CUAC Main Gallery
Central Utah Art Center
86 South Main
Ephraim, UT 84627
(435) 283-5110
www.cuartcenter.org

Exhibition Dates: June 10 – August 5, 2011
Opening Reception: June 10, 2011 7-10pm

CUAC is pleased to announce an exhibition of work from Scott Allred, Amy Jorgensen, Adam Larsen, and Brad Taggart. This exhibit explores the relationship between colleagues and the what role location and proximity plays in the creation of art.
Each artist is a full-time professor at Snow College. Working individually they set out to create work that is both personal and also communicates a sense of place through media and concept.

Scott Allred

Scott Allred is interested in formal aesthetic relationships. In the drawing process shape is what makes the subject recognizable and value execution makes the subject believable. His work consists primarily of figure studies, portraits, and large biblical narratives in the tradition of historic masterpieces. It is his desire to revisit this imagery in his drawings and paintings.

Amy Jorgensen

Amy Jorgensen’s work began as an inquiry into the practices and aesthetics of historical criminal photography and associated assumptions of the photograph as a document of the moment, or a representation of truth – what Walter Benjamin describes as evidence of an occurrence. Traditional notions of the body in art, the figure as object on view, are set aside to consider the body as an active participant in artistic process. She incorporates performance and photography with a willingness to use her own body as both test subject and subject matter in an investigation of personal and cultural assumptions linked to our artistic and scientific expectations of photographic practice. Jorgensen explores the body as both repository and author of information. The resulting photographs are the striking visual residue of her experience: traces of body fluid, clothing, skin prints, and the fine edges of body hair are evidence of her occurrence. Jorgensen states, “My body is an archive, my skin the surface through which I experience the world.”

Adam Larsen

Adam Larsen is a passionate artist and teacher of the visual language. His philosophy of art and teaching embraces the idea that art occurs when craft and concept homogenize. He is dedicated to promoting the practice of fundamental visual and dextral skills in a variety of artistic disciplines. His work cannot be categorized completely by one artistic medium but instead exists in varied forms of drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, and artists’ books. This mixed-media affiliation allows him freedom as an artist to produce work in any combination of material and process, informing and enhancing his particular concept. His current work can be characterized as a visual reflection of his life as he attempts to translate commonplace occurrences into intimate visual dialogs utilizing the visual and tactile container of the artists’ book. The work includes the use of toys and elements of childhood play, metaphorically creating a reciprocal relationship between early memories and adulthood.

Brad Taggart

He is a maker of objects. As a sculptor Brad Taggart modifies materials and space to suit the body of work. He is a traditional sculptor in the sense that he places emphasis on the quality of the object even when the nature of the object is driven by conceptual concerns. He believes that a high-minded idea, in the absence of a finely crafted object, is philosophy mixed with theatre. He considers himself a contemporary sculptor and subscribes to the notion that he can work in any tradition, material, technology, or style that suits him. He is a figure sculptor, but also an installation artist. He embraces realism, yet is equally at home with abstraction. He uses age-old processes to create his work, but is willing to accept new technologies that allow him to be more efficient. He relishes the freedom to say what he needs to say when he needs to say it using whatever means necessary to get his message across. In the end Taggart’s message will always take a material form because he believes that as a sculptor he is a maker of objects.

Master Mahan Fyling Before Jehovah’s Curse (After Cormon) / Jason Metcalf / 2010

curated by Jason Metcalf

Central Utah Art Center

86 South Main

Ephraim, UT 84627

(435) 283-5110

www.cuartcenter.org

Exhibition Dates: June 10 – August 5, 2011

Opening Reception: June 10, 2011 7-10pm

CUAC is pleased to announce the two part exhibition, Sanpete is for Lovers, where Jason Metcalf acts as curator-artist-folklorist in an investigation into superstitions specific to the locale of the Sanpete Valley. In half of the exhibition, Metcalf has conducted research into and gathered evidence of a Sanpete Valley sighting of the forever-traveling figure of Master Mahan – the wandering Biblical Cain who has been cursed to roam the earth until the end of days.  The other half of the exhibition examines the formal and theoretical affinities that are had with quilt barn paintings and Modernist geometric abstraction. Metcalf has placed quilt barn paintings within the galleries of CUAC, while simultaneously displaying examples of the latter on the original grain storage building which is situated on the historic pioneer complex of the art center, as well as throughout the Sanpete Valley.  Quilt barn paintings are believed to have genesis with Amish hex paintings, which some folklorists think were placed on barns to ward off or hex evil from the lives and property of a given group.

Jason Metcalf is an artist and curator based in Sundance, Utah. He has exhibited his work nationally and locally throughout Utah in venues including the Scope International Art Fair in NY and Miami, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Mesa Arts Center, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibits, Kayo Gallery, and the Rio Gallery among others. He attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and completed a BFA at Brigham Young University.  Metcalf co-founded and directed the former Sego Art Center, which was located in Provo, Utah. Additional work can be found at jasonmetcalf.com.

Design for All Hallows Quilt Block Painting Number 1 / Jason Metcalf / 2011

This exhibition is one of many at the CUAC that features highly acclaimed artists from around the United States and Utah. A review of our programming has recently been included in the highly influential international Flash Art magazine published in Milan, Italy. Artists who have shown at the CUAC over the last four years have been included in the Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennial, collected by Charles Saatchi; they have been exhibited in the Getty Museum, Whitney Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Saatchi Gallery, major museums in Switzerland, Germany, Iceland, Korea, and Spain; They have shown in Deitch Projects, Mary Boone Gallery, Freight and Volume Gallery, the Drawing Center, and many other important New York, Los Angeles, and international venues.

CUAC Mission Statement:

The purpose of the CUAC is to educate Utahns about Contemporary Art through exhibitions of artists from three categories:

1. Sanpete artists who demonstrate a high level of professionalism in their art;
2. Utah artists who make art in a Contemporary genre who are emerging or well established;
3. and artists who are exemplary of important trends in Contemporary Art worldwide.

The CUAC maintains that good education about art starts with strong exhibitions of Contemporary Art that have relevance in content or image to our community. Education also includes outreach to the community in the form of classes for adults and children, lectures and critical dialogue about art, and an inviting, friendly environment that welcomes visitors and encourages questions and strives to provide answers.

[Show as slideshow]

12►

Photography courtesy of Jason Metcalf

Raw Melissa will be providing free vegan macaroons for pARTy Bus riders.  Raw Melissa is committed to LIFE and LOVE – Living and Loving.

Hi! I own a company called Raw Melissa that sells extraordinary healthy gourmet desserts and offers nutrition coaching and education. Our products at Raw Melissa are made from only fresh fruits and vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, cold pressed healthy oils and natural sweeteners. We recycle all we can, we use very small amounts of electricity and almost all our packaging is made from materials that are so biodegradable, they can be composted. We strive to buy locally as often as possible and lastly and most importantly, we don’t sell anything that doesn’t taste absolutely delicious. I’m also lucky enough to have been a doula (birth assistant) and childbirth educator for over a decade, having helped several hundred couples during pregnancy and childbirth and am also one of two DONA Approved Doula Trainers in Utah.

More About Raw Melissa

website: rawmelissa.com

food twitter: twitter.com/rawmelissa
food blog: rawmelissa.blogspot.com
birth twitter: twitter.com/doulamelissa
birth blog: doulamelissa.blogspot.com

About the Original pARTy Bus

This 50 passenger bus will not only be providing transportation, but a full art experience. The bus picks up at 5:50pm every second Friday of the month at GARFO, located 1800 South 1500 East, with another pick up along the way in Provo at 1st West and 1st North. On the bus, patrons will enjoy free drinks as well as video art by local, national or international artists for the ride to the show.  This way, the bus itself, serves as a sort of mobile art exhibition. Upon arrival, they will enjoy the art show opening (free to the public) as well as a free concert. CUAC pARTy bus is sponsored in-part by the Pizza Gallery across the street from CUAC in Ephraim.  The Pizza Gallery often hosts live music events and art exhibitions in collaboration with CUAC.

Get Your pARTy Bus Tickets

[Show as slideshow]

Standing in Reserve blurs the lines between art and technology. These fields, although often considered dissonant, have the potential to produce exemplary outcomes when synthesized. With increasingly powerful technologies artists and programers are exploring the possibilities in the “no man’s land” between these two fields. Standing in Reserve exhibits works by Daniel Everett, Bryan Cera, and Davey Hawkins.

Curated by Spencer Twelmeyer

[Show as slideshow]

2011 Heritage Highway Juried Art Exhibition

The Central Utah Art Center is accepting applications for its annual Heritage Highway Juried Art exhibition. Artists living in Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne, Garfield, & Kane counties are invited to participate. This year we have invited Paul Bingham, President of the Thunderbird Foundation of the Arts to jury the exhibition. The exhibit will be held in conjunction with the Scandinavian Festival held in Ephraim, Ut, May 27 – June 7. There will be an opening reception Friday, May 27 from 7-9pm. Awards will be announced during the reception.

Dates

Submission Deadline: 5/14/11

Artist Notification: 5/18/11

Delivery of Accepted Work: 5/23/11

Pick Up of Exhibited Work: 6/7/11

Entry Fee: $20 for 3 images, $5 per additional image

All media accepted

Prizes: $500/$300/$200

art@cuartcenter.org

435-283-5110

PLEASE APPLY ONLINE AT:

www.cuartcenter.org/apply-online

Application Process

We have created an online application that is both simple and completely secure. The selection process will take place through this web portal so we suggest submitting clear digital representations of your work. We ask that you submit your work digitally either online or by mailing in a CD.

Mailed Submission:

Fill out the provided form.
Mail in your CD, application form, and fee.
(Your images and information will be added to the web portal by CUAC staff.)

Online submission:

Create an account at https://apps/cuartcenter.org
Apply for the exhibition.
Upload images.
Pay Fee.
Enter Image Information.
Please contact us if you have any questions about the application process.

DOWNLOAD

2011 Heritage Highway Form

Our Juror

Paul Bingham grew up on a dairy farm in Northern Utah. He later graduated with a BA from Weber State University in 1967. He went to work as a Marketing Executive at Xerox Corporation in San Francisco.

He established the Bingham Gallery in 1974 in Los Altos, Ca. and became the dealer for Edith Hamlin, Maynard Dixon’s Widow in 1974. He later bought the Maynard Dixon property in Mount Carmel and formed The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts in 1999 and began organizing the important annual event ”Maynard Dixon Country”.

Matteo will be putting on a free show April 8th at Ephraim’s Pizza Gallery. They will go on at 9pm and play until 10pm.

If you’re traveling and it seems like buying a Chinese zither harp over five feet long is a good idea, let it be known that it actually costs more to ship it back home than what you bought it for. But so was the beginning of MATTEO, an indie folk feel on traditional Chinese instruments. Eric Chipman on guzheng and guitar is joined by Brinn Chipman on violin, erhu, morin khuur, Jordan Riley on ruan and Luke Williams on all of the above… and bass.

For Immediate Release
Central Utah Art Center
86 South Main
Ephraim, UT 84627
435-283-5110
www.cuartcenter.org

Opening Reception April 8, 6-10pm

Artists Included:
Ryan Browning, Jared Lindsay Clark, Chris Coy, Tyrone Davies, Daniel Everett, Timothy Huchings, Gian Pierotti, Casey Jex Smith

The exhibition includes drawing, painting, installation, performance, video and sculpture all related to the group Doomslangers, and their Dungeons and Dragons adventure to protect the city of Dingershare, root out evil, and make sure the Silver Noni Fruit does not fall into the hands of Lord Ricaek.

Daniel Everett’s work is an exploration of the pursuit of meaning within anonymous space, both physical and virtual. His multimedia work has been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and featured on rhizome.org.
Jared Clark combines found kitsch into hybrid objects that blur the line between sculpture and painting, narrative and non- objectivity.
Ryan Browning combines elements of the traditional Romantic landscape, formal abstraction, and the simplified forms of digital representation to investigate a possible mythology where the virtual and the real are forced to evolve a new and sublime natural order.
Gian Pierotti makes ceramics that will function in an inevitable post-apocolyptic society with limited resources.
Tyrone Davies explores questions of mediated spectacle and mass culture either through the reuse, re-appropriation, and re-contextualization of recorded material and industrially produced objects.
Timothy Hutchings is a gamer and visual artist who often betrays the viewers’ sympathies and trust while delving into the history of film, minimal aesthetics, and chance based conflict resolution. He has shown work at the Kunsthalle Wien, The New Museum of Contemporary Art and Socrates Sculpture Park.
Chris Coy works with the activities and escapist strategies of the suburban (usually white and often teenage) male. He has shown work at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, Sundance Film Festival, and the Netherlands Media Art Institute.
Allan Ludwig regards his painting practice as related to ideas of magic, power and the unknown.
Casey Jex Smith addresses personal identity in finding meaning between three seemingly disparate worlds: religion, sci- fi/fantasy and “high-art”. He has shown his work at the Drawing Center, Yerba Buena Center of the Arts, and Swarm Gallery, Oakland and at Allegra LaViola Gallery NY.

This exhibition is one of many at the CUAC that features highly acclaimed artists from around the United States and Utah. A review of our programming has recently been included in the highly influential international Flash Art magazine published in Milan, Italy. Artists who have shown at the CUAC over the last four years have been included in the Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennial, collected by Charles Saatchi; they have been exhibited in the Getty Museum, Whitney Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Saatchi Gallery, major museums in Switzerland, Germany, Iceland, Korea, and Spain; They have shown in Deitch Projects, Mary Boone Gallery, Freight and Volume Gallery, the Drawing Center, and many other important New York, Los Angeles, and international venues.

**CUAC Mission Statement:**
The purpose of the CUAC is to educate Utahns about Contemporary Art through exhibitions of artists from three categories:
1. Sanpete artists who demonstrate a high level of professionalism in their art;
2. Utah artists who make art in a Contemporary genre who are emerging or well established;
3. and artists who are exemplary of important trends in Contemporary Art worldwide.

The CUAC maintains that good education about art starts with strong exhibitions of Contemporary Art that have relevance in content or image to our community.
Education also includes outreach to the community in the form of classes for adults and children, lectures and critical dialogue about art, and an inviting, friendly environment that welcomes visitors and encourages questions and strives to provide answers.

For Immediate Release:
Central Utah Art Center
86 South Main
Ephraim, UT 84627
435-283-5110
www.cuartcenter.org

Opening Reception April 8, 6-10pm

Artist Website

Fernando Villena, Birch Creek artist in residence, will be exhibiting a new series of works. His work is based on the search and comprehension of different spatial organic planes pulled form daily realities into it’s ultimate transformation into a pictorial abstract and photographic reality.

Villena uses the camera to pull/draw in and out of focus elements in the landscape. By turning reducing figures into objects that lack individual importance, converting background objects into the main protagonist in the picture Villena is ultimately able to change their meaning. Objects of great size become tiny, and microscopic spaces will be increased as if they were observed through a great lens.

Fernando Villena currently lives and works in Bilbao Spain.

This exhibition is one of many at the CUAC that features highly acclaimed international and nationally recognized artists. A review of our programming has recently been included in the highly influential international Flash Art magazine published in Milan, Italy. Artists who have shown at the CUAC over the last four years have been included in the Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennial, collected by Charles Saatchi; they have been exhibited in the Getty Museum, Whitney Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Saatchi Gallery, major museums in Switzerland, Germany, Iceland, Korea, and Spain; They have shown in Deitch Projects, Mary Boone Gallery, Freight and Volume Gallery, the Drawing Center, and many other important New York, Los Angeles, and international venues.

CUAC Mission Statement:
The purpose of the CUAC is to educate Utahns about Contemporary Art through exhibitions of artists from three categories:
1. Sanpete artists who demonstrate a high level of professionalism in their art;
2. Utah artists who make art in a Contemporary genre who are emerging or well established;
3. and artists who are exemplary of important trends in Contemporary Art worldwide.

The CUAC maintains that good education about art starts with strong exhibitions of Contemporary Art that have relevance in content or image to our community.
Education also includes outreach to the community in the form of classes for adults and children, lectures and critical dialogue about art, and an inviting, friendly environment that welcomes visitors and encourages questions and strives to provide answers.

Zionized 78: Bus Breakdown

CUAC art goers maintain positive spirit despite mechanical trouble

By Erik Daenitz

Art enthusiasts encountered a glitch in their plans when a party bus traveling to the Central Utah Art Center broke down. Despite spending several hours in a dark canyon with no cell phone reception, bus riders found ways to stay busy and entertained while waiting for a backup. Party bus trips to the art center have been a great success since they started this winter and will continue to run to the Central Utah Art Center on the second Friday of every month, leaving from GARFO (1800 South 1500 East).

Michelle Pobar has selected the award winners for the 2011 Utah Ties Juried Show have been selected.
1st – Venessa Gromek
2nd – Morganne Wakefield
3rd – Chris Coy

[Show as slideshow]

Please join us for an opening reception for the 2011 Utah Ties Juried Art Exhibit this Friday, March 11 from 7-10pm. Michelle Pobar, director of Honor Fraser Gallery, has made her selections and will be attending the reception. She will be speaking about her impressions of Contemporary Art in Utah and also announcing the award winners for the show at 8:30pm.

The Central Utah Art Center is pleased to showcase the work of these artists.

Artist included:

• Lesli Biggs
• Matthew Choberka
• Chris Coy
• Vanessa Gromek
• Davey Hawkins
• Micol Hebron
• Tricia Lawless Murray
• Allan Ludwig
• Colin Nesbit
• Spencer Twelmeyer
• Morganne Wakefield
• Caitlin Watson

CUAC Mission Statement:

The purpose of the CUAC is to educate Utahns about Contemporary Art through exhibitions of artists from three categories:
1. Sanpete artists who demonstrate a high level of professionalism in their art;
2. Utah artists who make art in a Contemporary genre who are emerging or well established;
3. and artists who are exemplary of important trends in Contemporary Art worldwide.

The CUAC maintains that good education about art starts with strong exhibitions of Contemporary Art that have relevance in content or image to our community.

Education also includes outreach to the community in the form of classes for adults and children, lectures and critical dialogue about art, and an inviting, friendly environment that welcomes visitors and encourages questions and strives to provide answers.

Our Juror

Michelle Pobar is the director of Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles. For a number of years Ms. Pobar worked for Gagosian Gallery in New York until 2008 when she relocated to Los Angeles to work at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills. She has been the director of Honor Fraser since 2009 and works with a number of international, local, emerging and established artists including Rosson Crow, Kenny Scharf, Alexandra Grant, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Robert Lazzarini and the Jeremy Blake Estate. Receiving her BA in Art History from the University of Minnesota, Ms. Pobar then went on to receive her masters degree in Modern Art History, Connoisseurship and the History of the Art Market from Christie’s Education in New York. With work experience at contemporary art galleries, museums and the auction house, she has had her hand in nearly every aspect of the art world and has curated and managed a number of noteworthy exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles.

• 2004 BA, Art History University of Minnesota
• 2006 MA, Modern Art History, Connoisseurship and the History of the Art Market Christie’s Education, New York

Murray Dwertman

Walking through America’s backwoods with a rucksack of basic materials, tools, and props, Murray Dwertman, a Brookly-based artist, trades in a four-walled studio for natural outdoor sites that present unpredictable sets of variables with potential to dramatically influence outcome. Heavily influenced by Land art, environmental concepts, and childhood exploration, Dwertman’s installations and immersive events play out in remote locations where he becomes both engineer and facilitator of experiential propositions for himself and as well as participant. Face Upstream exhibits two new site-specific performances which employ the human body as the building blocks, first, as a working dam in a stream and second, as a vehicle for displacing a rocky island. Dwertman’s varied interactions with the landscapes are linked by an insistence on engaging with nature to reveal its inherent possibilities and by striving to incite intimate encounters between the artist, subject, and viewer. At the center of each new proposition are a reinterpretation of the familiar, and an alternative characterization of the landscape and its vitality within the contemporary psyche.

Greg Caldwell

Greg Caldwell, a 30 year old Utah native, has been drawing his whole life. In 2004 he began concentrating his artistic energy into his ceramics. Recently Greg has returned to pen and paper. Almost everyday he records moments and feelings in his sketchbook. Visual Journal explores the prevailing themes within these daily drawings. These works are an autobiographical look into how Greg sees, experiences, and interprets the world around him. Through simple symbols Greg’s thoughts, feelings, and observations are open to the viewer.

Jenny Guerra

CUAC is excited to introduce Jenny Guerra as the next artist in the CUAC Music Series.

“The only kind of war there should be is jenny war. I like music that is creative, original and sincere. I love the Flaming Lips, Aimee Mann, Jay Z and Motown and not in any specific order.”

Jenny will be performing at 9pm on March 11. You need to hear this.

pARTy Bus

Make sure you get your bus tickets soon. $15 will get you a trip to the next CUAC opening, some drinks, video art, and lots of fun.

Don’t end up like this disappointed art junkie.

“Why, oh why didn’t I pARTy bus this month?”
-Tiffini Widlansky

Chow Truck

The Chow Truck will be feeding hungry people at the Salt Lake pARTy Bus pick up. Get there a bit early. It’ll be worth it.

“Created and run by seasoned restaurant pros, the Chow truck is all about dishing up complex, crunchy, savory, flavors and textures.

All at affordable prices. As in nothing over $6. Think California cuisine with a bold Asian influence. Asian tacos, sliders, and salads with choices from ginger-pineapple pork to tasty tofu with a sambal glaze; flash-fried calamari with tangy fried lemon slices and killer fried cilantro. . . and more.”

4:00 – 5:30
GARFO 1800 South 1500 East – Party bus to CUAC (Central Utah Art Center)