Pilar Pobil: Expressions in Color

Pilar Pobil is an artist known for her striking use of color, and the Spanish-born painter doesn’t confine her vibrant pigments to the canvas, either. She adorns the frames surrounding her artworks with colorful embellishments and designs, and if you attended the garden parties at her home earlier this month, you witnessed the colors on seemingly every surface, suffusing her home environment with warmth and life.

Pobil will be featured as part of the Utah Arts Festival, as her Expressions in Color show opens June 21. At the opening reception, she’ll give a gallery talk at 6:30 p.m. Then she’ll lead workshops June 22-23, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the library’s Special Collections Room. Pobil will be teaching the techniques and methods she uses in her own artwork, and participants will decorate their own frames to take home. Pre-registration is required for workshops.

Pobil began making sculptures before she took up painting, and her work on canvas is just as visceral. Her philosophy of life and art is to be unafraid of taking risks: “If you are going to make a mistake, make it with flair,” she says. Her art is a way of life, in several senses, including a way to feel more alive, and a way to engage with the world and your immediate surroundings. A workshop with Pilar Pobil would be an opportunity to learn about life as well as art. (Brian Staker)