ten Yard Line. On top of that, he’s a bad influence on the
money. He got a haircut and became a yuppy…made lots of money over the years! For me, mostly, and that kind of rubs him the wrong way, but he’s quiet about it and a real team player! Then there’s PeeWee, he gets off the bench once in a while, scores a field goal, and then sits back down until I need him again—I can always count on PeeWee! Old Eggy gets mad when I compare him to the other players and sometimes walks off the field at the most inopportune times just because I won’t put up with his shenanigans. I’ve been known to sit him down for some serious lectures too. One time I sat him down so hard, it made his ferrule spin! I told him, “Eggy why can’t you be more like Bufford there? He has a nice haircut and is soft-spoken, kind of like me, and maybe that’s why I like him so much!” One good thing though, Old Eggy has longevity, he’s been with me for quite some time, has seen a lot of his friends come and go over the years, and he’s still around! He’ll probable outlast me, and wind up as a family heirloom (or hair-loom)! He’ll probably be sitting around someday telling stories about all the great plays he made back in the day! And there’ll be nobody left around to challenge him. He’ll convince some young artist to let him off the bench again, and the whole cycle will start over. Old Eggy…what a guy!
other players! Before you know it, Bufford there will be growing his hair out again…that’s right, again (he used to be a Filbert)! But all that changed when he decided to make some serious
CELEBRATIONS “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” ~Vivian Greene
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake.” ~ Marie Beynon Ray
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Culture Beat
Spurring Curiosity A Pleasant Surprise in Utah Wine
A
ter living in Salt Lake City, Utah for almost fifteen years, I had no idea there was such a cool wine festival in Park City, just a short drive up Parley’s Canyon from me. While browsing the list of wineries involved, my eyes landed on a different sort of wine that I had never experienced before; a non-grape, gluten-free, fruit and honey wine. How was it wine if it wasn’t made from grapes. My curiosity was piqued. How did these non-grape based wines fit with the festival?
Reaching out to The Hive Winery, Jay Yahne was a delight. The company became involved with the Park City Food and Wine Classic as a way to connect with out-of-state connoisseurs. Their non-traditional wines spur curiosity and invite deeper conversations with people throughout the festival, with The Hive Winery’s booth being an unexpected, yet pleasant surprise for the passerby. “The wine industry in Utah is three times harder to break into than anywhere else,” comments Yahne. When he started The Hive Winery, he yearned to support the local farmers. As a result, only local fruits and honey go into making his products. Ironically, many of his farmers are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and don’t drink alcohol. Even with this, they appreciate how the winery benefits Utah and the agricultural industry. The Hive Winery is the second largest winery in Utah, without using a single grape. Some people get excited about Yahne’s products at the festival and come back all three days, while others are unwilling to even try it because it is not a California wine. The Hive Winery has a lot to be
Photos by Kresta Leigh Portrait Couture
by Elif Ekin
CELEBRATIONS “People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating, we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle.... Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.” ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel 30
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excited about, however you look at it. Not only do they create fun wines, they also have a Hard Cider line, Stinger, liqueurs, brandies, and fruit soaked in sugar syrups. The liqueurs are thick because of the pectin and pour much like syrup. Who wouldn’t say yes to 50 proof, black cherry liqueur syrup to go atop their fluffy stack of pancakes? As you are making your list and planning which festivals to hit this year, definitely head up to Park City and check out The Hive Winery’s booth! You will be in for a delightful treat! The Park City Food and Wine Classic brings together experts, wine, and food, for a few fantastic days. This year it will be held from July 7-10, 2016, so go and get your tickets now--You know you want to!
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FIND YOUR VOICE. FUEL YOUR PASSION. IGNITE YOUR FUTURE.
For the Love of Art Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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For the Love of Art
For the Love of Art 2016 Nine Recognized for their Ambition and Talent by Asenath Horton
A
s the billions of tiny ice crystals fall outside during this bit-
Utah uses his talents to describe a human condition; living. “The
ter, precipitous wintery season, the masterpieces developing
second in an ongoing series of fruit and thorns, the subject matter
inside each of these creators are celebrated because we all
is very symbolic to me of the entire scope of trials and triumphs
love to experience unique, compelling art. We celebrate, first
that make up the human experience,” states Tyler Swain. “The
off in the pages of this feature, second off, in the lives of each one
fruit of the Rose bush, or Rose hip, is beautiful and edible but
of these humans; fly.
exists simultaneously with the thorny branches that support it.
TYLER SWAIN LOGAN, UT Peering through the thorns, seeing the exquisite beauty that moves us with every stroke on this piece, this guy from Logan,
It is an allegory for life, emphasizing that both beauty and pain must coexist in order to complete the human journey.” From a young age, Swain has been interested in creating art. At eight, his parents enrolled him in private art lessons, where he learned the fundamentals of design and technique. Swain explains, “My love for creating art continued through high school and into college. It was while attending Snow College in Ephraim, UT that I decided that I wanted to make a career out of painting. I became very interested in the techniques of the Old Masters and in the use of subtle, yet powerful symbolism – particularly in still life.” Swain graduated from Snow College, and then went on the Utah State University (USU) to continue his education; he received his BFA in Drawing and Painting from USU in 2014. As an artist, he has been published and celebrated internationally: published in Southwest Art Magazine; received the Outstanding Senior Award from USU; invited to Annual International Fine Art Show in Tsukuba University, Japan as part of the International LDS Art Competition; Won honorable mentions at both ECAC Statewide Art Show and Spiritual and Religious Art Show at the Springville Museum of Art. He enjoys playing the drums, traveling, cooking, snowboarding and spending time with his family and friends. He is continuously inspired by the all the Dutch Still Life Masters, Carlo Russo, Chris Young, Dave Dornan, Matt Larson, and Ron Richmond.
Fruit and Thorns, 16" x 14", oil Tyler Swain
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DARRYL ERDMANN SALT LAKE CITY, UT A long-time pillar, Darryl Erdmann has enjoyed a career filled with creation and celebration. He explains about his experience and process, “My work resounds with color, motion, line, and rhythm. For me, there are no boundaries, so there are no trespasses. Exploring painting has been a lifelong endeavor. Painting and listening to music have been a catalyst in my life for as long as I can remember. They combine in my studio to give me a forum for my thoughts, feelings, opinions, and visions of how I view myself and the world in which we reside in.” “Painting utilizes all the senses. It demands the use of all the processes at ones disposal. It requires an honest approach in order to let it develop during the process. Hopefully I combine my efforts and skills to render a piece of work that challenges the viewer and gives a visual dialogue for many years. There is no success, only many steps. I try not to weigh and calculate my directions, nor do I consider creativity to be compartmentalized. If you want to draw conclusions, feel free to do so. I would prefer to let the mystery of art to permeate my life and offer further investigation.” Erdmann was born in Brigham City, UT. He received his BFA in 1974 from Weber State University in Ogden. He also attended both the Salt Lake Community College and University of Utah. Erdmann is a celebrated artist with a career full of accomplishments and honors. He has been featured in numerous publications nationwide. He is currently represented at 15th Street Gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Broken Arrow, Acrylic, 25" x 30" Darryl Erdmann
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For the Love of Art
STEPHANIE HOCK SALT LAKE CITY, UT “I love the larger-than-life feeling in New York, especially in Times Square. It reminds me that I’m part of a much bigger world and that some of the things that seem like such a big deal to me are similar to these yellow taxis zipping by—they’re going to pass, another will come, it’s part of life. ‘Two for the Show’ is a large painting, so standing in front of my easel and looking up at these big signs felt reminiscent of actually standing in New York (even though I’m thousands of miles away in Salt Lake City). I love to travel and it’s so fun for me to revisit places I’ve loved through my paintings. I’m on a lifelong quest to find the beautiful. My paintings usually start in my camera. I see scenes all around me that strike my soul, and I paint them with my eyes. Photos allow me to capture what’s often fleeting—the subject is moving, the light is changing, the colors are playing off each other in a certain way. I paint what I see in my photos, but filtered with my personality, colors, optimism and light. Art, specifically painting, quenches a thirst of my soul that doesn’t get satisfied in other ways. Capturing beautiful stories everywhere, in a colorful, impressionist way, is, for me, the thrill of being an artist.” Hock was raised in Murray, UT and received her BA in Visual Arts from USU. She spends her days raising four energetic small children and her evenings painting, with the loving support of her husband when he gets home from work. She is a hobbyist photographer, with her photographer feeding into her painting. She is excited to see her children grow, as the older they get, the more they can help out alongside Hock in her studio. Her goal is simply to get better, one painting at a time, and she is thrilled to spend each day balancing the two careers she loves – Art and Motherhood. She enjoys cooking with her husband and constantly creates new dishes from scratch, and her children like to ‘help out’ in their very own kitchen ‘restaurant’. She loves being at home, wearing something uber-comfy, surrounded by her family with something good to read.
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Two for the Show, Acrylic Stephanie Hock
MICHELLE BOUCHER SALT LAKE CITY, UT “The ladies are part of a series called ‘Smoke from France’ featuring the animal,
The Hunter and The Huntress, 20" x 40" Watercolor on Paper Michelle Boucher
the woman, and her vice. The series started as challenge of sorts from a friend. I was in between gigs and I was bored. Because it had once been a passion of mine and it had been a while since I picked up a pencil, she told me to draw the first thing I saw. That first thing ended up being a pewter deer head on my table, which turned into the deer head on a woman’s body. That, then, turned into animal heads on naked women’s bodies smoking cigarettes.” Boucher is 39 years old, and possesses no formal art training. She’s never had her work in a public art show; however drawing, sketching and painting have always been a large part of her life. Anything creative and artistic feeds her soul and fuels her heart. She was a wardrobe stylist for 12 years and worked in costumes and film for ten. She moved into entrepreneurship, recently starting her own company with her husband, focusing on the woman motorcycle rider. Her company is called Flying Frenchman Moto. She and her family reside in Salt Lake City, Utah.
KEVIN-BRUCE MAHAFFEY SALT LAKE CITY, UT “I ride an Indian motorcycle and I belong to an organization that helps kids recover from abuse. I also belong to a philanthropic fraternity. I climb mountains. My work has been a lifetime of study using the figure as a pallet. I have not been a realist artist so much as one taking queues from what I see [and] transforming that into a statement. I have studied the masters and, one day, would like to make homage to their work.” “This piece is a commission of the Phantom of the Opera. It is 24” high bronze with an oak base. The work is a study of the man of mystery. I wanted to convey the covering of the face with the hat and the mask, which hides the face, but reveals the soul.” With a BFA from University of Utah in 1976, Mahaffey has honed his craft over the years, primarily focusing on small metals, ceramics and sculpture with welded steel and cast bronze. He studied under Harold Jackson (Jack) Hicks, Angelo Caravaglia, Richard Johnston, Richard Notkin, Richard Helzer and Marilyn Lavine and apprenticed with sculptors Edward J. Froughton Jr. for four years and Dr. Avard Fairbanks Sr. for one year. He is considered a figurative metal sculptor, using welded steel and cast bronze. He is a master metal colorist. Heavy use of wing motifs and flight can be seen throughout his work.
Phantom of the Opera Kevin-Bruce Mahaffey Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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For the Love of Art
KRESTA LEIGH STAVRE LAYTON, UT While sitting in a desert, a mermaid must have water or die, so she creates it. This piece is all about calling on your inner being and power to create the world you want. Stavre says, “I’m an artist and photographer, lover of travel, exploration and all things ocean. I’m a scuba instructor, wedding photographer and Reiki master. Some of my favorite things are wine, chocolate, laughter and dancing. When I am not creating fine art with my photography, I am busy engaging in community activities, spending time with my six year old son, or traveling with clients.”
Desolate Creation Kresta Stavre
Stavre and her husband, Victor, began photographing weddings in 2007, based on the pure happiness and joy they see and feel for new brides and grooms. Her artistic style fuses a fashion inspired flare, a taste for rich, distinct colors and textures, a relaxed fun experience with a passion for creating beautiful works of art. She and her family reside in Layton, Utah.
PRAJIT RAVINDRAN SALT LAKE CITY, UT “I created this image during the peak of Perseid meteor shower in August 2015. The forecast for the night looked bleak with predictions of a thick cloud cover. However, my friend and I decided to head out to shoot the shower at night. We drove to the sand dunes in Knolls, Utah since its usually pretty dark out there. Luckily the clouds cleared at night and we were able to witness a spectacular show by Mother Nature. “The meteors were flying across in every direction. I wanted to get a shot of a meteor through the Milky Way so I positioned my camera towards the Milky Way and waited patiently. I also asked my friend to pose with a led lamp in his hand. A big meteor finally went right through the Milky Way. It was an amazing night photography outing.” Ravindran is a landscape/adventure photographer based in SLC, UT. He specializes in photographing the night skies, usually with a human element in it. He won first prize in the Panorama category I the 2015 Utah State Fair and first prize in the Landscape category in the 2015 Utah State Fair. He was also selected for the Utah Arts Festival in 2015. He is a software engineer by profession and recently graduated with his MBA from the University of Utah.
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LUCY CORWIN SALT LAKE CITY, UT “This piece is about the multiplicity of options in our lives. Seemingly inconsequential decisions may have great impact, guiding us to unexpected places. Alternatively, events both in and out of our control, may alter our preconceived paths or create dead ends where we once saw unlimited possibility. “I started this painting with a specific color palette in mind and at a time when I was evaluating significant decisions in my personal life. Lavenders, grays, and blacks comprised the planned palette, overlapping and changing shades to represent anticipated possibilities. Yet as I considered how to move forward in my life, my choices of color and form in the painting began to change, mirroring my internal shifts on my external circumstances. Previously unconsidered options emerged as I grappled with the necessity to choose what I wanted for my life. Reflecting on these questions as I painted, greenish-yellow suddenly represented a new decision: unexpected, abrupt, and exactly the risk I needed to take in that moment. “Even if all that is available is an internal shift of perspective, we always have choices. Every decision we make creates new possibilities and options. This painting explores the unexpected shifts and twists, the dead ends, and the bright, bold risks that define our lives and who we become.” Lucy Corwin’s abstract paintings, at once both vast and personal, have shown all over the world. Originally from North Carolina, Corwin received a Bachelors of Art in Studio Art from Davidson College. Service oriented work then took her to South Africa, Bangladesh, and various other countries rich with culture and color, where, visually and emotionally inspired, she used each spare moment to paint. After returning to the United States, she worked with gallery owners and professional artists from North Carolina to New Mexico, learning all she could while painting part-time. Drawn by a desire to explore other passions during the throes of the recession, Lucy moved to Utah to work with troubled teens at a wilderness therapy program. After years of teaching outdoor adventure skills, art, and art therapy to teenagers, Lucy returned to painting full-time with a revitalized vision for her work. Her abstract paintings delve into the psychological landscapes of both herself and those in close relationship with her. Her work is collected nationally and internationally. She currently lives and paints in Salt Lake City, Utah. She enjoys camping, exploring in the mountains and desert, swimming and reading. She is newly obsessed with kitesurfing, and feels the most free, fearless and playful in rivers, lakes, and oceans.
The Necessity of Choice Oil on Canvas, 54" x 66" Lucy Corwin Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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For the Love of Art
WHITNEW HORROCK SALT LAKE CITY, UT “I am a minimalist and abstract expressionist painter. My work deals with issues of human emotion, specifically the fundaCometogether 48”x48” acrylic on panel best case scenario, my art would prompt one to question the incongruity between who we are truly Whitney Horrock and what we’d like to lead others to believe. mental binary opposition within. My work explores the contradictions that amalgamate the self. Very
“Cometogether is a piece in which I search for evidence of my former self (selves) as I now identify as half of a whole. The painting itself struggled to come together (ha!) and then all at once, was suddenly complete.” Horrock graduated from the University of Utah with a BFA in Painting and Drawing in 2012. Growing up she was an ‘indoor girl’ and at a very young age, she developed a love for art and for painting, in the basement of her parents home in Sugarhouse, Utah. Her other loves are her husband, her family, her dogs and a good dry red wine. With a husband who is a brewer for Utah Based Epic Brewery, they consider themselves to be quite the Bohemian couple. Together, they built her studio as well as a gorgeous bar into their bungalow, not far from where she grew up.
CELEBRATIONS “I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws will be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings … If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” ~ Henry David Thoreau 40 • fibonaccifinearts.com
For the Love of Art 2016 HONORABLE MENTION HAILEY HALL Abstract ANDREA JOHNSON Psychedelic Art, Abstract, Toyism
DAVID MAESTAS Contemporary Abstract Expressionism PAULA RICE Abstract, Mixes Media
BRITTNEY JOHNSON Sculpture
LYNDA RICKS Portraits
CHAUNCEY SECRIST Collage and Assemblage
JODI STEEN Contemporary
DANA RAPALLO Abstract, Soft Pastels and Acrylics HADLEY RAMPTON Abstract Realism JESSIKA JACOB Mandalas
CORI TRUMAN Photography SARINA VILLAREAL Abstract + Figurative ANNE ALBAUGH Oil on Canvas STEVE STAUFFER Plein Air Landscape
RHONNY KANE Contemporary, Illustrative JACQUELYN WALLENBERG Portraiture, Landscapes in Impressionistic Style DAMON GORECKI Chainsaw Sculptures JERUSHA PIMENTEL
JONI FRODSHAM Music
Painting, Abstract and Realism
AMBER MARSH Impressionist
JOE YLENCHETA Color Field
REBECCA SERVOSS Sketch, Watercolor, Acrylics, Mixed Media
ANTHONY BARBANO Fumed Glass
For the Love of Art 2016 Celebration Details Page 15
JONATHON TURNER Musical and Social
Melissa Kelsey Photography
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Gary Lee Price in Springville, UT studio with Statue of Responsibil-
Essence: Gary Lee Price
sculpture cover
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Essence: Gary Lee Price The Magic of Sculpting a Human Spirit by Elif Ekin ver since first moving to Utah over a decade ago, I’ve
stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to
remained drawn to the life-sized bronze statues of children
discover it.” But whereas Michelangelo chips away to release the
sprinkled about the Wasatch Front, depicting joy and play-
statue inside, Price teases the statue out of clay little by little
fulness. There is something about them that makes me feel as
with his magic, nimble fingers. When you see how at ease Price
if I want to join in on their fun. Knowing there was some sort of
is with the clay, it is hard to believe he began his art education
magic going on, I decided I wanted to meet the magician.
in different direction: portrait painting. His style developed over
And so it was that I recently had the chance to have coffee
but, feeling a bit burnt out, he decided to take his last year off
a visual feast that I embraced wholeheartedly. As we settled
and study with sculptor Stan Johnston. Price slept in his studio
into a conversational flow I suddenly heard my grandmother’s
for nine months, helping Johnston during the day and welding
voice in my head telling me, “Honey, look at his nice smiling
his own sculptures at night. He quickly realized he had fallen in
eyes! He has such a good heart!” It was so true. There is undeni-
love with three-dimensional art!
able energy, animation, and life glittering behind Price’s eyes
explains how he shifted from painting to sculpting: “Sculpting
lot of mischief, at that.
just resonated with my soul,” he says, “to have the clay and be
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I can understand how pivotal that moment was as Price
that took only one glance to let me know he is up to mischief—a The great sculptor Michelangelo once said, “Every block of
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the years at the University of Utah learning portrait painting,
with him, Gary Lee Price, in his studio via Facetime and it was
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able to make shapes, not as illusions, was the real deal!” Price’s sculptures certainly are the “real deal.” It is almost
Photos Courtesy of Gary Lee Price
E
as if he breathes life into each one
environment and sculpt from life and feel
he celebrates and captures those
their energy. Do everything you can to cap-
precious moments in a child’s life
ture that essence!”
that we all hold so dear. As a moth-
To begin his own creative process, he
er watching my own daughter, there
first starts out with a crude study to shift
are moments where I want to take
the idea out of his mind and into the clay.
a picture with my mind that I can
Once the basic essence is transferred, all
revisit over and over. These little
that’s left to do are the mechanics of getting
moments are the ones that mean
the anatomy right.
the most. Price’s sculptures of chil-
Not only does he create these wonderful
dren playing, reading, and simply
sculptures filled with childlike innocence and
being who they are embodies those
playfulness, but he also holds clay seminars
precious moments we cherish and
during which he helps adults celebrate our
celebrate as parents.
own life and creativity. He pulls that child-
These statues sprinkled
like belief of manifesting magic in life into
throughout the city are little
the boardroom. His guided meditation takes
reminders to us all to stop and be
the participants toa safe place, hands them
present with those we love. Too
a hunk of clay, and asks them to manifest
often we get caught up in the busi-
something physically that they want to cre-
ness of everyday life, forgetting that our precious time with our children
Bookworm, in the garden with Price's Son
ate in their own lives. He asks them to close their eyes and put a timeline to it, such as
is fleeting, and that soon enough they will be grown and gone.
thirty days, thirty months, or even a year. Once they are finished
Price’s magical ability is to capture the essence of that fleet-
with the clay creation of their dream, he takes them out of their
ing moment in clay, and therefore suspend that time. Taking a
trance-like state and tells them to look at their creation. If you
moment to sit and enjoy the playfulness of his creations is almost
can dream, you can achieve, and there is the physical represen-
like time traveling yourself—back to a memory where your chil-
tation of their creation. It is time to place it where they will see
dren were doing the exact same thing.
it every day, to let the subconscious take over, and watch the
So, how does the magic happen? Price quotes Einstein, saying, “‘genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.’
miracles happen! Gary Lee Price’s sculptures seem to channel and communi-
Photographs, observation, videos, more and more observation are
cate what makes us human: our ability to celebrate each other no
always ongoing. It’s a process that you can never put aside. When
matter who we are or where we come from. Globally, he wants to
you are always putting data in your noggin, it just happens— like magic. But, it’s not magic because you have already done all the work.” He sculpts children because of the impact his own children have made on his life. Many of his sculptures are
send a message of human solidarity
“When you are always putting data in your noggin, it just happens—like magic. But, it’s not magic because you have already done all the work.”
even modeled after his own
and connection with smaller versions of his Statue of Responsibility sculpture. His love of hands demonstrated with this sculpture as well as in his Hands of Humanity, are for me, are the perfect representation of both peace and love. An offered hand is this silent statement: You are loved; You matter;
kids. It was amazing to see his son Isaiah in real life, mimicking
I am here to help. Satellite sculptures distributed all over the
the life-sized sculpture of himself reading. The curve of his back,
world in troubled places help bring this message to those who
the way he held the book, was precisely identical. Price truly cap-
need to hear it most. Life should be celebrated, every moment—
tured that moment in his son’s life. Time will always stand still
no matter how big or small. Price’s art reminds us of that. In
as little Isaiah reads his book.
his own loving and mischievous way, Price is gently telling us to
Having an art history degree myself, I have seen my share of sculptures, but to me many feel flat, empty, and lack any sense of aliveness. Price says that artists need to get “out there in the
relax and be present. As he puts it, “Life’s short—so let’s have fun with it!” Gary Lee Price is a self-employed sculptor, and since 1979,
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has installed thousands of sculptures around the world. In 2005,
Frankl’s vision in his book, “Mans Search for Meaning” to bookend
it was announced that this prolific sculptor has been selected to
the Statue of Liberty with a Statue of Responsibility on the West
create the 300-foot Statue of Responsibility. It will fulfill Viktor
Coast. This history-making project is currently underway. Price
Small sketch to demonstrate the size of the upcoming Statue of Responsibility, the bookend of the Statue of Liberty, to be installed on the west coast of the US.
currently works and teaches out of his studio in Springville, Utah. He resides there as well with his lovely wife, Lisa Clark-Price. Together, they have 9 children and 10 grand children. You can learn more about Price and this project at www. statueofresponsibility.org.
Elif Ekin is a creative soul. Creativity flows into all that she does from writing to her punk rock baking. Her M.A in Art History and her experiences from working at the UMFA coupled with her love of writing can be felt in her articles. Her playful insights bring the artist and the art to life on the page. Always up for a new challenge, she dives into researching each article with spirited enthusiasm. Can be found at twitter.com/@mostlyhappyjrny Monet Gaggle
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Dissasembly, 2015 by Bill Laursen 48 x 48, Acrylic on Canvas Framed $1,350 My focus with this piece was to create a frenzy of energy using a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, working together to make a cohesive and balanced composition which is places in a colorless void that emphasizes the importance of negative space. The shapes may be perceived as coming together or falling apart, depending on the viewer.
STUDIO PAGES
TO PURCHASE PIECES CALL 385-259-0620 OFFICE@FIBONACCIFINEARTS.COM
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Studio Pages
Advance and Recede, 2015 byBill Laursen 48 x 60, Acrylic on Canvas Framed $1.800 A composition intersecting colors at right angles was useful in 'weaving' the tints, tones, and shades of several strong hues through deep, varieties of Navy blue to create the desired effect of advancing, bright colors with the dark, subtle colors receding into the background. I find Navy blue to be a versatile and satisfying color, so I like to use it at every opportunity.
Artists and their Pieces
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Bill Laursen
47 - 49
Lindsay Huss
50 - 52
Heather Laughter
53 - 55
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Red on Black on Red, 2015 by Bill Laursen 48 x 48, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas Framed $1,400 The power and energy of red is indisputable. It can also prove to be a difficult color for some artists, as too much can be disasterous. For me, a little red is great, but a little more is wonderful!
Composition with Heliotrope, 2015 by Bill Laursen 40 x 40, Acrylic on Canvas Framed $1,000
A color close to black can emphasize red, but also tame and balance it. The calligraphic strokes create interest and detail, along with adding an Asian component. The impasto stripe of Naphthol Red oil paint adds a welcome texture.
Many times, the colors I choose to use in a painting actually help determine the composition and even the painting's dimensions. Conventional thinking may suggest that an artist works out the details of a composition first and then selects colors that enhance the design. Employing unusual or even very odd combinations or colors creates visual excitement and interest.
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Studio Pages
The Elemental Series As an artist, I’ve always been fascinated with the interaction between humans and nature. I believe we have an obligation to treat Mother Earth with the utmost respect. We are blessed to live among the beauty Mother Earth has to offer. Without Mother Earth, what would we have as a people? She gives us life. She gives us the opportunity to view her beauty in every place we look. She has gifted us with beautiful creatures to live alongside us. As a people, we have forgotten this blessing. We have ravaged Mother Earth in the name of progress. We must stop taking and taking from her, because she will no longer have anything to give. It is time we humble ourselves and learn to love her again. In my series, I’ve chosen to show the power and beauty behind Mother Earth, also called Gaia. Gaia, does not belong to one culture, she belongs to all. She is powerful because she wields the elements. She can cause us harm, but she also creates beauty and wonder. Because of her, we have the gorgeous lava fields that glow and pulse with energy. We have lush green trees and small creatures in the wood. We have brilliant blue skies and wondrous creatures that fly on a breath of wind. The water is full of the mysterious beauty of kelp forests and coral reefs. By revealing the beauty Gaia has brought us, hopefully our culture can remember what she has given, and begin to take care of her once again.
Elemental Series, One Lindsay Huss 30 x 40, Acrylic on Canvas $500
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I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil. My parents were always very encouraging and supportive of my love of the arts. They, along with my grandmothers, would get me art supplies for almost every birthday and holiday. Some of my earliest memories are of me with my grandmother, drinking tea and drawing. I continued to create art throughout all of my schooling. I was honored to become the Sterling Scholar for Weber High School in Pleasant View, Utah, moving on to the state level of the competition. I began my undergraduate studies at the University of Utah, with a particular interest in Psychology. After taking a painting class, I realized I couldn’t live a life that wasn’t immersed in the arts. After researching different universities, I decided that Weber State University was the best for me, because of the creativity the professors nurtured in the students. I chose to pursue a career in art education. (cont. on page 52)
Elemental Series, Two Lindsay Huss 30 x 40, Acrylic on Canvas $500
Elemental Series, Three Lindsay Huss 30 x 40, Acrylic on Canvas $500
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Studio Pages
I graduated Summa Cum Laude and with Departmental Honors in 2009. I have been teaching the advanced art classes, art history, and digital photography at Northridge High School for the past 6 years. It’s been a great privilege to teach my students the value of art. It’s so amazing to see how much their confidence and skill grows in one year. I am also honored to have been an artist at Pandemonium Art Gallery on Historic 25th Street in Ogden, Utah for the past two years. Jane Font, the owner, is an amazing artist and ambassador for the arts. I’ve been incredibly lucky to show alongside her and the other fantastic artist of Ogden.
Elemental Series, Four Lindsay Huss 30 x 40, Acrylic on Canvas $500
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Frosty Morning Splendor by Heather Laughter 24 x 36 x 1 1/2 Acrylic on canvas Deep edge - no frame needed $900 As with all of my paintings, this one turned out nothing like what was in my mind as I began! Here in Utah, we are blessed to experience gorgeous sunrises and sunsets and I love the amazing colors over a beautiful lake. Add some frosty textured mountains in the distance, and you’ve just seen some of the pretty that we get to see here every day.
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Fat ’n Happy by Heather Laughter 36 x 48 x 1 1/2 Acrylic on Canvas Deep edge - no frame needed $3500 This piece represents so many things about painting that I love: Color (always always color), texture (this was my first experiment with texture!) and fat little birdies. Every painting is a new experiment for me, and that makes it even more fun. I hope you can see the happy in this painting!
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Simple Mountain Majesty by Heather Laughter 36 x 36 x 1 1/2 Acrylic on canvas Deep edge - no frame needed $1650 This was actually a compilation of an actual sunrise photo that I took of Mt. Timpanogos from my window and another of Utah Lake that I took from a different window! The colors in the sky just lifted me up that day and I knew I had to try to capture that magnificence.
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Visual Arts
Jimmie Jones
Coming Home to the Canyons by Dr. James Aton
J
immie Floyd Jones studied art in Los Angeles and lived and painted in Mexico and Ecuador for fourteen winters. But he not only came home to southern Utah in 1975 to live permanently, he came back to paint his home landscape—the canyons of southern Utah and northern Arizona. By the time he died in 2009, from emphysema, Jones was acknowledged as “the pater
familias of redrock artists” and was even compared to Maynard Dixon, the greatest Southwest landscape painter.
Jones grew up in Cedar City, Utah, born in 1933 in the middle of the Great Depression. The third of five children, he lived a
relatively comfortable middle class life, attending Cedar City public schools. The artist remembers drawing a lot as a child to entertain himself and being encouraged by his parents, Elton and Thelma Jones. He recalled a junior high school teacher, Eva Schmutz,
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Point Sublime, 2009, oil on canvas, 54 x 120, collection of Southern Utah University
who helped him take art seriously, so that “by the time I got out of high school, I knew I was going to be an artist.” Anyone growing up in Cedar City during that time knows how unusual that would sound.
After graduation, Jones left home for the big city. He had been accepted to the prestigious Art Center School (now the Art
Center College of Design in Pasadena) in Los Angeles. There he learned the discipline required to be an artist. He said, “You got up and you went to work—you never had time for anything else. I learned there was no such thing as an easy path in art. And I needed to develop discipline because I was lazy.”
He lived in California between 1951 and 1958, which included two years in the army at the Presidio. Besides Art Center, he
attended Santa Monica City College, and then completed his B.F.A at the University of Utah in 1961, studying with notable artists such as Alvin Gittins and Doug Snow. Directly afterwards, he leapt into their M.F.A. program.
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To paint his master’s thesis show that year, he
sought out the warmth as well as the cheap rent of San Blas, Mexico. As he was returning to Utah the following year, he stopped in Tucson to have his paintings framed. It was there that the gallery owner offered him a show. As a result, Jones never finished his master’s degree, but made his living as an artist thereafter.
During his early years as a professional, Jones
focused largely on portrait and figure painting, confining his palette to blacks, whites, umbers, and grays. For those first fourteen years he split time between Mexico in the winter (one winter was in Ecuador) and southern Utah in summers. “Mexico was an enormous influence on me,” he said. “I loved everything about it—the color, the people, the strangeness of the place.” He sold some of his work from that period of time, in Mexico. Galleries in Tucson and Phoenix also took armfuls of his paintings. His first one-man show was at State Bank of Southern Utah, in Cedar City. The bank supported Jones over the years in various ways, buying and displaying many of his works and also loaning him money.
The important shift from figure to landscape
painting came about when Jones contemplated a bicentennial project. He conceived the idea of painting “my home park,” Zion National Park. After Jones’ first Zion show, the influential Salt Lake Tribune art critic, George Dibble, wrote a positive review, adding that he would like to see what the artist could do with the Grand Canyon. Thus, in 1977 Jones arranged with the Utah Parks Company, the concessionaire at the North Rim, to be their off-season caretaker. That winter he lived in a cabin a mile from the lodge and snow-shoed to the lodge’s sunroom, his private, makeshift studio. His main job there was to shovel snow off the roof. It was so cold in his studio that he kept his paints in a cooler to keep them from freezing. The next year he painted at the South Rim. Originally he imagined all this as temporary foray into landscape painting. But, as he said, “Just as I was starting to learn something about the figure, my interest was usurped by landscape painting. I’m actually a better landscape painter than I was a figure painter.” He never looked back to figure and portrait painting after 1978.
Those two seasons at the rims caused Jones
to look at the Grand Canyon through absolutely new eyes. In the late 1950’s he was known as “the bartender who painted portraits.” During his days pouring drinks Top: The Tourist, 1964, oil on canvas, 36 x 30 Bottom: Cathedral Mountain, 2009, oil on canvas, 52 x 42 Both pieces in collection of Southern Utah University
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for tourists, he had never considered the canyon as a potential subject to paint. But as a landscape painter, he
Jimmie Jones in Rockville Studio, 2008 recalled in 2008, “I have moved into an intimacy with the place I
of Zion and Grand Canyon in the upper living room, which holds
never imagined possible. The Grand Canyon is my passion now.
an extraordinary view of the canyon with its ten-foot, floor-to-
It’s like a lover you cannot get enough of. It’s my odyssey.”
ceiling windows.
Among the many elements that attracted Jones to the
Before having his own studio, Jones was a plein air
Grand Canyon, one is what he called its perfect compositional
painter. He said, “Outside you hear the birds singing, you smell
lines: “You can get a good composition from any view. You have
smoke, and feel the wind blowing through the trees. You watch
these strong verticals and then the horizontal layers of sediment.
color changes happening before you—even flies and minor nui-
Then all these diagonal shadows tie it together. It falls into place
sances contribute to the whole experience. You can’t help but get
so beautifully.”
some of that in your work,” he said.
In the three-plus decades he painted the Grand Canyon,
But painting outside in national parks posed difficul-
Jones tried to capture it from every viewpoint he could drive to,
ties—especially when it came to nosy tourists. Jones hated hav-
in every light, and in every season. He numbered all his Grand
ing people look over his shoulder and feeling like “a side show.”
Canyon works and the collection totaled 128.
He solved that problem by painting in the cab of his truck. He
When he turned to landscape painting in 1975, for
learned to work with a sixty-inch wide canvas by folding it. His
about a decade, Jones split time between winters in Grand
studio, however, allowed him to work with very large canvasses,
Canyon and Zion and summers on Cedar Mountain, in a cabin
something he had always wanted to do. From the late 1980’s on,
he and his father built in 1968. In 1983, he began constructing
he painted exclusively inside. For these works, he used photo-
his lifetime home on a sandstone outcropping above Rockville,
graphs and his extensive memory of Grand Canyon, Zion, and
Utah, at the mouth of Zion National Park. He occupied the
Cedar Mountain.
house shortly thereafter and after many wonderful years of life, he passed away on December 5, 2009 in his bedroom.
Over the years, the house itself grew to be a work of art.
Up until the late 1980’s Jones had one-man shows
at the Phillips Gallery in Salt Lake City and the Braithwaite Gallery at Southern Utah University. He also sold work at the
The original contractor was Stacy Allison, the first American
El Prado Gallery in Sedona. From the mid 1990’s on, Jones sold
woman to summit Mt. Everest. Jones modeled his home on the
his work at the Worthington Gallery in Springdale, owned by his
old lodge at the North Rim. He painted in a small studio on the
good friend Greg Worthington. Jones liked the fact that people
north side of his home, but completed his monumental canvasses
could look at his paintings, then walk outside the gallery and
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Front Cover of the book, The Art and Life of Jimmie Jones: Landscape Artist of the Canyon Country written by James M. Aton. see what he had painted. According to the gallery manager at the time, his canvasses came into the gallery and would “sell when they’re still wet.” Most art experts believe that toward the end of his life, Jones did his best work. As Swanson said shortly before Jones died, “No one paints like him. These last ten years, he’s his own artist now. His is a way of seeing that people haven’t seen before. He is the premier landscapist of southern Utah.” Jones himself summarized his work, saying, “I am a Realist who focuses on the Southwest landscape.” But he also liked to quote what a little girl once told him: “I like your paintings because I can see so far.” And that was part of Jones’ genius in painting the canyon country: his ability to capture what western historian Richard Hart calls “that awesome space.” Like Maynard Dixon, Gunnar Widforss, and Wilson Hurley—all great artists to whom he has been compared— Jimmie Jones’ work is now “the standard,” says artist Arlene Braithwaite, “He is an inspiration to southern Utah painters and his work will stand the test of time.” Jimmie Jones came home to paint the canyon country. An extraordinary landscape that is unique in the world, found and produced an extraordinary artist--right in its own backyard.
James M. Aton is an award-winning author of The Art and Life of Jimmie Jones: Landscape Artist of the Canyon Country (Gibbs Smith Books 2015) and five other books on the history and art of the Colorado Plateau. He is Professor of English at Southern Utah University. He can be reached by email at aton@suu.edu
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Executive Director of UMOCA, Kristian Anderson, at UMOCA's Gala
Etiquette and Experience
Visual Arts
Etiquette and Experience What you've wanted to understand about art auctions by Mike Schlutter
uctions are fast-paced events and it is easy to get
tionship if they so desire. Most importantly, auction attendees
caught up in the moment,” begins Kristian Anderson,
need to remember that the purpose of the evening is to raise
Executive Director of Utah Museum of Contemporary Arts,
money, not to shop for bargains. You need to make sure that
UMOCA. “The best auctions, from a spectator standpoint, are
you are bidding on something that you like, but come prepared
the ones that have smaller numbers of objects that are truly
to support the cause, and if you get a great piece of art out of
sought after. In these cases, you can really feel the competitive
the deal, that is wonderful, but when the organization that you
spirit.”
care about is funded, everyone wins.
There are once a year auctions, like Christie’s or Sotheby’s
For your first time, plan to attend a smaller auction, with-
in New York, where you’ll be bidding on seven to eight figure
out cash or the intention to bid. Go to learn flow and pacing; get
works at a time with invitations and etiquette expectations that
a feel for the bidding and decision making process. Then, once
make it difficult (and not suggested) for the first-time-auction-
you’re comfortable with the process, it is time to put your own
goer to attend. Then there are low-key auctions at local houses
money in play.
or galleries where it is significantly more relaxed and etiquette isn’t as staunchly adhered to. There are also charity auctions, which are successful based on generosity from both ends of the equation. “Through the auction event, both artists and auction
When bidding, know your limits up front and have your maximum set before you start. If the bidding exceeds your limit, be willing to walk away. Generally you are able to review the lot online or in person, so items at auctions shouldn’t be a surprise. There may be an occasion where
attendees work together to support the cause,” explains
you’ll say, “I have to have that painting!” Maybe you see a
Anderson. “The artists donate their work and the attendees
piece painted by your grandfather that got stolen from your
spend money to participate.” It is important to respect the art-
house when you were six...there it is and you think ,“By God,
ists by making sure their work is well displayed with appropri-
I must have that!” These would be exceptions to the limits
ate levels of information about [each piece] and [its] artist so
rule. Whatever strategy you may have had, once you engage in
that the purchaser has the option of continuing to foster a rela-
emotional bidding, all logic
goes out the window. Human beings are inherently irrational creatures. You will find that when you are in a bidding war emotions run high and the need to win the bid can be overwhelming. If you don’t stick to your limit, you may put yourself in a disadvantageous financial situation. This is why setting a limit ahead of time—and sticking to it—is so vitally important. Your limit goes hand in hand with the value of the pieces you are bidding on. For instance, if you are in it for a financial investment, you may
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Photos by Amanda Anderson, Courtesy of Utah Museum of Cntemporary Art
"A
not particularly care what the piece looks like, but you will be through resale. Whatever your intent may be, know it before you even go in. Buying art is different than most other purchases because it is more of a “want” item opposed to a “need” item such as most things we tend to spend money on. Maybe you’re looking for a very specific painting. You have a blue wall in your house and your interior decorator says you need something to go over this blue wall—or maybe you’re looking for something that stirs your
Art Auctions
artistic soul. Your reasons may vary, and there certainly can be an overlap of aesthetics and investment. Even the most romantic collector tends to be conscientious of the perceived value of a piece. Value in any piece of art is perceived. There may be factors that affect how much someone is willing to spend on a specific piece, such as supply and demand, the artist’s reputation, the artwork’s cult of personality, or simply the sheer beauty or emotion of that specific piece. There also tends to be inequities based on the gender of the artist. Female artists tend to make much less compared to their male counterparts, which has nothing to do with the way they put paint on a canvas. Arts value is based purely on what someone is willing to pay for it, so in the end, you’ll have to decide what you personally are willing to pay. The condition of a piece can also directly effect the value. The older the piece gets, the less likely you are to find it in pristine condition. Time, dust, moving, and how it is stored will effect the condition of any piece. Don’t be discouraged by a crackle in the varnish of painting. Go in to an auction knowing you can repair a painting if you really want that piece. Auction pros know what they’re doing. They know that a crack or a crizzle won’t severely impact the value, whereas someone new may
Photo Credit: freeimages.com/joannacroft
concerned with its potential to increase in value over time or
4 Questions to ask yourself
1- Am I purchasing an investment piece?
2- Do I want something specific to fit into my home? 3- Am I looking to impress clients in my office?
4- Is there an important someone in my life I am purchasing a gift for? steer clear of an otherwise amazing piece because of a minor physical defect. Reviewing items prior to the auction is a good way to achieve a purchase you’ll have no regrets about. Always look at the piece in person, if that is an option. Certainly there may be quality issues, crackling in paint, or chips on sculptures that can’t be seen online. Don’t be afraid to ask to see the piece, and don’t consider buying anything sight unseen unless you have an incredible relationship with the auctioneer. If you cannot see the item in person, you should be able to review it online. “One of the things I do is get the highest resolution image I can. Crop the image, remove the frame and really look at the piece and decide what it is about this work that I like,” explains Anderson. “Make sure you come back to it the next day and feel the same way.” We all are affected by our
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particular moods on a particular day. It may be that you’re in a
sell for less because collectors haven’t driven up the price. These
good mood one day and you love everything, and on another day
are every bit as good as the sensational stuff, but with less hype.
you may feel differently about the same piece. Auction houses will offer condition reports on the auction items as well. These can be helpful for research—but don’t trust
tool, but it will have its limits. For example, you can bring up
them completely; it doesn’t replace looking at an item in person.
one painting on three different monitors and the colors may be
When reviewing a condition report, it is crucial to consider who
slightly different on each monitor. Doing your homework online
is performing the appraisal and why. For instance, the appraiser
is convenient because you can whittle a one hundred piece lot
may have a vested interest. They are licensed so they are not
down to ten pieces you are interested in. That’s ninety lots you
going to lie, but very rarely are you going to have an appraiser
won’t even have to bother with during the auction.
who is paid by the owner write something negative. Condition
attend them for various reasons. Some will go for the competi-
es. Though this is not always the case, it is common.
tive aspect, some for business, and some for the pleasure of the game. There is a time and place to be chatty, a time to ask ques-
you’re usually reading about the sensational stuff that reads,
tions, and times when any talking is inappropriate. A lot of this
“This artist sold for a record 68 million dollars.” In those types
just comes down to knowing social queues.
of auctions, there are usually multiple pieces that are sexy, but
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Etiquette: Auctions can be quite an experience, and people
reports become more important as the price of the piece increasWhen you read about auctions like Christie’s or Sotheby’s,
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Online auctions give us access to art as we’ve never been able to before. Viewing auctions online can be a very powerful
fibonaccifinearts.com
Most auctions will give you a number or a paddle to use
when you bid. There will not be a lot of people making ges-
bidding. If other bidders can see you are in it to win the piece,
tures to signal a bid like you see on television. Once you raise
they are more likely to drop out; it is something you see more
your paddle, you are contractually obligated to purchase that
in the movies for dramatic effect.
item if you are the winning bidder. Bidding without intent to buy is dishonest and is not tolerated. Auctioneers are good at what they do and the auction will
“As part of my role at UMOCA, I get to attend quite a few events that have auction elements to them. I encourage individuals to surround yourself with the work you love. It not
have spotters. No matter where you sit, the odds that you’re
only enhances your quality of life, it helps support the artists
going to be missed are pretty slim, so you should put yourself
that create it.”
where you feel most comfortable based on how you interact with crowds. Put yourself in a position where you can enjoy the auction the most, and focus your attention wherever it gets
Mike Schlutter began his professional
your bid across best, be it the auctioneer or the spotter.
art career painting theater backdrops.
Bidding: Now that it is time to bid, it is time to commit.
His talents in large-scale painting
Be bold and bid with intention. Auctions move quickly, and
granted him the opportunity to collabo-
they don’t slow down for you. You will not have time to hem
rate with Weber State University Art
and haw, or think “meh… do I really like this?” Know what
Professor, Dale Bryner, on an urban art
you are willing to spend, be bold, and bid with intention.
project in Ogden, Utah. He later added
When bidding opens, it is more important for the auction house to have an opening bid than it is to be the opening bid-
mixed media, specifically metal fabrication. His passion for art comes through
der. If something opens up and there isn’t an opening bidder
in his writing, seen in blogs and magazines, where he tells sto-
then they have to go down. That is tough for them because
ries of what stirs his soul, art, and the world.
once an item starts dropping, there is a perceived value that something is not worth as much and it tends to suppress bidding. If bidders come out of the gate really fast there is a perception of value and excitement. People are more compelled to participate in the bidding. It is similar to what you see at sporting events; everyone likes to be part of a winning team. Because of the pace of the bidding process, it incentivizes impulse purchases much like gambling and casinos. The auctioneer is trying to maximize the value for their clients. They know if they talk fast and ask, “are you going to do this now?” or say, “If you’re not bidding now, it’s going away!” they build on that energy and use it to play on bidders’ feelings, impulses, and emotions. This is why going in with discipline is essential. Anything you can do ahead of time to ensure you feel good about your purchase is important. There may be an element of “bluffmanship” to auctions. Be serious and stern in your Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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Visual Arts
Important Questions Answered Plein Air Shows, Quick Draws and Conventions by John Hughes
A
s the popularity of plein air painting has grown over the past several decades, so has the number of plein air competitions, shows, quick-draw events, and even a yearly plein air convention sponsored by Plein Air Magazine.
Hear what several of my buddies, all working artists, have to say that is of interest for collectors and artists alike. These artists include Kimbal Warren, Tom Howard and John Poon.
in a particular show or event, benefited you as an artist? Kimbal Warren - The Plein Air Convention was a 3 day workshop and Expo put on by Plein Air Magazine. It was held in Monterey for a few years, and this next year it will There were no prizes given, nor
awards. They had various artists from around the country who demonstrated and explained their painting methods and techniques. At the booths, artists could buy different painting materials and see a variety of supplies that are available. The benefit to me was in meeting other artists to network with regarding other shows. I believe this conference still remains the heart of the plein air movement. Attending the conference was inspiring, and motivated me to want to improve my outdoor painting technique. As a participant, one can always benefit from other higher caliber artists.
Tom Howard - Having participated in many plein air events in the past 10 years, I’m not as enamored with them as I used to be. At first, it was exciting to be with other artists who enjoyed the discipline as I did. However, these days, I much more enjoy a simple, relaxed atmosphere, where I can produce a painting and not feel like I have to perform or work for somebody. I still feel good when I participate in the Spring City (Utah) Plein Air event, every Labor Day weekend. I’ve always tried to maintain that… win, lose, or draw, my first reason for being there, should
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nity, general landscape, or what have you; I just don’t want to feel pressured, I simply want to enjoy myself. That is actually the reason why I’ve recently stopped participating in some other plein air events; they just felt too much like work. Having said that, the Spring City Plein Air Competition is still an event that I plan for and feel the desire to participate in. The Spring City Arts organization does a good
Question 1: In your opinion, how has your involvement
be in Tucson, Arizona.
be because I enjoy it! Whether it be the people, the commu-
job of helping me to feel welcome, and a part of something enjoyable. As you can see, I have mixed feelings, but all in all I feel that these shows can help artists grow. I’ve found that there is nothing quite like an event where you have to place your work alongside others, which causes you to focus all of your skills to make your work the best it can be.
John Poon - I can remember some years ago during the 80’s when the plein air shows began to gain in popularity, they were new and exciting, and presented some nice benefits to all involved. The artists could receive some decent exposure and a potential for art sales, the organizers developed a show that could be repeated for years to come, some raised money for charitable causes, and for the art public it was an education in the genre of location painting; they could purchase artwork or begin a collection at reasonably affordable prices. It was a fun and non-threatening environment in which to view art, and everyone benefited. If an artist could garner an award or recognition, it would sometimes be worth its weight in gold by way of a mention, or even perhaps a full editorial in one of the national magazines. In some cases, it paved the way to greater opportunities with galleries that took notice of painters whose careers appeared to be moving forward.
Question 2: In the broader sense, how do shows and events of this type benefit plein air painting? Kimbal Warren - These shows benefit the popularity of plein air painting and it gives validity to the art pieces and
painters themselves. As a plein air artist, you have to under-
John Poon - The plein air shows help in the broader sense by
stand how nature reacts to light and weather conditions, or your
bringing public attention to, and educating people in the genre
paintings will become stagnant. What is interesting about these
of location painting, while teaching what good painting actually
shows and competitions, is that they give you an opportunity to
looks like. It also helps to sharpen the artist’s skills through par-
focus on the craft of plein air painting without a lot of distrac-
ticipation with other good painters in a competitive setting.
tions. The competition itself, forces you to do your very best, and step up your game in order to complete the painting; this in turn benefits the discipline of plein air as a whole.
Tom Howard – These events and shows provide opportunities
Question 3: Is winning awards important and helpful to an artist’s career? Kimbal Warren - As in any career, winning an award gives
for artists to share their work with the public, which also raises
your work validity; people like a winner, and it makes you feel
awareness of plein air painting. At the same time these shows
like you are doing something right and worthwhile. Although, I
engender widespread appreciation of an art form that is produced
do not believe you should paint solely to win awards, because the
through thoughtful studies from life; as opposed to the static sim-
judge’s expertise and opinions, vary immensely. A good judge,
plicity of a photograph. Without the aid of a photo, the artist has
will have knowledge and understanding of various dimensions
to be the filter, deciding what to keep, and what to cast aside for
and types of art, and will not just pick a subject or artist that
the benefit of the design. This in turn strengthens the artist, as
they like, or can relate to.
well as educate the public to what it takes for an artist to create works of art in the plein air environment.
Tom Howard - I suppose the answer in the end is yes, awards do help an artist’s careers. However, I think they go only so far,
Tom Howard South Fields, 18" x 30", oil Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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Visual Arts
after a while they can feel a bit like white noise to the artist,
serious collectors like to go to the events to meet the artists
and perhaps to the audience, who may see the same individu-
and be part of the experience. I believe a deeper respect for
als winning awards every year.
the artist’s work is garnered.
John Poon – Winning awards gets artists noticed by
Tom Howard - I think the answer depends on why the
the national magazines, which in turn gets them noticed
collector is there in the first place. I get the feeling that
by the galleries. It’s not a direct form of advertising, but
some are looking for cheaper art, in part because it is “only
very valuable over time in terms of the name recognition.
plein air.” While others seem to be genuinely interested in the
Opportunities come from that name recognition for more
craft and discipline for its own sake. For some local buyers, a
shows, gallery representation, etc...
painting is purchased simply because it is of a place or subject that they already know, or are familiar with; it sometimes car-
Question 4: How do these kinds of events help collectors?
ries a feeling, sentiment or nostalgia for them. To be honest,
Kimbal Warren - For someone who does not have the
I’m not sure that events in Utah really attract the serious, or
knowledge of what a good piece of art is, these events help beginning collectors to see who are winning the awards, and what artists are more sought after and important. Most John Poon River Interior 48" x 60", Acrylic
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what we might call, the big art collectors.
John Poon – The benefit to the collector is in education. Back in the 80’s, hardly anyone even knew what plein air painting was, now it’s become a household name. In addition, a collector could find a whole batch of good work in one location, and be able to purchase a painting or start a collection at
a relatively reasonable price.
even knows it. Keeping that process pure, I think adds to the integrity of the work produced by the artist.
Question 5: Each of these shows have a particular set
I’ve painted in subzero conditions, a hard driving wind
of rules, like where an artist can paint and how much of the
from the west, with blowing snow splattering all over my
painting has to be done in the field. I am interested in your
painting, 100 degree heat, with hardly any wind at all, thun-
opinion on the last rule, (how much of the painting should
der clapping hard overhead, and having to wait out the rain
be done in the field?) More specifically, is the requirement in
under the branches of a pine tree; it is all a part of the experi-
many competitions, to do all of the painting in the field, a good
ence! It gives artists stories to tell; not at all unlike the sto-
or bad rule? The rationale for this question is this: If a paint-
ries of the one that got away, that fisherman and hunters like
ing can be improved by a few touchups in the studio, wouldn’t
to tell. It’s an adventure!
it be better for collectors, as well as artist’s reputations, to be
John Poon - The regulations for the plein air competitions
able to add more quality to the piece in the studio? What are
are understandable. There were sound motives for the art-
your thoughts?
ist’s participation in these shows, but along with the benefits
Kimbal Warren - In my opinion a show is different than a
came certain concessions, namely the adherence to rules and
competition. If it is strictly a plein air “competition”, the work
regulations that governed the process of producing the work.
must be created out of doors on location. The artist may or
The first of course was no studio touch ups after the fact; the
may not be allowed to do minor touch ups to improve it after-
paintings would need to be completed entirely in the field.
wards, but should not be allowed to finish the painting any-
In the case of a quick-draw, usually an hour or two is given,
where other than on location. If we are talking about a plein
start to finish, and the paintings would need to be performed
air “show”, this to me is defined as a showing of work that was
in public view. Again, all agreed upon, by the artist, ahead of
originally painted out-of-doors. Minor touchups and improve-
time before inclusion into the event.
ments to the paintings can be done in the studio in order to
There has to be an even playing field established for the
have the finished product the best it could be without compro-
purposes of equity in judging. But here in lies a dilemma.
mising the fact that it was a plein air piece.
Now and again, an artist can produce a gem of a painting in a
Tom Howard - I’m a proponent of simply knowing and
single field session, some painters are able to hit the mark a
adhering to the rules, whatever they might be. If it’s allowed
little more regularly than others. But virtually every painter
that only a portion of the painting can be finished up in the
I know outside of these competitions, perform studio touch-
studio, the artist becomes honor bound to not abuse that rule. However, I’m not opposed to the notion of keeping every part of the plein air painting process totally outside and devoid of photographic reference or touchups
“There is something about working in the field, while swatting flies, resisting the buffeting of the wind, enduring the heat of the sun, the driving rain, or the chill of the cold that adds to the experience...”
in a controlled comfortable environment. There was one time when I was on the way home, to
ups to one degree or another, for unresolved design or color issues. Producing better work is a benefit to the artist’s reputation, and in the end offers the patron a superior product. This is an important point because the long-term respectability of these events
will hinge on the quality of the work being produced. There is probably not a clear-cut answer in the question
frame a plein air piece I did in a competition. Something
of ethics, but really it comes down to this: Can a competition
about it was bugging me, so to be completely honest, I pulled
be billed as a plein air event, if only a portion of the paint-
over to a rest stop, pulled out my easel and tweaked the paint-
ing has been accomplished in the field? This determination
ing there on the side of the road, just for the sake of honoring
can and should lie with the organizers of the event based on
the no studio rework policy of the competition. You see, even
their objectives. If the artists, being made aware of the terms
though I was not in front of the actual scene, I was able to pull
ahead of time decide to participate, then there shouldn’t really
information from the surroundings I was in, coupled with my
be any cause for disagreement after the fact.
outdoor experience, to complete the work in that setting. There is something about working in the field, while swat-
Question 6 - Lastly, as a related question, some shows
ting flies, resisting the buffeting of the wind, enduring the
have a quick-draw component to the event along with an auc-
heat of the sun, the driving rain, or the chill of the cold that
tion.
adds to the experience whether or not the viewer or buyer
This question is a bit controversial: Why should an art colPremier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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Visual Arts
lector want to buy a painting at auction in a quick-draw event, that was completed in an hour and a half or less, when many
involves the collector and it makes it personal for them.
Tom Howard – I’ve often felt that quick draw events
times, as in the case of the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival,
alongside plein air competitions risk taking away the thunder
they could go right down the street to the artist’s gallery, and
that the main plein air competition itself should have. While
buy a comparable painting by the same artist, that was paint-
I’ve participated in them, I have usually done so for the sake
ed without the time constraints of a quick-draw?
of selling something. Often such auctions can bring the price
Kimbal Warren - Because it is usually less money to purchase. Secondly, the collector/buyer was involved personally in the creation of the piece. It is an entertaining process that
of a painting down and risk undermining the pricing integrity of gallery painting sales.
John Poon – Long after a show has concluded, the experi-
Kimbal Warren Hobble Creek Canyon 12" x 12" oil on canvas 70
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ence of the event itself can continue to resonate with a patron; perhaps as long they own the painting. Each year, I participate in a quickdraw in which my submission auctions for more
John
than the retail cost of the painting. In fact, anyone could walk
Hughes has been painting the
across the street to my gallery and purchase a similar size paint-
landscape in and out of the stu-
ing for nearly half the cost. A painting in which I would have
dio since 1983, and although he
spent much more than just 90 minutes on. As artists, we are
has been painting much longer
always concerned with quality, but for the patron, that may not
than that, this is the year he got
be the entire story. The experience of actually seeing the paint-
serious about his art. Hughes is a
ing in production, perhaps conversing with the artist during its
teacher of plein air painting, both
process, the energy of the auction, the thrill of the winning bid,
privately and through the Salt
etc‌ all have meaning, and are part of the intangibles of art
Lake Community College. As an artist and instructor, he is high-
collecting. Most of us as painters or gallery owners, never quite
ly sought out on a national level. Hughes resides in Taylorsville,
figure out the formula, perhaps that’s a good thing.
Utah with his wife Teresa. Contact: www.johnhughesstudio.com
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Visual Arts
Art for Everyone The Legacy of Dixie's Sears Gallery
O
ver the course of St. George’s gradual evolution into an
port group that’s been very helpful,” said Alder, who remains
art buyer’s destination, few institutions have played as
part of the organizing committee. “And we are supported mar-
pivotal a role in enriching the community’s visual arts as
velously by the Utah Arts Council.”
the Sears Art Museum Gallery at Dixie State University.
Part-time residents of the St. George area, the Sears
The gallery was the brainchild of retired Phillips
remained generous benefactors of Dixie until their deaths in
Petroleum executive Robert N. Sears and his wife Peggy, both
1995 and 2009, respectively. They were instrumental in creat-
raised and educated in Utah and active in civic engagement
ing an art scholarship endowment and the sculpture garden
throughout the state. The story behind its creation, as told
on campus, in addition to donating numerous works to the gal-
by Dr. Douglas D. Alder, Dixie’s president from 1986 to 1993,
lery’s ever-revolving permanent collection.
starts with Sears walking into Alder’s office out of the blue to opine on the relationship between academia and art. His belief
Eccles Fine Arts Center in 2004, around the time art educator
was that any quality college needed an arts program of equal
Kathy Cieslewicz took over as curator. “It’s a very contempo-
merit. One of Alder’s goals was to build an art gallery on cam-
rary space. It’s conducive for showing art; it’s a nice, restful
pus, and thus their partnership began.
place for quiet contemplation and conversation,” she said. “I
It was Sears who put forth the idea of connecting artists and buyers via an invitational art sale, with a significant por-
Under Cieslewicz’s leadership, the gallery’s permanent collection and presence in the regional art scene have bur-
expand its collection. That tradition, along with having the
geoned. The Art on Main and Arts to Zion tours were both con-
overall winner judge the next year’s artwork, has continued
ceived at Sears, through her guidance. Dixie’s Business of Art
through the decades.
and Evening for Educators outreach programs have taken on a
Sears, a connoisseur and avid collector of representational and sell their works at the first invitational. The show has since established a significant following of art enthusiasts, including many friends of Sears, who travel from across the country to attend the opening night. “It is a very sophisticated, loyal, enthusiastic sup-
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think it’s really serving a purpose in the community.”
tion of the purchase prices going to support the gallery and
art, personally invited the region’s finest artists to display
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The Sears Gallery was relocated to the newly constructed
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life of their own, connecting artists from across Utah. During the Mountain West Arts Conference last May, the
Photos courtesy of Sears Art Museum and Gallery at Dixie State University, Utah
by Alexa V. Morgan
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Utah Division of Arts & Museums recognized Cieslewicz’s con-
strong. The gallery’s upcoming summer show, “Textures of Life,”
tributions with the Governor’s Individual Leadership in the Arts
featuring quilts, rugs, and other textile-based works, will pro-
Award.
vide viewers with yet another facet of art. “There’s a diversity
Today, the invitational ranks among the most highly regard-
that one doesn’t normally find in the galleries around here,” said
ed art events in Utah and is a major occasion both on campus
Jarvis. “Universities bring a perspective to a collection that’s
and in St. George. Approximately 150 artists from across the
unique.”
Intermountain West were invited to submit to this year’s show and sale, the 29th annual. The invitational will commence on Friday, Feb. 12 with a
Unlike many contemporaries, Sears is neither driven by commerce nor bound by its restrictions, virtually giving Cieslewicz creative carte blanche when planning exhibits, which
symposium conducted by 2015 Best of Show Purchase Prize win-
she does with zeal. Her focus is on helping artists, especially
ner George Handrahan at 3 p.m., followed by a free preview at 4
southern Utah locals, gain visibility. Living artists represent the
p.m. The dinner gala and pre-sale, which nearly 300 people are
majority of the work on display, providing Dixie students and
expected to attend, begins at 6 p.m. “I tell art collectors that the
other viewers with the opportunity to see what contemporary
Sears Invitational is an opportunity to acquire high-quality art,
artists are doing.
even if your entry point is only as small as $250-$500,” stated
“The whole reason we have it here is education,” Cieslewicz
Dr. Jeffery W. Jarvis, dean of the DSU School of Visual and
stated. “I feel like our students have a wonderful opportunity to
Performing Arts. “You don’t have to be spending thousands of
become educated in the gallery, because you don’t come out of
dollars. You could, but you don’t have to.”
college with a well-rounded education if you don’t understand
Works will remain on display through March 27. The gal-
some things about art.”
lery is adopting special hours (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through
Cieslewicz has also developed collaborative exhibits that
Saturday and 2-6 p.m. on Sundays) for the duration of the show
harmonize gallery works with another form of art, such as poet-
and sale.
ry or dance. Audiences who come for one leave having gained
Such artists as Jeremy Winborg, Annette Everett, Steven F. Songer, Ian Ramsey, Lance Turner, and Julie Rogers have all earned the top honor at past invitationals. Ceramicist Glen
an appreciation for the other, she hopes. “It adds so much to our community,” said Cieslewicz. Previously a division of Dixie Cultural Arts, a community-
Blakley and painter Del Parson are among those who have rep-
oriented program overseen by the university that also included
resented Dixie’s faculty entries.
DOCUTAH and the Celebrity Concert Series, Sears was
Though the gallery and invitational are inextricably linked,
absorbed into the new School of Visual and Performing Arts
Sears hosts six additional exhibits each year. This intriguing
when the academic and outreach entities began to consolidate
mixture of shows highlights the variety of visual art being cre-
in January 2015. The reorganization of departments, the most
ated in the region.
recent addition to a lengthy list of changes on campus since
Students will take center stage from April 15 through May
Dixie gained university status three years ago, was instigated
4. This annual showcase, curated by and featuring Dixie’s art
by Jarvis’s vision for greater unity between the fine and cultural
department faculty, is always interesting and unexpectedly
arts at the school. Upon completion of the merger in July, Dixie will gain a college of the arts. “People who have not experienced
Royden Card, West Temple
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the arts at Dixie will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of art that they encounter, whether it’s a performance or a production or a visual arts show,” stated Jarvis. A closer working relationship between the school’s various art departments will undoubtedly be reflected in future Sears exhibits as well. Cieslewicz, who plans shows up to two years in advance, said that exciting collaborations with Dixie’s theatre company are on the horizon. The cultural arts have flourished in St. George over the past three decades. With hundreds of professional artists living and working in the area and dozens of shows and galleries from Kayenta to Springdale, “Art is part of life here now,” stated Alder. Having stood at the forefront of this progress, the Sears Gallery will undoubtedly remain a trendsetter as Dixie looks towards the future, while keeping its commitment to the students and the community. “It exists for them. That’s why it’s here,” Cieslewicz said. “We want it to always be a welcome space where they can just come and enjoy the art. It’s a great place to be.” Follow the Sears Art Museum Gallery on Instagram at @SearsArtMuseumGallery or visit dixieculturalarts.com/sears-museum.
Alexa V. Morgan has been working as a freelance writer and photographer in southern Utah since 2011. Her work has appeared in local and regional publications, including Utah Business, 15 Bytes and Outdoor Sports Guide. In her spare time, she enjoys tennis, hiking, and her four-legged "fur babies." She can be reached at alexavmorgan@gmail.com.
From Top to Bottom: Gaell Lindstrom, Hurricane Mesa, Spike Ress, Winter Wonder of Zion, George Handrahan, Blue DeSoto
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Music
Intimate Experience An Ambitious Approach to Chamber Music by Nathan Bowen
0
ne of the great things about the classical tradition is
the Utah Symphony said, “As much as we can, we try to cre-
that, to strive toward an ideal sound, or at least to get
ate a presence on the national scene, and it’s nice that NOVA
a really good sound, it takes a whole lot of work to get there.
has gained a fair amount of attention outside of Utah due to
And the discipline and ability needed for real-time execution
the way we invite composers to write for us.”
is just one part of it. When instruments are involved, these
NOVA has two types of concert series: the first is a six-
are byproducts of hundreds of years of technological evolution
concert subscription series that typically runs from November
and refinement. So, whenever I have the pleasure of hearing
to May, and takes place at the University of Utah’s Libby
someone perform that has that kind of a background, I am
Gardner Concert Hall. The size of the ensemble can range
easily captivated—and even more so when it is in an inti-
from duos to up to ten performers. The second series is a
mate setting where I can see the sum of the effort up close on
gallery series with two programs a year situated in intimate
display.
gallery spaces such as 15th Street Gallery and the Art Barn/
Chamber music is a kind of experience you can't get
Finch Lane Gallery. Performances in these smaller venues
any other way, and it is not the same when heard mediated
usually feature soloists, duos, or trios. All concerts take
through something like the radio. One can’t be driving while
place at 3pm on Sundays.
listening to chamber music, nor can one have this kind of
Although generally highly educated, this does not mean
music playing in the background while cutting up tomatoes
NOVA’s audience is an old crowd. Granted, many regularly
in the kitchen. Chamber music requires one’s full attention.
attending concertgoers can be described as ‘more mature,’ but
Back in 1977, former Utah Symphony clarinetist Russell
this is a natural outcome of a series that has been around for nearly forty years. When
Harlow set out to create that would elevate the awareness of chamber music in Utah. Called
“The core audience is really open minded. They relish thought-provoking programs.”
have a very loyal following with some people who’ve
the best performing artists Utah has to offer, and would
beginning.” But at the same time there is also a consistently
actively seek to program works by Utah composers along
large swath of attendees who are young students, mostly
with masterworks by household names like Stravinsky,
those connected with the University of Utah. Perhaps the
Beethoven, and Debussy.
most defining dynamic at play here is that the presenter
Nearly four decades later, that initial vision is very
and audience relationship is well defined, which creates a
much alive and flourishing. A significant part of NOVA’s
space for exploration and surprise. Hardink notes, “The
current identity is its dedication to exposing audiences to
core audience is really open minded. They relish thought-
important chamber works that may be relatively unknown.
provoking programs.”
Utah-based artists perform works by premier local compos-
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graphics, Hardink said, “We
been around since the
NOVA, it would feature
76
asked about the demo-
The main thrust of their programming strategy is to
ers along with contemporary composers based outside the
offer themed concerts. Each program will feature works
Wasatch front. The benefit of this strategy is that it creates
by the usual suspects (Bach, Mozart, Ravel, Barber, and
cross-pollination and exposure of artists and works in both
the like), but the works themselves are carefully selected
directions, locally and beyond, and Utah’s reputation as an
and paired with music by composers who are either living
enclave of cultural activity has increased. Jason Hardink,
in Utah or who are part of the contemporary scene. For
NOVA’s current Artistic Director and Principal Keyboard of
example, for the beginning of the 2015-16 season, NOVA
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Photos by Dustin Todd, Courtesy of NOVA
a chamber music series
with these general constraints or invitations to a frame of mind.” Given this unusual proposition to write a piece bookended by another, Hicks decided to create a point of exit and reentry to and from Winterreise by quoting the last few bars of Schubert’s last string quartet as the intro of the composition. Hints of this quotation also return at the end of the piece, and fragments and abstractions of it form a narrative thread throughout. Hicks is now in the process of putting on the finishing touches, and he told Hardink, “It’s either a really good piece or a semi-thrilling failure, and in either case it’s really worth hearing.” As an afterthought Hicks quipped, “I’m okay with a semi-thrilling failure.” Hardink attributes the willingness to take risks—at least in terms of programming decisions—to his predecessor, Corbin Johnston. Hardink said, “Johnston had certainly started this trend of adventurous programming, but knowing the history of this organization, he took the attitude of being a caretaker and curator. I’ve always thought that was really important and admirable, and something I’ve tried to emulate as much as possible. I don’t want to be overly willful in terms of the programming, but the audience responds.” He then recounted an anecdote from the time he wanted to do Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. For those who don’t keep track of Schoenberg’s greatest hits, it is a very thorny atonal melodrama in 21 movements. It has an abstract expressionist text to be sung in Sprechstimme, a vocal technique fluctuating between singing and speaking. The work is also highly influential because of its addition and subtraction of instruments from movement to Rainer Eudekis, Cellist paired works written by Johannes Brahms before he turned 30 with the Utah premier of a similarly young composer in his thirties, 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist Andrew Norman. “It was exciting for the audience to think of Brahms before he had the beard and the grey hair. He was a really well developed composer early on, and wrote a lot of exciting stuff when he was essentially a kid. And then we put this early Brahms piece next to a composer at the concert who kind of looks like a kid himself, and it was a great juxtaposition.” Another concert this year will feature Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise alongside a NOVA-commissioned string quartet by BYU professor and composer Michael Hicks, themed ‘A Sense of Place.’ When Hardink approached Hicks about writing the piece, he proposed the idea of placing the quartet in the middle of the program, dividing Schubert’s song cycle into halves. The pieces would then be tied together by a common theme of soulful yearning. I asked Michael what it was like to receive this invitation, and he responded, “One nice thing with Jason, aside from general generosity, is that he really is interested to see what you would do
movement, but even today it remains a challenging piece to take in for even the most open-minded audiences. As far as anyone can remember, NOVA’s presentation was the Utah premier of Pierrot Lunaire performed in its entirety. “2012 was the 100-year anniversary of the piece. The juxtaposition was to pair it with a song cycle by Jason Eckardt, The Distance (This). His piece was far more modern than Schoenberg’s and very compelling, but challenging. It made Pierrot look like a piece that was 100 years old, and that was kind of the point. I programmed the whole season around that concert because I was so worried about it, but that concert sold the most tickets for the year.” For a sense of scale, average attendance for the Subscription Series hovers around 400—NOVA hopes to push toward 600—, making Gardner Hall an optimal venue. The gallery concerts are constrained to around 100 attendees due to space limitations, and this limit is there by design. Bare in mind that chamber music, by definition, implies a connection to the space in which it is performed. It is inherently an intimate music, and its tradition harkens back to the exclusivity of salons and private parties of the bourgeois. From a historical lens, exclusivity has essentially translated
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Music
into access for only the wealthy and educated, prohibiting a
schools where students have exposure to playing instruments
large swath of the population—whether intended or not—from
but might not know what chamber music is. At schools with
identifying with or connecting to this music and its culture.
strong orchestra and band programs, for example, it’s helpful
NOVA views this perspective as being malleable, and its board
to show them you can actually just play with a small group of
and staff have strategized to make the music and its programs
your friends and learn life’s lessons from that music.” Originally
more accessible to larger audiences and to the next generation of
various members of the ensemble would try to do visits in addi-
musicians.
tion to their normal preparation for a concert, but it proved to be
NOVA’s vision to serve these populations has taken form in
difficult to coordinate schedules in any consistent manner. The
recording projects and educational outreach. In 2005 the orga-
woodwind quintet Aspen Winds has recently become the main
nization launched the NOVA Project, an effort to promote the
group that makes visits, which has resulted in a far more effec-
arts in local public schools. “We have a fun and ambitious educa-
tive and efficient initiative. In visiting their website, it became
tion program where we focus mainly on junior high schools. We
very apparent to me how easy it is for schools to schedule visits
try to
and approach NOVA. Hardink continued, “We develop a pro-
come
gram with them for the season, and then find dates, and they
to
have this program ready for the schools, and they are spot on with messaging for the kids.” In talking with both Hardink and Hicks, it is obvious that the organization’s dedication to excellence is an intrinsic quality of their brand and identity. “These are players who are so devoted to doing the music, and they do seem to love all kinds of music,” Hicks observed. “There’s no sense of doing this as a chore, or as an obligation. That’s the Utah-ness of the ensemble, which is to say ‘Here’s a desert. Let’s build something fantastic here.’ And NOVA has that. We’re in this strangely isolated place—at least geographically and to some extent culturally—, so what can we do that’s really great, with the best standards we can muster? NOVA approaches their work in this ambitious way, wanting to connect the places that are distant culturally and geographically, and they are part of the best underlying channel of culture in Salt Lake City.”
Top: Jason Hardink, Pianist Bottom: Alexander woods, Violinist Nathan Bowen is a Professor of Music at Moorpark College in California, serving as director of music theory and music technology. He completed his Ph.D. in Music Composition (2013) at the CUNY Graduate Center as a Chancellor’s Fellow. Bowen has written music for a variety of genres, including film, theater, dance, commercial, and chamber music. His commercial music is published through DL Music. He also works as a professional copyist for orchestral and film music. His current interests are networked music, mobile phones, and digital instrument design. More information can be found at nb23.com/blog.
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Festivals A Return to Community Ritual by Janice Brooks
W
hat would our world be like today if thousands of years ago the semi-nomadic Mbororo people in Africa didn’t gather annually for the incredible
celebration known as Gerewol—a multicolored festival renowned for the way in which young Mbororo men decorate themselves, donning make up and jewelry in search of finding a mate. Or if the Dogon peoples 1000 year old ritual of the celebration of community mask making “Fete des Masque Festival” had faded into oblivion? What would our world be like today if 3000 years ago people in Ancient India ―Hindu’s, Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhist—had failed to continue celebrating their tradition of gathering together to sing, light candles, and dance at intricately-designed festivals such as the Diwali, Deepavali, or Holi, the Carnival of Colours? What would our world be like today if the Tang Dynasty (618-907) of China had ceased to celebrate its elaborate “Moon” celebration, a community festival celebration in which rich merchants, officials and common citizens held court to dance, sing and eat “mooncakes” together to honor the Moon’s bright light. What would our world be like today if the Pauwau (Pow Wow) ceremonial tradition of meeting together to join in dancing, singing, admiring the artistry of ceremonial wares, and renewing old friendships had not stood the test of time to preserve the rich heritage and tribal ways of many Native American cultures? Opening the emotional door to ask these questions presents an immense terrain, both familiar and mysterious. But, pondering the question is relevant for the
Photos by Lon Valadez
future. Ancient festivals, or elements of them, are firmly ensconced in each traditional heritage and are celebrated as cultural revelry in communities throughout the world. The making of community ritual is rooted in the evolution of the human species—an evolution that has both biological and cultural aspects. Rituals belong to us, and we to them. Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
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Performing Arts
Long before Art Gallery Strolls, Corn Festivals, First Friday Streetfest, Film Festivals and Saturday Markets, community public rituals and festivals, have contributed to the integration and stability of communities and society across the globe. Over the last decade, a new “Transformational Festival” trend has emerged. Envision Festival (Costa Rica), BaliSpirit Festival (Indonesia), Bliss Beat Festival (Italy), Wanderlust (N. America), Lightning in A Bottle (US)) Beloved (US), and Bhatki Fest (US) are all worldwide Transformational Festival gatherings. These renaissance-esque in nature festivals are growing in scope and continue to move at warp speeds by offering the community of attendees a distinctive and diverse mixture of artistic and sacred experiences, including an exhilarating lineup of cross-cultural festival activities to engage in. Reminiscent of traditions from the past, the constant themes at these new festivals—indeed, the core of the experience remains the same. Here’s what connects the old and new. Artist creating renderings of nature in a plein air environment and an eclectic mix of visionary art in multiple mediums being created on the spot is central to most festival producer’s desire to create a visually stimulating and inspiring venue for attendees. Artistic impression inspired by the geological landscape yes, but also motivated and infused by the immediate synergy of the observer and onlookers. Even Fine Art collectors are snatching up these evolutionary masterpieces for their private investment portfolios and personal collections. Musical Concerts are no longer just entertainers swooning their tunes on stage to a passively applauding audience seated in top dollar auditorium box seats or picnic chairs. The music at Transformational Festivals widens the musical range and can be felt as a collective music-making experience. Most often the predominate music genres are sacred world music infused with a pop-culture electronic techno beat or Kirtan (devo-
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tional) music. Music is a shared experience, where attendees
Similar to the Celtic May Pole dance or the Greek Ring
are equal musical participants in the truest sense: almost
dance, the somatic movement occurrence at Transformational
sing-along style, in a call-and-response mode with the artist or
Festivals happens through ecstatic communal dance and the
band.
ever-widening practice of multiple types of Yoga experiences.
Personal growth lectures, seminars, workshops, and
The availability of vendors preparing and selling exclu-
organically occurring group conversations, most centered on
sively local and organically grown whole food is a distinc-
themes of “social responsibility� are the modern day primitive-
tive, and signature culinary experience at Transformational
skills group dynamic encounters.
Festivals.
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Performing Arts
From the ancient Greek festivals that featured citizens elegantly arrayed in togas, to a 19th century hoedown when men donned ten gallon Stetson hats and women wore their finest, most outlandish Sunday feathered bonnet, costumes and ritual dress continue to be the clothing of choice at Transformational Festivals. What we know for sure is, over the course of time, families and friends have traveled far, often times taking a seasonal journey akin to a sacred pilgrimage to gather together with other communities to celebrate and engage in festivities as a larger community. Transformational Festivals continue that tradition. These festivals are multigenerational in attendance with a strong emphasis being placed on the combining of multi-ethnic families sharing with other families. In the context of our modern era, these art and soul inspired community festival experiences are bringing about a new technology to assist humanity in building a sustainable culture for the future. Unflappable by design, Transformational Festivals share an integrated collective goal of creating mindful, luminal, and life-altering public ritual experiences to assist attendees with the ultimate personal celebration—the celebration of the gift of life, and each other.
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SARINA VILLAREAL Janice Brooks is an inspirational visionary. Her avocation as a professional speaker, public affairs strategist, business consultant, community activist, poet, freelance writer and storyteller all reflect her creative genius. Janice is a Social Entrepreneur with a motivating passion for creating, producing, and supporting transformational experiences that heighten and enliven the artistic, creative, cultural and literary arts. She lives in the majestic red mountain of Ivins, Utah with her husband and son, and a tribe of nomadic gypsy godchildren. Find her on Twitter at @janrosebrooks or email her at theliterarycafeutah@gmail.com.
Bountiful Davis Art Center 01.15 – 02.12 sarinavillareal.com
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Still Rolling The Las Vegas Film Festival Brings a Rounded Experience by Josie Luciano
J
ewish content cinema is a phrase that brings to mind
warehouse fire, the only proof left of the images were the etchings
Holocaust documentaries, food travel fare, and I suppose Mel
made from the original photographs. Now, over a century later,
Brooks movies. But it goes way beyond that.
the cameras turn to photographer Robert Shlaer as he recreates
Growing up half-Jewish and even then only the major-holi-
Carvalho’s one-of-a-kind images in a van journey across the West.
day-celebrating variety, popular Jewish culture has always been
A screening of Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict continues the
a primary window into my heritage. That’s why I was surprised
mini trend of art-related films at the festival. Though there have
to discover that the lineup for the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival
been several accounts of Guggenheim’s life in both print and film,
includes pieces about art, western history, and two films that
this sophomore documentary from Lisa Immordino Vreeland adds
explore the intersection between Jewish and black communities.
something to the conversation with its use of “lost tapes” that
There is also a bit of what you’d expect – an Israeli food homage,
reveal previously un-aired conversations with Guggenheim speak-
a Mel Brooks look-alike movie (The Frisco Kid directed by Robert
ing on topics ranging from modernist artists that she discovered,
Aldrich), and two films about the Holocaust.
to her role in saving a great deal of 20th century art from Nazi
“I show a maximum of 12 films a year,” explains Las Vegas
ownership, to one of her favorite topics of conversation – her love
Jewish Film Festival founder, Joshua Abbey. “This year I’m going
life. It’s a portrait of a Jewish woman who was so much more
to show 10 because I have to have the absolute best of the best of
than just a Jewish woman.
what’s available in the contemporary Jewish film festival world.” Crossover Appeal For this year’s billing, Abbey and his selection committee
Looking at the Holocaust with Intention Holocaust films have a presence at almost every Jewish film festival and Las Vegas is no exception. But with more and more
have chosen some standouts that stretch the definition of what
audiences experiencing what Abbey calls “Holocaust fatigue,” the
audiences expect from Jewish films.
selected films undergo a great deal of scrutiny in order to make
Dough, one of the two Jewish-black intersectional films at the festival, is a comedy from director John Goldschmidt about
sure filmgoers are seeing or hearing a new perspective. This year, Son of Saul and The Liberators made the cut.
a Sudanese, Muslim teenager who works at a Jewish bakery in
You may have heard of Son of Saul. Heavily featured in
London and inadvertently saves the business by dropping mari-
the media since its debut and Grand Jury Prize win at Cannes,
juana in a batch of challah dough. Though the film spends a lot
Hungarian director László Nemes’ first film follows an Auschwitz
of time in both predictable and stereotypical territory (there is
prisoner named Saul who has the horrific task of clearing the
some light Muslim-Jewish tension: the black teenager sells drugs
bodies out of the ovens. When he finds his son among the dead,
and the old Jewish shopkeeper deals in family disappointment)
Saul makes it his mission to procure a proper burial for him.
it ultimately overcomes the formula with enough charm to make
Though death and inhumanity are hardly new territory for films
it the most popular feature at Jewish film screenings across the
that focus on the Holocaust, Son of Saul manages to introduce a
country.
previously unseen viewpoint as the cinematography places the
Another highlight is a film from Steve Rivo called Carvalho’s Journey. It’s a documentary about Solomon Carvalho, a 19th century Jewish daguerreotypist who accompanies a westbound expe-
viewer in the same unknowing and terrifying perspective as the protagonist. Slightly more under the radar is The Liberators: What We
dition with the goal of documenting the landscape for the railroad
Fought For, a documentary directed by Emanuel Rotstein about
and public posterity. Like most westward journeys during that
the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. The documen-
time period, Carvalho’s expedition saw its fair share of tragedy.
tary features both liberators and inmates including Ben Lesser, a
But the real interest in hearing (and telling) this specific piece of
Holocaust survivor and Las Vegas resident who was only 16 when
history is the unlikely relationship that the story has to the pres-
he arrived at Dachau. 70 years later, in one of the most poignant
ent. When all but one of Carvalho’s daguerreotypes were lost in a
scenes in the documentary, a group of three survivors and three
Still from "Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict" Lisa Immordino Vreeland
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liberators go back to Dachau. When they arrive, the passengers exit the bus, holding hands and singing. It is a touching portrait
atmosphere.” Notable panelists this year include writer and biographer
of what the human spirit can overcome, but also what it can rise
Phoebe Hoban following the Peggy Guggenheim feature, director
to after seemingly insurmountable tragedy.
Steve Rivo for Carvalho’s Journey, and Ben Lesser.
More Than Watching Movies Besides providing a viewing experience for audiences, film
Lesser’s attendance hits a particular chord with me for several reasons. The first is simply his presence. We still have
festivals like the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival also help pro-
the opportunity to hear about the Holocaust from first genera-
ducers and directors find wider distribution and acclaim for their
tion witnesses, a prospect that diminishes each year that – in
projects.
Lesser’s words – “the number of Holocaust survivors becomes
Lisa Rivo, Director of the National Jewish Film Organization (and sister of director Steve Rivo), explains the
fewer and fewer.” The second reason is a little more personal. Not everything
symbiotic relationship that films and festivals have with one
I know about my heritage comes from a veritable rundown of
another.
popular Jewish culture. My grandfather was in Patton’s Army
“There are extremely limited resources for making these
from 1942-1945 and was one of the Jewish-American GI’s that
films. But it somehow works….Once [festivals] elect to show a
liberated Dachau. Although he only spoke about the experience
film, they actually throw their weight behind it and show it to
once with me, I will never forget the way his face changed when
audiences. That’s what you want.”
he described that day. Ever the funny man, the happy man, the
Once the films are in front of an audience, Rivo contends
jokester, Sidney Glassberg became very quiet when he talked
that “they’re not a period at the end of a sentence, they’re an
about the prisoners who looked like skeletons. People like 16 ½
introduction to these topics, a starting point for something
year old Ben Lesser.
beyond.” That’s the general motivation behind Abbey’s push for annu-
My grandfather’s narrative is on film record at the Library of Congress filed under the Veteran’s History Project. Lesser’s
al panels at his festival. They guide the post-screening “beyond”
story is being screened this January in Las Vegas. They are sto-
by setting up conversations with filmmakers, academics, and
ries that deserve to be committed to celluloid as much as the art
experts on the topics at hand.
film, the food homage, and the stoner comedy. But admittedly,
“Post screening discussions are the most important part [of
we need them all. Whether you’re Jewish or not.
the festival],” says Abbey. “Audiences can share impressions and open up dialogue with filmmakers. It creates a really dynamic
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Still from "Apple in the Desert" Arik Lubetzski
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Portrait of Wetzel "Judge" Whitaker
Disney to Here
Film
Disney to Here
Grandfather to film in the West by Jerusha Pimentel
here is no doubt: rich and fascinating stories are crawl-
nor even to the avid bunches of ballistic Disney fanatics resid-
ing all about us. And whether from the inscription in
ing in the city, Judge Whitaker was once the chief animator
an old book, or the decided curve of a well-known cartoon’s
for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the 1930’s, 40’s
nose, they cry out to us, longing to be known again. It is a
and 50’s.
pity these stories often remain unnoticed. It is only by chance,
Whitaker’s features in the faces of Drizella and Anastasia, the
hidden tales of the past are discovered, and it is only by deter-
infamous stepsisters in Cinderella. While working on the pic-
mination that those most deeply buried can be dug up and
ture in the 1950’s, Judge purposefully likened the antagonists
graciously shared with the world, allowing them to live again.
after him and his brother Scott—who also worked for Disney—
For Salt Lake City-based documentary maker, Tom Laughlin, fate would lead him to stumble upon a great treasure: the forgotten story of one of Utah’s finest, most influ-
attractive”. Learning of Whitaker’s surprising move from Disney to Utah, but little else at the time, Laughlin decided he wanted
winning documentary, A Reel Legacy. It would prove to be
to create a documentary honoring the man’s story. “I circum-
more than difficult, but the journey would leave him forever
stantially found myself back in that same hallway, with that
changed with a reward far outweighing the costs.
darkness, and walked up to the picture, [and] it seemed to say to me, ‘Tell my story!’ and I thought, who was this man?
first stumbled into contact with the story’s fingerprints. In
What did he do? Why did he look so familiar to me? At that
2002, the 22-year-old Utah Valley University film student was
point,” he says, “the project started. I explored, and the more
wandering through the basement of the BYU Motion Picture
I learned about him, [the more] my mind was made up.” Thus
Studio where, by accident, he came across a framed photo
began the twelve-month long process of his multi-award win-
at the end of a darkened hallway. He couldn’t have begun to
ning documentary, A Reel Legacy.
imagine where he was about to be lead, or how the strong pull
But it was no easy feat. The difficulties began almost
of curiosity he felt for the man in the small photo would result
immediately, and as he set out to find both visual and writ-
in a great uncovering of a spectacular tale hidden deep within
ten material on Whitaker, discouragement quickly set in.
the pages of Utah’s history.
There seemed to be little trace of the man; several months of
At the time of his initial curiosity, Laughlin had no idea just how remarkable the smiling man had been before he
digging later, it only seemed more hopeless. For one so involved with filmmaking, there seemed to be
passed, decades earlier. Asking around, he learned from a
little left of Judge or of his work in any film records. Even
veteran of the studio that the photo was of a man who’d left
the historical archives in the LDS church had not a single
a remunerative career at Disney ages ago to move to Heber,
photo to offer Laughlin of Whitaker, who had been a mem-
Utah with the intent of bringing the glory and persuasion of
ber all his life.
cinema into its otherwise barren film culture. This man was Wetzel “Judge” Whitaker. Though a name
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in order to have the evil duo appear “more masculine and less
ential film pioneers, inspiring him to create the multi award-
It was years before the process even began that Laughlin
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In fact, chances are each reader has already seen
luck—or perhaps even destiny—that the most remarkable
After making his way to the LDS Motion Picture Studio where Whitaker had worked (whose original, Laughlin dis-
most-likely unfamiliar to the average Utahn, it would have
covered, was modeled after the early Walt Disney Studio
brought a great grin to the face of none other than the beloved
in Hollywood), he was shown to a room of dusty boxes and
Walt Disney himself, creator of the most magical kingdom on
filing cabinets where he spent the next several months dig-
earth—and dear friend of Whitaker’s. Little known to even the
ging, only to produce a mere twelve artifacts of the mysteri-
most sophisticated filmmakers of the Greater Salt Lake Area,
ous man, including an original script and film stills. Yet it
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Photos Courtesy of Tom Laughlin and A Reel Legacy
T
simply wasn’t enough—certainly not a sufficient amount for a
contact Carol Loyd, the youngest daughter of Whitaker, a
full-fledged documentary. Laughlin was trying to uncover the
long phone conversation followed as Laughlin explained
story of a man that simply didn’t seem to offer much evidence
his vision for the documentary and his desire to reveal the
of having existed.
“untold and forgotten history” of her passed father. Finally
He eventually discovered that much of Whitaker’s history was burned up in 1964, when the BYU Motion Picture
she agreed to have him at her house. Satisfied with his noble motivation for the documentary,
Studio was seized by a furious fire. “I almost gave up,” he
she admitted she was about to show him something that had
says, and for two months he did. But desperation and deter-
never been shared before. She left the room and returned
mination provoked him to try again, this time reaching out
with an old box. No one outside the Whitaker family had laid
to Whitaker’s living relatives who, one by one, admitted they
eyes on what was inside.
had nothing. At last, a moment of hope arrived. After managing to
Opening the box, Laughin recalls seeing a breathtaking treasure, “there were at least a hundred photographs
"Judge" Whitaker sketching the lost boys during production of Peter Pan
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of Judge
from Peter Pan. Laughlin was beyond thrilled. Whitaker’s
Whitaker—
daughter agreed to allow him to scan the images for his docu-
not only of
mentary—though only if it was done at her house, “a process,”
him, but of
he said, “that took a very careful four hours.”
him at the
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This victory marked a pivotal moment for Laughlin and
Walt Disney
the documentary. It seemed as though directly afterwards,
studio.”
doors began opening up and he began receiving dozens of other
Finally,
images of Whitaker from various sources—so many, he could
before him,
not even include them all.
was visual
Soon he was connected with old friends and interns of
proof that
Judge Whitakers, past filmmakers who had long been retired,
Whitaker
and conducted twelve interviews in three packed days. Some
was exactly who he was said to have been. But that wasn’t all.
of the older filmmakers’ stories had never been before shared,
She led him downstairs to the basement, flipping the
and were nearly unbelievable. Mr David Kent Jacobs, a direc-
lights on to reveal several more pictures of Whitaker, with one
tor and producer who’d worked closely with Whitaker in
in particular catching his eye. There was Judge, leaning over
Utah recounts a story of Walt Disney taking Whitaker out to
what were clearly original sketches of one of the Lost Boys
Anaheim and telling him, “Judge, nobody knows this yet but
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we’re going to be building a huge park here,” then advising him to invest in surrounding real estate. The more extensively he dug, the more Laughlin realized just how vast of an impact Judge Whitaker had made on the film community in Utah, and even on Hollywood. In the documentary he interviews several professionals who he refers to as the “grandchildren” of Whitaker—skilled professionals in the film industry who trained under Whitaker’s first students, mentors, and co-workers. Among these are Reed Smoot, cinematographer of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Academy Award Winner The Great American Cowboy; Karl Wesson, Emmy Awardwinning makeup artist of Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest, Santa Clause, and Dumb and Dumber; George Griner, camera operator for High School Musical, and many more. Editing was a near six-month process for Laughlin, combing through hours upon hours of footage. He looks back where he began with A Reel Legacy, saying, “[I] didn’t have the money, resources, or photos needed. I spent over one hundred hours interviewing, and I was the only one really working on the editing—I was also the only one planning, scheduling, and budgeting.” At last the documentary was complete, but next came more trouble for Laughlin as he attempted to find a willing distributor. “Everyone we asked said ‘no’,” he said, but finally a stroke of luck found him, and Halestorm Entertainment agreed to distribute the documentary because of a remote connection held with Whitaker, years ago. “An exhausting amount of work goes into making documentaries,” says Laughlin, who is currently working on one called, “Stripling Warrior,” which will be released spring of 2016. “People just assume, [but] no one has a clue how long it actually takes...of the thousands of hours put into one project like this.” “[A Reel Legacy] wasn’t ever meant to be a moneymaker,” Laughlin says about his documentary, “it’s more informative—a passion project.” And it’s because of this passion that Judge Whitaker’s story was able to be shared. What a shuddering thought to imagine the possibility of Tom Laughlin looking at the mysterious photograph, years ago, and dismissing the inquisitive pull that first affected him. Instead he pursued the arduous project, adamant to uncover a truly fascinating story that lay right beneath our noses.
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Giving Them A Shot Spy Hop helps misfit teens find their voice through film by Daniel Pimentel
W
hen I first walked through the doors of Spy Hop I was a
scrawny sixteen-year-old with hair down to my shoulders. I didn’t know anything about filmmaking, and I barely understood how to operate a camera. But I had stories to tell; I had things I was burning to say, piling up inside my head, filling up space, and I was itching to get them out. For whatever reasons, making movies seemed like the most exciting way to do that. I had heard from a high school teacher of mine about Spy Hop, a non-profit organization in downtown Salt Lake City that mentors youth in the digital media arts; mainly filmmaking, music production, and radio broadcasting. Well I was a youth, and I wanted to make movies; surely Spy Hop was the place to be. They could work on their name, though. Spy Hop sounded like an indie rock band from Portland, or maybe a hamstring exercise. But the brochure for their Reel Stories documentary film class claimed to be Festival, so I figured this Spy Hop had to be the real deal. After an interview and screening process, I enrolled in the Reel Stories class in summer of 2008. Reel Stories is a month-long intensive program that helps high
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Photosby Daniel Pimentel
partnered with the Sundance Film
school students create their own short documentary film projects and tell a story close to their heart. After bouncing ideas off of my instructor and the other students in the class, I decided to make a film about my mother, who escaped from an abusive polygamist marriage when she was twenty-eight years old in order to find a new life for her children. I called it “From the Ash Heap” after a psalm she used to quote. I wrote, directed, shot, and cut it together myself. I even recorded an original piece of music for it. All of this with the resources that Spy Hop had immediately available to their students. Later my film premiered, along with the other students’, at the Tower Theater on 9th & 9th in Salt Lake City. There was a Q&A. I wore a tie. The experience was surreal. This past October, Spy Hop was one of twelve organizations to accept the National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award presented by the White House. Spy Hop’s executive director, Kasandra VerBrugghen, traveled to Washington DC, along with an audio engineering student, to personally accept the award from First Lady Michelle Obama. According to VerBrugghen, this is the nation’s most prestigious award for after-school arts programming. It certainly is a recognition well-deserved. What an impact Spy Hop has had and what a long way it has come in such a short time when you consider its humble beginnings. The inception of Spy Hop can be traced back to 1999 when Rick Wray and Eric Dodd came together to create an after-school film project wrestling with the implications of the impending turn-of-the-century. It was made up of about twelve students. After a year, the project’s success would prompt them to pursue legitimate non-profit status and create Spy Hop Productions. Eventually, Spy Hop would expand to include projects in the wider range of digital arts such as audio engineering and graphic design as they moved to their current location in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. Today the number of students being served by Spy Hop’s core community programs has reached the thousands. Before graduating from high school I would enroll myself
in two more film classes at Spy Hop, and during my time there it really became a home-away-from home. I looked forward to heading over after school and spending countless hours on Final Cut Pro cutting my projects together, or talking to my instructor about Quentin Tarantino, or taking a break and jamming with some fellow students in the recording studio. As somebody who wasn’t exactly built to thrive in the current public school system, Spy Hop was a critical learning environment for me. I needed the hands-on experience, I needed the relaxed, creative workflow. I needed to be a part of a team of people who were genuinely excited about a common goal. I built lasting friendships with the other students and formed meaningful relationships with the staff as well, many of which still exist five years later. And I never had any doubt that every one of them wanted to see me succeed in everything I did. In the summer of 2009 I was given an opportunity to enroll in Spy Hop’s king of all film classes: Pitch-Nic. Again with the weird names, I know. That’s part of their thing, I guess. That and apparently an ocean of quality resources available to budding high school filmmakers that you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the country. The Pitch-Nic class is
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Photo Courtesy of the United States White House
Film
Spy Hop was one of twelve of the country’s best youth development programs recognized for programs that engage students in arts and humanities. In picture above: First Lady Michelle Obama, Kitzia Rodriguez, an Audio Apprenticeship student, and Kasandra VerBrugghen, Spy Hop Executive Director. They were presented the award on November 17th by First Lacy Michelle Obama in Washington D.C. in the East Room of the White House. Learn more at spyhop.org/nahyp-award split into two sections: documentary and fiction. I was given the
screenplay. It was read aloud in class. It was torn to pieces
choice to take either, but I decided on fiction. Documentaries are
several times, both literally and figuratively. Then the deadline
great, sure, but I really wanted to tell my own stories; the ones
came. I pitched my story to scary adults who asked me even
that were constantly cranking out of the factory in my head.
scarier questions. I froze up and gave bad answers. The six of us
Those are the stories that needed to get out; the ones I knew
cast our vote and my screenplay was one of two chosen. Together
would never leave me until I brought them to life. So over the
with this small handful of students, I would toil for months to
course of an entire year I would band together with five other
bring it to life. It was a dark comedy about a man in a top hat
students to make a short film from beginning to end. And this
who rode around on a tricycle and killed people with a two-by-
time, we would have a budget. But of course, we needed a story
four, but underneath it all, he had a heart of gold. I called it
first; and I was determined that it would be mine.
“The Antagonist.” We gathered a crew, we held auditions, we
We met every Wednesday at four o’ clock. We learned about
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hired actors, we bought costumes, we rented lights and a fancy
the three-act structure, character arcs, and the Hollywood script
camera with a dolly track, we spent ten days on set. Afterwards,
format. Each of us were to write a script, fully aware that only
we gave it the professional post-production treatment: a picture-
two of them would
locked edit, color-
be made into films.
correction, a sound
The race was on. I
mix, and a score. The
formulated my plot.
film went on to be
I wrote countless
an official selection
drafts of the same
at several festivals
fibonaccifinearts.com
around the country including the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2010. That same year it won the ‘best of’ award at two different youth festivals. Here I was, hardly a senior in high school, and I was already a filmmaker—a real filmmaker. I paid a visit to Spy Hop recently, nearly eight years after I first walked in the door, to say hello to some old friends and to gather resources regarding this article. The framed poster for my Pitch-Nic film is still one of the first things I see when I step inside. And now, a year removed from finishing film school, I have worked on several projects since I took my last film class at Spy Hop. But I will forever look upon those days as fondly as any movie-making experience I’ve ever had. All of my fundamentals, all of my trial and error, it all started there. Honestly, if it didn’t start there, it might never have started. Certainly not the way it did. I still feel like a kid when I see my name on that poster. I still feel the excitement. Somehow, a drawing that I scribbled on the back of a homework assignment in English class had turned into a movie in a matter of a year. Kids are doodling on their homework all across the world right now. How many of them will get to see their drawings come to life in a movie theater before finals week? This is the magic of Spy Hop. As it turns out, there is actual meaning behind Spy Hop’s name. Their own website defines ‘spy hop’ as a verb; “the act in which a dolphin rises above the water in order to navigate and determine its position in relation to other members of the pod”. Secondary definitions include “to look ahead” or “to tune in”. Ultimately it’s teenagers who will be inheriting the world in the years to come. They will be the driving force of change and they have the capacity for it even now. They simply need the wisdom and the resources to make it happen. This is the whole idea behind Spy Hop’s mentor-based model. “We’ve always said we’re not about making media-makers,” VerBrugghen insists. “We’re about creating engaged, 21st century citizens that are ready to succeed.” Whether or not that success is found in the world of digital arts, she says, is secondary.
Original Art now has a
Signature Baklava Daniel Pimentel is a lifelong musician, writer and, now, producer. He has a BFA is Cinema & Media Arts. He began writing early, completing his first screenplay in the fourth grade and developed a talent for song
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writing, starting in eighth grade. He has self-released three records, produced several of his own music videos and has also written and directed award-winning student films. Learn more at danielpimentel.bandcamp.com.
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97
Fringe
Canvas for Community From a Hassle to a Heaven Sent
D
riving down 3300 South at 300 West in Salt Lake City,
ducing him early on to all kinds art and various artists. One of
you come upon a 100-foot brick wall turned mural, bril-
his earliest inspirations was the eccentric Salvador Dali, a sur-
liantly covered with images of Greek Gods and other
realist artist from Spain, whose work spanned many different
mystical beings.
mediums including film, sculpting, painting, and photography.
The artist, Shae
Petersen’s mother had a print of Dali’s piece “ma femme nue”
Petersen, was com-
hanging on the wall of Petersen’s home during childhood. He’s
missioned by Stone
not entirely sure what it was, about Dali and his art, that
Unlimited to do
moved him but Petersen appreciated Dali’s ability to cre-
this huge piece of
ate depth through illusion. It didn’t hurt that his signature
art as a solution to
looked like a graffiti tag, either.
their ever-growing
art, Petersen has found that all different mediums are inspi-
that has plagued
rational. He currently pulls a lot of his creation from music,
their building for
infusing his art with the emotion and moods felt when listen-
years.
ing to music. He would like to evoke these emotions inside
As a child, Petersen’s mother
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Even though his artistic inspiration began with visual
graffiti problem
patrons of his work. Petersen has been a graffiti artist for years, growing up
was a big influ-
in Salt Lake City and spray-painting his art wherever he
ence on his artistic
could find a place. Yes, some of the canvases were not meant
exploration, intro-
for his art, and yes, he's done time; some in the principal's
PhotosCourtesy of Shae Peterson
by Molly Bitton
office and some in the back of police cars. As he ventured further in to becoming a graffiti artist, Petersen hit a point where he felt shunned by his peers in the graffiti community. He didn’t feel like he fit in. Instead of shying away because of their lack of acceptance, Petersen
top reasons. The canvas, he
He's done time; some in the principal's office and some in the back of police cars.
decided to use it as a stepping-
loves, because of the execution and emotion captured. He kept this one
stone to take on the graffiti and street art world. Both
and has it hanging on his
his “I’ll show you” attitude coupled with his raw talent
bedroom wall.
with a spray can have gotten him noticed, not just in Salt Lake Valley, but throughout the Mountain West.
Petersen knows how to paint big: larger projects,
One of Petersen’s earliest commissioned projects
walls, and buildings. He has
was an over the top Detroit themed restaurant called
had a lot of practice and has
Billy Blanco’s in Jeremy Ranch. He was given free
become fairly comfortable,
reign to cover all of their walls in portraits, cars, and
although still self-conscious,
logos. Not only is their artwork amazing, but also their
creating these huge projects.
food “was (and still is) really good.” says Petersen.
His new push for growth
God Like, one of his most recent projects com-
as an artist is working on
pleted this past summer, has been his biggest limit
smaller projects, like on can-
pusher so far. The sheer size and work he put in to this
vas. These smaller paintings
project took his creativity to a whole new level. This is
have a whole different kind
also one of his favorite projects for those same reasons.
of attention to detail, and
Even though this is a very highly visible piece and was
smaller detail with spray
covered by many forms of media it has not given him
paint can be a little tricky.
as much traction as you would think.
Petersen has gone through
Some of his most recognized pieces are his Fear
many canvases trying to
and Loathing and Breaking Bad murals on the east
perfect his techniques and
and south walls of Club 90 in Sandy. Petersen has a
has created some amazingly
raw talent for creating these lifelike murals on such a
beautiful pieces in the pro-
large scale and the best way to appreciate them is in
cess.
person. He did these ones as commissioned pieces, and
Petersen is very happy
because of the controversial nature of the shows there
with where his career is
has been some push back from the city. Club 90 isn’t
going and feels fortunate to
budging though. The murals are staying.
be where he is. “As long as
Most of Petersen’s walls have a much larger reach
my art is progressing, and
than Utah and the Mountain West. Photos of his
people enjoy it... I am happy,”
walls have been shared all over the world, from Spain,
he says with a smile. He is
Germany, the UK, Australia, Mexico, and everywhere
not sure where his career is
in between. The first few progress shots he posted hit
headed, but is looking for-
the front page and #1 post on reddit (5 million plus
ward to seeing where his art
views ).
takes him. You can currently
Of all of his projects, his favorites thus far are: Fear and Loathing, God Like, and a small 4’x4’ canvas of a woman’s face, all for different reasons. The quality of the pieces, the amount of effort he put in to them, and the limits he overcame all put these ones in, are
find him and his work at srilart.com.
From top to bottom: Tiger, Batman Sril N Kuhr, Breaking Bad, Octopus, Fear and Loathing
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99
Career Push
Helping artists market more effectively by Jerusha Pimentel
E
arlier in November 2015, Salt Lake City had the honor of hosting the annual National Arts Marketing Project Conference (NAMP), a program of Americans for the Arts.
The conference was held in the downtown Sheraton Hotel with attendees reaching over 500, many of whom were marketing professionals from all over the country, and even from different parts of the world. The conference began November 5, with some arriving as early as November 1, and lasted through Monday, November 9. Each day was filled with discussions, presentations, meetings, and workshops focused on specific topics of modern marketing and consumer-engagement within the field of the arts. There was an energetic atmosphere throughout the entire weekend as guests eagerly chatted with one another over workshops, meals, and lounging breaks, and offered constructive interactions with speakers during lectures. Though many were strangers on the first day, the overall friendliness and eagerness to connect with other art marketing lovers resulted in a lively conference crowd buzzing with positivity, laughter, and enthusiastic introductions. Unforeseen friendships and connections were swiftly made, and it wasn't unusual for strangers to strike up conversation in the hallways or even
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restrooms, sharing ideas or stories of their personal journeys in the art marketing world, then laughing over drinks or s'mores later that evening. There was ample opportunity to meet others, as in between workshops, attendees enjoyed complimentary Starbucks beverage stations, dessert buffets, and elegant meals, and many spent break times participating in the interactive projects set up for the guests. One such project was the “Wishing Tree,” which posed the question: “What do you wish the President knew about the transformative power of the
arts?” Guests wrote their answers on tags and hung them on the branches. Presentations from NAMP speakers were bursting with innovative strategies and ideas for modern art marketers. Key points urged listeners to link arms with the ever-shifting trends of technology in order to gain more success for their arts organizations, companies, and software inventions. Top presenters provided new and exciting information on creative marketing methods that could be utilized with common technology like cell phones and tablets. There was also a great concentration on the increasing benefits of social media platforms, unique performance-marketing, data, and storytelling. Dozens of booths representing various companies, organizations, and new inventions in the technology and digital app world filled the halls of the Sheraton Hotel over the course of the weekend. Some attendees even traveled overseas to participate. From the UK came two team members of Spektrix, a new cloud-based ticketing software created specifically for performing arts companies and organizations. Spektrix’s original founders both worked in theatre before founding the innovative software, which is now employed by over 50% of the performing arts companies in the UK. After appearing at the NAMP 2015 conference, Spektrix hopes to make its way in the U.S. arts world soon. Next year the NAMP 2016 Conference will take place in Austin, Texas. More information on the conference and the Americans for the Arts organization can be found on their website, www.artsmarketing.org/conference.
Jerusha Pimentel is a beauty copywriter by day, freelance artist and ukulele songwriter by night, Pimentel has won writing contests in various genres, with her work appearing in a number of literary magazines. Her proudest moment was receiving an acceptance letter from her alma mater into the elite Dordt College Redhead Club. She longs to be a wine connoisseur, but is currently satisfied with boxed Merlot from Trader Joe’s. Her chief passions include cheese, women’s rights, and finding vintage designer shoes on sale.
Photos by Jerusha Pimentel
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Destinations
18b: Off the Strip Worst Kept Secret in Las Vegas by Josie Luciano
T
he worst kept secret in Las Vegas has got to be the 18b Arts District. 18b – better known as 18+
blocks of art galleries, studio spaces, and the kinds of businesses that crop up around creative people – is located at the far end of Charleston Boulevard, just three blocks off the strip. What started 15 years ago as a small, local art scene has grown into an entire district of over 50 artist residences and galleries that welcome thousands of visitors to events like Preview Thursdays and First Fridays each month. On any given night, art enthusiasts can find work ranging from commercial and conceptual pieces to Burning Man sculpture, body painting, and street art. Right Place, Right Time This diversity of work is bringing a lot of national attention to a city that is not a usual inclusion on the shortlist of top tier art centers. But maybe the list-makers should reconsider. “I think we are on the cusp of something amazing that can only happen in a handful of cities,” says Vegas artist and co-owner of the Eden Art Studio & Gallery, Justin Lepper. “We are not constrained by contemporary art standards, by art snobbery.” Lack of snobbery is one of the special ingredients that makes Vegas a unique place to be an artist. Its egalitarian attitude and taste for the next best thing, combined with a mean work ethic, and – let’s be honest – low expectations, amount to an art scene that is highclass, low-brow, and completely at ease with the tension that this combination implies. Take Lepper’s own art practice. As a self-proclaimed “maximization artist”, the defining characteristic in Lepper’s work is his tendency to use the maximum amount of space – whether he is covering a flat surface with colorful spray paint or creating an expansive installation per his involvement in the Life Cube project of Burning Man and Coachella fame. Like many artists in the 18b district, Lepper feels like there is room to breathe, room to move beyond the all important body-of-work-canon that steers some serious artists away from experimentation.
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Kat Tatz "War and Peace" 2015, Courtesy of Kat Tatz “I can do an installation one week, the next week I can premiere sculptural pieces in my gallery, then I can to do an abstract painting, and then I can teach an landscape or figure drawing class,” says Lepper. “This can all be done over the course of a month. I’m not just a one-dimensional artist here [in Vegas].” Alex Huerta is another local who is making good on the many-sidedness of his art. Though he works mostly in 2D for solo stuff, Huerta’s collaborative pieces are three-dimensional in the sense that they are created by three different people. “We’re 3 Baaad Sheep,” explains Huerta, referring to the name of the art collective that he started with Eddie Canumay
and Alexander Sky. “There are three individual minds on every piece, without discussion of what goes into [it].” Together for five years, 3 Baaad Sheep is gaining recognition both in and out of Vegas for their award-winning mixed-media paintings that combine graffiti, collage, and mesmerizing color work. Community Matters When they are not making pieces, Lepper and Huerta are also arts advocates for their community. Lepper sits on the 18b arts council and works with his gallery partner, Eden Pastor, to offer licensed art therapy services. Huerta regularly speaks in schools and acts as an unofficial envoy for The Arts Factory – the hub of commercial art activity in the 18b district. In fact, this hands-on
Elizabeth Blau on her Arctic Circle residency Courtesy of Elizabeth Blau
approach to building community seems to be the norm here. Another resident of The Arts Factory, Roman Alexei, focuses much of his time and art-making on “the side of society that we typically forget” – volunteering at local shelters, working with atrisk kids, even spending time in tunnels under the city where a faction of the homeless population lives. Though his art subjects are fairly standard (the people he encounters), Alexei uses nontraditional tools like syringes to apply paint to his portraits. The result is a wall of faces that stare out behind layers of paint and hard circumstances. Across the street from The Arts Factory, Rachel Cline runs R. Cline Arts, a gallery and art consulting business that pairs one local artist with one national or international artist in her predominantly wall-hung exhibits, lending exposure and credibility to both. “We’re just trying to support the downtown community and bring something that people haven’t seen here,” says Cline. The arts consulting side of the business gives Cline a unique opportunity to introduce commercial and residential owners to something
Elizabeth Blau's studio in the 18b District Courtesy of Elizabeth Blau
regional that they may not have seen otherwise. What’s next? The level of chuzpah that residents of the 18b district have for their community hits on something else that artists in New York, LA, and San Francisco can’t touch – the artists’ ability to guide the direction of a neophyte art scene. It’s fun to think about where Vegas will be in the next 5, 10, 20 years, but one thing is certain – it’s too early to slap a label on what “Vegas style” means for the history books. It’s one of those know-it-when-you-see-it type of things. And in some corners of the art scene, “it” looks a lot like LA’s kinder, less desperate cousin. Case in point Kat Tatz. Tatz’ popsurrealist paintings are weirdly fascinating – the visual result of a love triangle between Grimm’s Fairytales, Hudson River School landscapes, and the latest issue of Juxtapoz. Tatz’ assortment of people and animals sport elongated bodies, stylized skeletal features, and classically painted landscapes that invite the viewer to speculate about their fabled backstories.
"Drink" Geoffrey Ellis Courtesy of Geoffrey Ellis
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Destinations
For another kind of artist, Vegas style means holding a
“Working as an artist in Vegas is hot,” says Blau, actually
camera up to the city and daring viewers to question the result.
talking about the weather. But she may as well mean the life
This is the kind of fun that part-time Vegas resident and pho-
and times. “It can be a great place [to be an artist], but you have
tographer, Geoffrey Ellis, chases whenever he is town. Last
to make it happen for yourself, just like anywhere.”
year, Ellis had a show at the Brett Wesley Gallery (located on
So…pop-up, pass-through, or permanent? Whatever Las
the other, other side of the Arts Factory) titled This Must Be
Vegas art looks like in 20 years, it’s not a bad idea to place a bet
The Place. Alternately seducing and repelling viewers with his
on 18b.
images of Vegas fixtures and faders in the exhibit, Ellis’ photographs play up the city’s stereotypes (dramatically lit dice and cards, too-good-looking pool parties, tattoos) and contrast them
Josie Luciano is an artist, writer, and
with the mundane-ness of life in sin city (ugly buildings, mid-air
teacher working out of Reno, Nevada.
cats, security cameras hanging from cracked ceilings). It’s hard
She thinks her “Biggest Little City”
to look away.
is the best kept secret in western art,
Vegas native Elizabeth Blau’s disintegrating landscape
that Las Vegas has some high points
and flash bulb photography. And yet, they seem to have a com-
too. When she’s not writing about art,
mon source of inspiration (or contagion). Specializing in quiet,
Josie likes making art – sometimes
layer-y pieces that depict disappearing landscapes, Blau has
alone, sometimes with her 3-year-old
shown work in galleries all over 18b. Her newest series will
daughter, Coco. Contact Luciano via
draw attention to the changing landscape and diminishing body
email at josie@josieluciano.com.
of Lake Mead in its extreme drought state.
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but is slowly letting herself believe
paintings are about as far as you can get from pop-surrealism
fibonaccifinearts.com
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Must-See Hot Spots for People Who Love Art
Collector's Destinations
Fibonacci Fine Arts Digest Volume 2 Issue 1 cover UV coating.indd 1
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Salt Lake City Metro Antoinette’s Antique Jewelry 239 East Broadway Salt Lake City, UT 84111 801-359-2192
Slusser Gallery
447 E 100 South Salt Lake City, UT 84111 slussergallery.com
www.antoinettesjewelry.com
Illume Gallery of Fine Art 60 E South Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Bella Muse Gallery 101 25th Street Ogden, UT 84401 385-399-7969
illumegalleryoffineart.com
Horne Fine Art Gallery 142 E 800 South Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Urban Arts Gallery
137 S Rio Grande St Salt Lake City, UT 84101 utaharts.org/locations/
www.hornefineart.com
urban-arts-gallery
Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery, Inc.
Sagebrush Fine Art
3295 S 2000 East Salt Lake City, UT 84109 evergreengallery.com
15th Street Gallery
1519 S 1500 East Salt Lake City, UT 84105
3065 S West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 sagebrushfineart.com
Utah Artist Hands
163 E Broadway Salt Lake City, UT 84111 utahands.com
15thstreetgallery.com
DIGEST
Phillips Gallery
444 E 200 South Salt Lake City, UT 84111 phillips-gallery.com
Modern West Fine Art
177 E 200 South Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 modernwestfineart.com
CELEBRATIONS
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“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Harold Whitman
“I shall pass through this life but once. Any good therefore that I can do, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it. For I shall never pass this way again” ~ Etienne de Grellet
St. George Area Arrowhead Gallery ETC Electric Theater Center 68 E. Tabernacle St. St. George, UT 84770
435-628-9592 facebook.com/
ArrowheadGalleryETC
Coyote Gulch Art Village 875 Coyote Gulch Ct Ivins, UT 84738
coyotegulchartvillage.com
Earth & Light Gallery 847 Coyote Gulch Ct Ivins, UT 84738 cdwood.zenfolio.com
Whitaker Studio
899 Coyote Gulch Ct Ivins, UT 84738 whitakerstudio.com
Gallery 873
873 Coyote Gulch Ct Ivins, UT 84738 gallery873.com
Mission Gallery
173 N Main St St George, UT 84770 themissiongallery.com
Split Rock Gallery 2 W St George Blvd St George, UT 84770 splitrockinc.com
World Focus Gallery 20 N Main St St George, UT 84770
Wide Angle
51 N Main St St George, UT 84770 wideangleart.com
Worthington Gallery, Inc. 789 Zion Park Blvd Springdale, UT 84767
worthingtongallery.com
Spectacular
art doesn’t
just hang on your walls.
DeZion Gallery
1051 Zion Park Blvd Springdale, UT 84767 deziongallery.com
Sears Art Museum Gallery 155 S University Ave St George, UT 84770
dixieculturalarts.com/sears-museum
Las Vegas Area Left of Center Gallery
Centaur Art Galleries
leftofcenterart.org
centaurgalleries.com
Martin Lawrence Galleries
Kevin Barry Fine Arts
martinlawrence.com
kevinbarryfineart.com
2207 W Gowan Rd North Las Vegas, NV 89032
3500 S Las Vegas Blvd S Las Vegas, NV 89109
Don’t see a gallery you love? Let us know by emailing advertising@fibonaccifinearts.com
4345 Dean Martin Dr Las Vegas, NV 89103
6001 S Decatur Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89118
239 East Broadway Salt Lake City, UT 84111 801-359-2192 www.AntoinettesJewelry.com
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Must-See Hot Spots for People Who Love Art
Collector's Destinations
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Artistic Lifestyles Gallery
Contemporary Arts Center
artisticlifestyles.com
lasvegascac.org
2758 S Highland Dr Ste B Las Vegas, NV 89109
1217 S Main St Las Vegas, NV 89104
Sun Valley Area Jennifer Bellinger Art Studio & Gallery
Gallery De Novo Ketchum, ID 83340
511 East 4th Street Ketchum, ID 83340 208-720-8851
denovoartconsulting.com
jbellingerart@aol.com
400 1st Ave N Ketchum, ID 83340
Broschofsky Galleries 360 East Avenue Ketchum, ID 83340 208-726-4950 art@brogallery.com
Gail Severn Gallery gailseverngallery.com
Gilman Contemporary 661 Sun Valley Rd Ketchum, ID 83340
gilmancontemporary.com
Denver Area Robischon Gallery 1740 Wazee St Denver, CO 80202
Native American Trading Company 1301 Bannock St Denver, CO 80202
nativeamericantradingco.com
DIGEST
Sandra Phillips
Plus Gallery
420 W 12th Ave Denver, CO 80202
2501 Larimer St Denver, CO 80202
thesandraphillipsgallery.com
plusgallery.com
Counterpath
Ice Cube Gallery
counterpathpress.org
icecubegallery.com
613 22nd St Denver, CO 80202
3320 Walnut St Denver, CO 80202
CELEBRATIONS a Fine Arts Company
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2/17/15 9:12 PM
“On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.” ~ George Gordon (Lord Byron)
Jackson Hole Area Trio Fine Art
Tayloe Piggott Gallery
triofineart.com
tayloepiggottgallery.com
Rare Gallery
Astoria Fine Art
545 N Cache St Jackson, WY 83001
62 S Glenwood St Jackson, WY 83001
60 E Broadway Ave Jackson, WY 83001
35 E Deloney Ave Jackson, WY 83001 astoriafineart.com
raregalleryjacksonhole.com
Park City Montgomery-Lee Fine Art 608 Main St Park City, UT 84060
Terzian Galleries 309 Main St Park City, UT 84060 terziangalleries.com
montgomeryleefineart.com
Julie Nester Gallery 1280 Iron Horse Dr Park City, UT 84060
Gallery MAR
436 Main St Park City, UT 84060 gallerymar.com
julienestergallery.com
Kimball Art Center 638 Park Ave Park City, UT 84060 kimballartcenter.org
McMillen Fine Art Gallery
1678 Redstone Center Dr. Ste 120 Park City, UT 84098 mcmillenfineart.com
King’s Gallery
13 W Center St Logan, UT 84321
Sean Nathan Ricks: The Main Street Gallery
antiquesutah.com
909 S Main St Ste F Logan, UT 84321
Winborg Masterpieces
Logan Fine Art
55 N Main St Logan, UT 84321 winborg.com
Don’t see a gallery you love? Let us know by emailing advertising@fibonaccifinearts.com
Photographer, Kresta Leigh, helped this creative couple capture their vision so they could remember it just right.
www.KrestaLeighPortrait.com 801-916-3952
Logan Area
60 W 100 North Logan, UT 84321
loganfineartgallery.com
Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
• 109
Poet's Corner
The Force
Written by Dernice Samuel Poem originally published in "the Spirit of Passion", 2014
S trong and Courageous, Faithful and Refined
for in God’s eyes she’s a portrait of a virtuous kind
In the Background she keeps a low profile along the way but God’s spotlight shines down on her for she sets the stage She’s committed to her family as she does whatever it takes and gets the manifestations of her labor by way of her faith She nurtures, supports, and counsels the rights and the wrongs and everyone in her household knows she is the backbone Through her struggles she maneuvers, glides, and patiently coasts for she is clever, resourceful, and inspired by the Holy Ghost And it’s obvious her priority is not about herself for her concern is with others who really need her help To the church and the community she extends her hands as she allows God to use her to fulfill His plans The impact of the lives she’s touched is quite significant as her love and kindness have made all the difference Her gifts of wisdom and knowledge drive her to give her best for she knows giving and trusting in the Lord will divinely bless So whether it’s home, career, or volunteer she plants the seeds for those in her life she cultivates and feeds from the fruits of her trees And for her efforts we give praise and tribute in this celebration for she has laid the foundation for the next generation
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Premier Fine Arts Digest of the Mountain West
• 111
Editor’s Choice chasms of unexplainable humanism and, therefore, influence the viewer to the point of awe, love, disgust, calmness, inquisitiveness, and even tears. Art is a language all its own. I try to speak it through raw color, deep emotion, wrenching pain, true love, harsh-dark lines, and hopeful memory. Who is Ms. Sassy Blonde? Well she is a character. Usually, I want the viewers to make a decision themselves how or why they are riveted by my artworks. This time, I’ll make an exception. Sassy Blonde was my first piece that just flowed from my heart to my fingers to the canvas. I was in my third year of art school and frustrated by not being able to communicate the images in my spirit to the blank cave of white gesso. With Sassy Blonde, I decided to become her and not give a “Fuck.” (Excuse the French.) Once I just let myself be she became alive on the canvas. Allowing the spirit to flow from me through the paint gave inspiration the freedom to awaken and come alive. From that time on I became a professional. As I began to sell my work and develop my portfolio, clients appeared. Then, one day, sadness overshadowed my Sassy Blonde spirit. I fell in love and was betrayed. My artist’s soul beats with the essence of a Lion’s heart. I fought for it, I hunted, and I clawed to defend myself. I longed and yearned for nostalgia. Despite my efforts to keep it, my mate kept consuming me and I was betrayed. As I lay beaten and bruised in the jungle, Ms. Sass came back. That strong, sassy spirit returned. With this strength, I rose up and roared: I am done! My latest piece, Heart Exposed, captures that feeling. Kristi Thoresn
Here I am vulnerable, raw, and alive with purpose.
SASSY BLONDE, 2010
Recently I donated a Giclee print of Sassy Blonde to the
Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48"
M
Domestic Violence Coalition of Utah as a visual reminder for the women to keep their brazen boldness of spirit alive.
y art is my passion and I hope that the messages they convey inspire others to reach deep into their spirit, allowing their soul to release their intrinsic beauty. I endeavor to capture that beauty, the kind of beauty that
I paint what I feel. I paint life. Through my paintings, I am that emotional conduit between spirit and observer. Why I am an artist? My being needs to release a burden so powerful and beautiful that I can’t function until I let my lioness
is self-evident, independent of external factors, and embodies the
out. I want to offer up new eyes, elevate viewpoints and to pose
truth or essence that resides in all of us.
the question: What is Beauty?
For me, beauty is like a kiss from someone that stole your heart, a soft whisper from the wind as the snow falls on your hot
Be Ms. Sassy Blonde…Always. Embracing my inner lioness spirit continues to propel my
cheeks, heartache that causes your chest to literally throb with
career UP! Because I was featured on Fox 13’s “The Place” last
pain, or like a glass of wine that warms every inch of your worn
summer, I have leads exhibit in Salt Lake City and Park City. My
body.
art can also be found at the Marco Polo Gallery in the Cliff Lodge
I infuse paint with emotions, harnessing, then releasing, the creative spirit as a powerful reminder to others how much art
at the Snowbird Ski Resort. You can follow me and upcoming news on my website at artofkristi.com.
influences our lives for the better. I paint my life and my inspirations as they unfold into
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With Love, Kristi
(801) 787-1634
Ben Hammond Fine Art www.benhammondfineart.com