City Guide 2009 | Twenty-Five Bright Spots 

For me, it began in early 2007 when my wife Dessi and I extended an open invitation to the local community to transform our vacant building at 337 South 400 East into a collective work of art. Over the next three months, nearly 150 artists covered the building with art, inside and out, and, in May 2007, we opened the building to the public for six days. During its short life, what came to be known as the 337 Project was visited by approximately 10,000 people, many of whom waited in line for up to four hours just to get in. In the wake of that very happy experience, Dessi and I incorporated the 337 Project as a nonprofit and now continue to experiment with new ways to bring the work of Utah’s visual artists to the public.

Even with my limited experience, however, I can confidently predict that Utah may soon be known as the art capital of the West. After years of development, we are on the verge of reaching that critical mass of practicing artists, collectors, and arts organizations needed to sustain a vibrant local art scene. Once that happens, Utah artists will be more likely to stay put, and artists from other parts of the country will decide that Utah really is the place. Get involved now, and I promise you will be in for one heck of a ride.

As for this year’s list, I have deliberately excluded the usual suspects—who have carried the local art scene for years—in order to better explore the remarkable breadth of Utah’s artistic explosion. Many who deserve to be on the list were excluded solely to allow for a more balanced picture of Utah’s diverse visual arts culture. I regret that I did not have space for them all.

Of the terrific people and places mentioned below, my only advice is to find the ones that you love—and then bask in the experience. After that, go off and explore on your own. I promise you there are a lot more than 25 reasons to be excited about the visual arts in Utah.

SPENCER BARTON
Barton’s paintings can be hard to find; he is not represented by a gallery and does not produce in volume. When you can find an original Barton, however, whether it is hung on a wall or painted on the side of a building, you are in for a treat. His paintings touch on a wide variety of subject matter: Japanese nightingales, misty forests, and a woman resting her head on her forearms are recent creations. All are beautifully composed with strong graphic lines and vivid colors.

LINDEY CARTER
Carter’s watercolor paintings promise to breathe new life into Utah’s tradition of landscape paintings. Carter allows us to see the natural environment in a new light by distilling her images to such a fine simplicity that trees, grass and sky seem to dissolve into serene groupings of shape and color.

HEATHER FERRELL
It is too early in the tenure of Heather Ferrell, the new executive director of the Salt Lake Art Center, to know what her ultimate impact on the local art scene will be. Early signs are positive, however, as Ferrell already has begun to build bridges to new constituencies.

JEFF LAMBSON
Lambson is not an artist himself, but he is poised to revolutionize the local art scene. With a sophisticated and adventurous sensibility, Lambson brings his years of experience at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to his new job as the curator of contemporary art for the BYU Museum of Art. Don’t miss Lambson’s first major exhibition, a series of breathtaking installations by Dan Steinhilber, at the MOA through Spring 2009.

AMANDA MOORE
Capturing photographic images of failed businesses in deserts and small towns is full-time work for Moore, who regularly drives from the Gulf Coast up to Canada in search of new material. Moore’s thoughtful interest in the entropy at work in our communities takes on added significance in these difficult economic times.

ERIN AND NICK POTTER
Monsters—sometimes magical, sometimes scary, but always the product of creative tensions within the husband-and-wife team—abound in the art of Erin and Nick Potter. Although the Potters are perhaps best known for their hand-screened posters, keep an eye out for their stellar installation work, which earned them a ticket to the Salt Lake Art Center earlier this year.

SEGO ART CENTER
A labor of love, the nonprofit Sego Art Center in Provo is a gift to the community from Maht Paulos, Jason Metcalf and Ryan Neely. Despite having a diminutive gallery space, Sego’s cutting-edge programming is already having an outsized impact on the entire Wasatch Front.

BEN WIEMEYER
Rumored to have the largest beard in the Intermountain West, Wiemeyer may be one of the most daring artists working in Utah today. Although there are common themes in his work, Wiemeyer maintains a fresh energy by continually pushing himself into new areas. The wonderful results include electric intestines on the wall of a two-story building, a larger-than-life self-portrait that was shredded over a three-month period by a machine of Wiemeyer’s own creation, and a classic seascape—complete with cutter ships and seagulls—done entirely in spray paint on a garage door.

MARGARET WILLIS
Willis’ pleasure in the process of creation is evident in her oil paintings. Emotionally intimate portraits and landscapes alike are rendered with thick texture and in luscious, exuberant color.

Adam Price spends his free time driving the Art Truck, a new offering from the 337 Project that brings national and local artists directly to your doorstep. There are rumors that Adam intends to organize an artist-designed miniature-golf course toward the end of 2009, but the only way to know for sure is to subscribe to the 337 Project Newsletter by going to 337Project.org.