Profiling Midvale Main Art House 

• Ozzy Snow
• Shantelle Sommers and Ash Amos of Midvale Art House

You may have noticed that Main Street in Midvale is becoming quite the artistic hub, with more than 40 murals and LED lights strung across the entire street. In 2022, Nate Rockwood was appointed as the Assistant City Manager of Midvale, but prior to working for Midvale City, Rockwood was the visionary for the Park City Arts and Cultural District, including the revitalization of its iconic Main Street. Will Midvale become the next Park City for the arts in Utah?

Located at the center of Salt Lake Valley, The Midvale Main Arts & Culture District is home to the Midvale Main Art House (7697 S. Main Street), which functions as a workshop space, gallery and community center. The building may be hard to miss, as it is nestled among new restaurants, cafés, tattoo shops and stores including a new third location for Cactus & Tropicals. Local artists Shantelle (Telli) Sommers and Ash Amos were among the first to join the Midvale Art House when it opened in 2024, helping to set up the space and infrastructure. Although the Art House technically opened in June 2024, it was not until September that it was ready for its grand opening.

"It has been a slow start," Sommers notes. "Since our grand opening, we kind of didn't do a lot until the beginning of the year. Me and Ash were super busy doing other projects."

Sommers and Amos are known in Salt Lake's music and arts communities, hosting pop-up galleries and interactive art installations at Mutiny Music Collective's events, The Renegades at Fear Factory, live painting at BLAQ VOID events, and coloring-book mural walls at Midvale's Trick or Treat on Main Street. As experts in community engagement, Sommers and Amos are now hosting monthly art workshops at the Art House, with Sommers recently leading her first workshop on abstract painting in April. "Community engagement is really important for our space, so we host a lot of events that have live music and art activities," Sommers explains.

The Art House is also open for anyone in the community to walk in during operating hours (Tuesday – Thursday 5-8 p.m. and Saturday 2-7 p.m.) to talk with the artists, as well as peruse the galleries which showcase a variety of styles and media. While Sommers is currently working on acrylic and watercolor painting, printmaking and custom upcycled clothing, Amos is honing his skills in painting, printmaking, woodworking and more.

Amos was first contacted to apply for the Art House after contributing to the Hive Design Group mural by James Smith at 7711 S. Main Street in Midvale—which just so happens to be on the north-facing wall of the parking lot behind the current Art House location, and includes the words, "Focus on the Good." Sommers worked on her first mural of butterflies at South Jordan Parkway Bridge last year.

While the murals on Midvale Main Street are an integral part of its ambience, the artists have noticed that there's a trend among mural festivals, such as Midvale's Los Muros on Main, to favor international artists over local ones. "The cities are saying that they support local," Sommers said, "and then they don't always, or they'll support local for the smaller things. And then when it comes to a bigger thing that would actually look really good on a résumé and help you get other mural jobs, they're just like, 'Well, we're going to hire this international person.'"

Sommers and Amos plan to address this issue through a non-profit that advocates for local artists to be part of the art that's in their community. "The traditional art world gatekeepers are becoming less relevant as artists can now directly connect with and build their own audiences," Amos explains, and he himself offers support to other artists through his new business called Penrose Artist Co., which showcases his own artwork and promotes community workshops at Midvale Main Art House.

While the city of Midvale is actively working to revitalize and promote the Main Street area, including the Midvale Art House, there have been some recent departures, so they are looking to add more artists to the space. "The Art House needs more artists," Sommers says.

So if you have ever wanted a space to work on your own art, display and sell from your own gallery, and lead art workshops, this is your chance. If you're not sure, go check out the open space and spend the day creating. Midvale Main Art House is still an emerging and evolving space that needs community support.

Go to engagemidvale.com/art-house to apply as an artist for Midvale Main Art House or just to stay updated on events. You can also follow Sommers and Amos on Instagram at @tellikinesis, @ashamosart and @pen.rose for workshop and event updates.