Laura Durham is the Director of Programming and Engagement for PBS Utah. She curates projects and plans events that utilize local and national media to provide entertainment and meaningful dialogue beyond broadcast. Prior to PBS Utah, Laura worked at the Division of Arts & Museums for 15 years, served as Vice President of the Salt Lake Gallery Association, Program Director for the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll, and was a board member for the Utah Cultural Alliance.
The moment you enter the Kearns Building on Main Street, you know you’re in a unique and historic building. As you quietly ascend the marble staircase, you hope you will find something special when you reach the top. What you find is a long hallway, and at the […]
“You just won ten thousand dollars!” Eighty-five artists hoped to receive that bit of good news this July as they anticipated the results of the Utah Arts Council’s Fellowship Competition. And 2006 marks the year of the $10,000 Fellowship Award. Prior to recent board approval, the Fellowship Award […]
photos Manju Varghese People rarely see Riverton artist Bruce Robertson on a down day. His optimism and positive perspective are second nature to him despite the discouragement and frustrations that often come with balancing a creative career with an administrative one (he is executive director of the Visual Arts […]
Lindey Carter, currently showing her work at Phillips Gallery, is one of the gallery director’s happy discoveries. Meri DeCaria came across Carter’s watercolors at the Ogden Farmer’s Market one day and knew she wanted to represent her work. Carter, the triple great-granddaughter of pioneer artist C.C.A. Christensen, grew […]
Several times a year, St. George artist L’Deane Trueblood receives phone calls from various states, asking her to participate in outdoor sculpture shows. One day in 2003, after receiving one of those calls, she thought to herself, “We could do one of those here.” Utah is known in […]
In her 1995 Masters thesis, Salt Lake City artist Diana Garff Gardiner quotes American watercolorist Charles Hawthorne: “Better to make a big thing out of a little subject than to make a little thing out of a big one.” Gardiner takes this advice to heart as she finds […]
photos by Tami Baum Walking into Paul Stout’s studio at the University of Utah, where he works as an assistant professor, is almost like walking into a metal shop. His shelves consist of toolboxes full of screws, nuts, bolts and connectors. Colorful electrical wires sit on the ground […]
photos by Manju Varghese Dangerously conservative. That is a criticism Utah artist Madison Smith received in graduate school from a professor on his final review committee at the San Francisco Art Institute. Although he doesn’t seem phased by it, it is a comment he will never forget. Smith […]
Michael Berry Gallery hasn’t always been a gallery. In fact, two years ago, Berry’s framing business took place in a small 600 square foot room in the back of his, now 2500 square foot operation on 754 E. South Temple. When the floral shop that previously occupied the […]
Organization Profile: Salt Lake City Painters6 by Laura Durham What do you get when you bring together a child pathologist, a nurse, a teacher, a business owner and an intellectual property attorney? An artist group, of course. These individuals are all members of an artist support group called […]
All artists have different ways of mark-making. Whether with a brush, pen, charcoal, palette knife, or stick, the artist adds a personal touch, making the work their own. For some it is what distinguishes them – sometimes it is what defines them. Van Gogh is known for fluid […]
Over the past year, I received several invitations from BYU art professor Joseph Ostraff to tag along with eleven students on a field study project in New Zealand. Five days before the plane took off, I finally decided to go. I was a little hesitant to accept the […]
photos by Steve Coray “Every school would have a public art piece…every rest area would have temporary public art installations…” These are just a couple of ambitions Jim Glenn has for public art in Utah. For the past six years, Glenn has held the position of Public Art […]
photos by Steve Coray Ever since she can remember, Lori Nelson has called herself an artist. Growing up in a small orchard town, her artistic influences were limited, but her first trip to Spain as a foreign exchange student opened her eyes to a world of art. She became […]
photos by Steve Coray When artists from other countries work in Utah (which, despite some protests to the contrary, is hardly a melting pot) they are often labeled as a pure product of their country. Viewers automatically look to see clear evidence of that in their work. Some […]
A politely put, “good luck” followed by a short little laugh is probably one of the nicer responses you’ll receive after telling someone about your big plans of opening an art gallery. Just like artists, galleries have a difficult time attracting and maintaining a clientele in a smaller […]
In 1962, Brigham Young University recruited Robert Marshall as their football team’s quarterback. Forty-one years later, he’s still at B.Y.U.– only now, he teaches painting. Art was the furthest thing from Marshall’s mind when he came to Provo as a freshman. His plan was to graduate from college […]
When it comes to promoting the arts in Utah, visual artists often feel the media does not give enough attention to the ever-growing artist population and the events they try to promote. Sometimes it seems performing arts organizations such as the Utah Symphony/Opera, Ballet West and even University […]
