There’s more than one reason to head to Sanpete County this Memorial Day weekend. You can visit pioneer-era homes and the studios of present-day artists, at Spring City’s Heritage Days; embrace your inner Viking at Ephraim’s Scandinavian Heritage Festival; or get your blood pumping at world-champion bull riding in Manti. Wherever you’re going, plan a stop at Granary Arts to catch the the exhibits of Shalee Cooper and Kristina Lenzi before they close on the 24th.

Cooper’s work, shown on the gallery’s main floor, uses stark contrasts and sharp geometry to explore the space between minimalism and abstraction. Each painting features a figure set against a contrasting ground—gesso and unprimed canvas—that balance and shift identities without one dominating the other. As Geoff Wichert pointed out in a review of her work at Modern West, Cooper challenges conventional formats by leaving the arrangement of her panels open to interpretation, inviting viewers, or curators to create their own configurations. If you like puzzles, especially of the Tetris sort, you might rotate or rearrange the canvases in your mind, comparing them to Granary’s installation or their presentation on Modern West’s website. Would you hang them differently?

Installation images courtesy Granary Arts, photographer Kamilla Earlywine.

 

In the upstairs gallery, Kristina Lenzi turns inward. Her series of raw, fluid watercolors titled Truth Womb dives deep into the origins of life. Using organic shapes and visceral color washes, Lenzi explores the womb as both a literal and symbolic space—where rapid growth, tension, and transformation begin. The looping red and purple forms suggest floating, breathing, and becoming—while also asking whether the womb is a place of peace or complexity. These vivid paintings are accompanied by a series of objects, leftovers from Lenzi’s moving performance piece at the exhibit’s opening in February. (The founder and director of the well-known Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Lenzi says the event will return for its 12th iteration this fall).

Together, Cooper and Lenzi offer contrasting but complementary experiences: one outwardly architectural and grounded in material; the other inward, emotional, and bodily. Don’t miss this powerful pairing before it wraps up.

Kristina Lenzi’s Womb Ritual performance at Granary Arts in Ephraim, Utah, February 21, 2025. Image by Sam Forlenza.

Shalee Cooper: In Variation and Kristina Lenzi: Wombs, Granary Arts, Ephraim, through May 24.

Here are some other events happening this weekend:

Feathered Tides: A Roving Performance at Miller Bird Refuge
May 24, 25, 30 & 31, 2025
Experience the rhythms of nature in Feathered Tides, a roving, site-specific performance by Mitsu Salmon. Inspired by Great Salt Lake and the movements of local songbirds, this guided experience weaves together dance and sound along the trails of Miller Bird Refuge.

Moab Arts Festival
Saturday, May 24 (10 AM–7 PM) & Sunday, May 25 (10 AM–6 PM)
A free, family-friendly festival featuring artisan booths, live music, a kids’ art tent, food vendors, and a beer & wine garden.

Art on Main – Brigham City
Friday, May 23 & Saturday, May 24
Historic Downtown Brigham City
A street festival featuring local artists, craftspeople, live music, and food vendors in downtown Brigham City.

¡May Day! – Flamenco Songs of Protest
Date: Saturday, May 24
Regent Street Black Box at Eccles Theater, Salt Lake City
A flamenco performance celebrating labor movements and the spirit of May Day through song and dance.

15 Bytes

UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.