“What is the answer?” And after a pause, “What is the question?” These famous last words of Gertrude Stein, spoken from a hospital bed to her lifetime partner, Alice B. Toklas, in 1946, seem to echo the question asked every year for the latest quarter century by The […]
An American became and remains an international figure in his art in spite of never having spent a day in art school. Asked about the sources of his creative approach, he complained that he was always “reinventing the wheel,” that is, struggling to find techniques that he later […]
Utah artists and their audiences are no strangers to the salvage of discarded objects possessing the power to suggest rich associations between these things and new ideas. Nor do we lack experience with assemblage, the bringing together of unrelated bits and pieces to stimulate the cerebral and aesthetic […]
Some might know Gretchen Reynolds as Paul Reynolds’ wife. She and Paul were definitely a dynamic duo and she was every bit a shooting star, just in more unconventional ways. I had the chance to meet Gretchen around 2012 when Kristina Lenzi introduced us. They had the idea […]
Jan Hamer has been contributing to the Utah literary scene for many years, not only by publishing her own collection of poems and essays titled A Story by Ravens (2022, Binary Press Publications) but also by training the next generation of writers and creatives in Utah. Hamer taught […]
Josh Winegar’s Future Monuments, currently in the Projects Gallery at UMOCA (behind the gift shop, which the gallery doesn’t employ as an exit) includes 12 untitled, heavily manipulated, black-and-white composite photographs assembled from, among other things, photos of carved stone sculptures (presumably originating from monuments). Winegar has gone […]
What inspires someone to become a writer? For many, it begins with a private impulse—an urge to hold language as carefully as a newborn, to express something essential before it vanishes. Yet countless voices never find the space to be heard. In the rush of daily noise and […]
After more than a decade as a hub for contemporary art in central Utah, Granary Arts has closed its physical space in Ephraim and announced it will continue operations through a virtual, project-based model. “As we move away from our origin story and this place we have called […]
Nationally and internationally renowned researcher, potter, and beloved educator John Childs Neely IV passed away at his home in Logan, Utah on Sunday, June 1. He was 71. His colleague, Massachusetts-based studio ceramicist Christopher Gustin, described Neely as “an ambassador who traveled the world passing on his knowledge […]
If there is an artistic form that the Utah audience might survive seeing less of, surely it’s the landscape: a medium that is tolerant of exploitation almost to a fault, and which has seemingly been shown in every way imaginable. Of course, discerning individuals might argue that what’s […]
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall has announced the recipients of the 2025 Mayor’s Artists Awards, honoring individuals and organizations that have made lasting contributions to the city’s cultural life. A few are such longstanding champions of our arts community—pillars, if you will—we were surprised to learn they […]
Is climate change coming for the arts festivals? Last year, after a $200,000 shortfall representing 10% of its overall budget, the Utah Arts Festival warned it might not survive. Attendance that year was down by 14,000 people. At the time, UAF Executive Director Aimee Dunsmore identified a few […]
In a world where authenticity is prized, we often treat the physical object with much more reverence than its photographic representation. But two exhibits at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (NEHMA) complicate that notion. Repainting the I: The Intermountain Intertribal Indian School Murals presents 11 murals […]
I have a new hero. And she’s a Pop artist. Pop Art is the most—OK, popular—art movement in America, rivaled only by Impressionism. Those French artists looked seriously at modern life as they witnessed its changes: the coming of the steamboat and the railroad, the remodeling of their […]
Lots of restaurants and coffee shops will hang your art on their walls. It doesn’t cost them anything. But Tribe Café & Atelier in Springville goes a step further. They’ll brand your work: not content with just decorating their walls, Tribe has found a way to put artists’ […]
Two striking new murals rise up along the sides of a parking garage in South Salt Lake’s rapidly changing downtown. Unveiled as part of the 2025 edition of South Salt Lake’s Mural Fest, the works are the result of a long-awaited collaboration between Dutch artist Marcus Debie, known […]
Do you remember the excitement of show and tell when you were a child? That giddy feeling of being able to bring your treasure to class and captivate your classmates with stories about your belongings? Maybe someone else in class also had a similar treasure, or you were […]
The phrase “perennial avant-garde” may sound positive, but it’s actually a criticism of one of the primary characteristics of Postmodernism: the need of mainstream artists to continue demolishing the user-friendly accessibility of traditional forms in order to advance the task of making room for a revolutionary new art. […]
Eduardo Alvarez, a Chilean-American artist based in Provo, Utah, studied Fine Arts at Universidad Católica de Chile under Josef Albers’ pupils. Influenced by his global upbringing and Chile’s military regime, his art explores truth and perception. Through dynamic textures, cracks, and colors, Alvarez creates works that balance matter, content, and light. Guided by Christian values, his art invites introspection, encouraging viewers to appreciate beauty, embrace life’s moments, and reflect on the nature of reality.
To discover more artists, visit our Utah Artists Directory
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