At the beginning of this year we asked professional astrologer Christopher Renstrom if he would read the future of Utah’s art world. But to do a reading a date is necessary, and how does one date the birth of Utah art? For the earliest pictographs we might be able to provide a century but not likely a year and certainly not a day. We could offer the day C.C.A. Christensen entered the valley. Or the return of the art missionaries from Paris . . .
We settled on a compromise — the birth of the Utah Art Institute, the day in 1899 when Utah’s emerging art community received public recognition and financial support. Christopher’s reading, then, is more precisely a horoscope of the Utah Arts Council.

So, to our larger question — “What is the future of Utah’s Art World?” — astology has its limitations. What are your thoughts about our future? Any predictions for where Utah’s art world is going? Comment at the end of this post.

Christopher Renstrom is a professional astrologer who resides in Salt Lake City. His regular feature, Ask The Astrologer, appears in CATALYST magazine and he is the creator of RulingPlanets.com— an on-line astrological magazine. You can contact Christopher for readings by writing to rulingplanets.com.

UTAH ART INSTITUTE HOROSCOPE

Everything that is born has a horoscope. As astrologers we look up a client’s birthday, birth hour, and birthplace in order to cast that person’s astrological chart. This provides us with a unique portrait as sketched by the Stars. But horoscopes aren’t exclusive to people. Countries have horoscopes– as do states, cities, and even Arts Councils.

The Utah Art Institute was born on Thursday March 9, 1899 in Salt Lake City, Utah. It had many sires (in this instance Senators) but was in essence the brainchild of Alice Merrill Horne—a newly elected legislator with a penchant for posies (see the November 2008 edition of 15 Bytes). Alice Merrill Horne was born under Capricorn (January 2, 1868) —as was the state of Utah (January 6, 1896). This creates a natural sympathy because people and things born under the same sign naturally gravitate to each other. Capricorn is an “old boys network” type of sign—very conservative in temperament with an eye on both the nickel and the dime– so if anyone was going to usher this bill through a male dominated State Legislature it was going to be a She-goat who knew how to talk money to men. Women born under Capricorn often have an iron fist in the velvet glove approach, and in the case of Alice Merrill Horne those posies packed a punch.

The Utah Art Institute was born under the astrological sign of Pisces. Pisces is perhaps the most artistic sign of the zodiac. Ruled by Jupiter (the planet of fertility) and Neptune (the planet of the imagination) there is no limit to the Piscean scope of vision. It is as wide and deep as the ocean. When you remember that three-quarters of our planet is covered by water then you can begin to appreciate just how “other worldly” this artistic vision can be. Indeed people born under Pisces do very badly with material concerns (they can be like a fish out of water when it comes to paying bills and managing their daily affairs) but they will do whatever it takes to pursue their artistry. Ruled more by zeitgeist (i.e. the collective spirit of the times) than by any ideology or institution, Pisces is a sign that has always been connected to mysticism. And like the mystic who is often at odds with his or her church (it’s as old as Jesus and the Pharisees) anything born under Pisces gives us a glimpse into another world that is both profound and out of bounds.

“Art for art sake” may sound a bit self-righteous, but that’s what stands at the core of the Utah Art Institute’s horoscope. More idealistic than materialistic by nature (this agency will always rely on the kindness of strangers and donors) the Institute challenges the state that it serves to stand by its ideals. When you’re born under Pisces you don’t take these sorts of things lightly. You either make sacrifices in service to the ideals that you believe enrich your life or you sacrifice the ideals—thereby cutting ties to the higher spirit that illuminates and animates them. It can’t be both ways.

The question of who owns the Utah Art Institute (which later becomes the Utah Arts Council) runs like a fault line through the 1899 horoscope and is symbolized by the Neptune and Pluto conjunction in Gemini opposite the Uranus and Saturn conjunction in Sagittarius. This has been an epicenter of conflict since 2003/2004 and likely reached a fever pitch in 2008 and 2009.

Gemini is the zodiac sign of education (particularly early education) and it rules over public schools and neighborhoods. Ephemeral and changeable, Gemini reflects the changing minds and personalities of a population that’s always on the move. Freedom of thought and speech are staples of the Gemini repertoire. In the Utah Arts Council horoscope, Gemini represents both the talent pool that it’s trying to cull from (the artists themselves) as well as the audience that the Council is trying to reach. It’s a very elusive and hard-to-pin-down group and keeping their interest may be analogous to herding cats, however Gemini symbolizes a very clever and inventive populace so the seeds are certainly falling on rich soil.

Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of beliefs and laws. It symbolizes the moral and philosophical values that bind people together so that they work collectively for the benefit of everyone and at the expense of no one. Sagittarius has a big tent mindset. Inclusive and welcoming, its commitment to serving the good of the group drives its famously philanthropic spirit. In the Utah Arts Council horoscope, Sagittarius represents both the creative expression of the Council itself as well as the message that it’s trying to send. It’s an ambitious message because it wants to be there for everybody, but Sagittarius is known to have a blind spot when it comes to scrutinizing its own best intentions. Like losing the forest for the trees, Sagittarius can often lose the good of the group for the changing interests of the people—thus causing it to be out of touch and disconnected.

There is an inherent split between the public (Gemini) and the public good (Sagittarius) in the Council’s horoscope. Moreover this split will never be mended as the planets in these signs sit opposite each other like partners on a see-saw—one will always be up while the other is down; never effecting a balance but always in motion. This may sound irreconcilable to most people, but it’s actually the reason for why the Council has survived for as long as it has. The inability to make these two ends meet forces the Council to adapt and to evolve—like art.

Art has always swung like a pendulum between two extremes. Too pretty and it blends into the background like decorative wallpaper; too controversial and it becomes something to gawk at like pinheads at a freak show. The fact that the Council’s mission is based on a higher vision of the way things could be (as opposed to should be) is what keeps it artistically fresh, relevant, and prescient. Knowing that the public will always be at odds with its own “good” wedges a foot in the closing door of complacency so that the planetary oppositions keep the question “what does the public want?” alive and ever present. And this—as any artist who has struggled with the fumbling steps of a new work knows—is what forces that creative spirit to revisit, reinvent, and ultimately reincarnate.

It looks like the Council is currently undergoing another dramatic change given that Ruling Planet Jupiter will be traveling through Pisces from January 17th through June 6, 2010. This should inspire a re-think on all levels resulting in what can best be described as re-potting. The plant, so to speak, has outgrown its current home and needs to be moved to a larger venue. This coincides with Pluto, the planet of ordeals, passing through Capricorn so there will inevitably be questions posed about the Council’s funding and its relevancy. It’s highly likely that there will be cuts (perhaps even a division of the rhizomes), but as any gardener knows it’s the pruning back that revitalizes the plant and stimulates growth. Pluto may be the planet of ordeals in Astrology, but it also rules the transformations that arise from those ordeals. We may not learn too much about all the behind-the-scenes shifts and changes (plants do a lot of their growing underground and out of sight), but we can rest assured that there will be a rebirth in late 2011 and 2012 when the State of Utah—along with its Arts Council—begins its financial and cultural renaissance in earnest.

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.