– At the 2025 Helper Plein Air Festival, the top honor of Best of Show went to Robert Fuerer for his ambitious painting Helper, a sweeping work that captured the town’s layered story—from its railyards and main street architecture to the towering geology above. Judge Aimee Erickson praised the painting’s “big vision, confident execution, and big impact,” noting the ambition and nerve required to pull off such a large canvas outdoors on location. Second Place and the People’s Choice Award went to “Clouds Past Kenilworth” by Helper local CJ Hales, a moody and atmospheric landscape that drew strong audience admiration and sparked spirited bidding during the live auction.
“Clouds Past Kenilworth” by CJ Hales
-The Utah Division of Arts & Museums has announced the prize winners at this year’s Utah Statewide Annual Exhibition. The exhibition is hosted by the Southern Utah Museum of Art in Cedar Cityand continues through September 28. An Artist Reception will be held on Sept. 20 from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Presented by the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, the Statewide Annual rotates among three media categories. This year’s exhibition celebrates work in painting, sculpture, and installation. Jurors Marela Zacarías and Nancy Zastudil selected 29 works for exhibition from more than 500 submissions. Zacarías is a Mexican-born contemporary artist celebrated for her unique painted sculptures that merge painting and sculptural form. Zastudil is an editor, writer, curator, and arts administrator.
Best in Show: “Chorus (lynne)” by Christopher Lynn. On his vimeo page, the artist describes the work:
“This piece was made by isolating the vowel sounds from my mother’s 1987/88 audition tape for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir where she sang “Abide With Me.”* She was about my age at the time. She sang in the choir for twelve years and toured the world. She passed away in 2019 after a series of strokes progressively robbed her of her cognition, voice, and life. Near the end, her speech was disjointed and halting, giving only a semblance of what was going on in the synaptic misfires in her brain.
Additional awards went to:
Juror’s Award: “Stress Flesh” by Aziza Abdieva
Juror’s Award: “from where the sun is rising (composition for Cedar City, Utah, September 27th, 2025: Laikipia, Kenya; Chennai, India; Cha-Am, Thailand)” by Ariel Wilson and Matt Kowal
Juror’s Award: “Ch’é’étiin (Portals),” by Eugene Tapahe
Juror’s Award: “Mind in Two 25A1,” by McGarren Flack
Juror’s Award: “Regard,” by Clinton Whiting
Juror’s Award: “Some Kind of World,” by Michelle Nixon
Honorable Mention: “Breathing,” by Collin Bradford
Honorable Mention: “Congregational Hymn (Acidbath Revival)” by Alexis Rausch
-The Kimball Arts Festival was held at the beginning of August. French-born Californian artist was awarded “Best in Show.” Park City artist Karen Millar Kendall: “Best Local Artist.”
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.
Categories: Recognized
Robert Fuerer is a miracle worker.
Only after driving past the arrow pointing to “Helper” a few times, always on our way to other places, did we follow the arrow and discover the wonder that is Helper. Explaining how the curve of the railway helps hide the town and for that matter, its being a serious working burg and not at all luxurious or self-indulgent are two ways to try to get a handle on it, but Fuerer has made the picture that renders those thousand words redundant.
Maybe what I meant to say is that Robert Fuerere is a magician.