“ART HAS THE POWER TO TRANSFORM, TO ILLUMINATE, TO EDUCATE, INSPIRE, AND MOTIVATE.”
Virtual GAllery 2018
Utah Climate Week (October 1-7) was created by the Utah Climate Action Network as a time designated to inspire and support conversation about the climate change issues in Utah. Organizations throughout the state seek to get community involvement in this initiative through special events such as film screenings, speaker panels, and other campaigns aiming to encourage public awareness and advocacy for climate change.
The Park City Summit County Arts Council has joined with art galleries throughout Park City to activate the arts and raise awareness of Utah Climate Week.
The following virtual showcase is compiled of artwork submitted by participating galleries. Each piece highlights the artist's depiction of themes relating to sustainability and environmental issues. These pieces can be viewed in person in the associated gallery windows or other dedicated spaces for the duration of Climate Week.
FEATURED ARTWORK
Indian Creek Farewell - Tom horton, Kimball Art Center
"A moment came in which I understood there was no expression left to but to assist my enemies in destroying my inspiration, my work. Indian Creek Farewell is one of these expressions – perhaps an acceptable way for an artist to throw a bomb. I wept as I poured the oil." - Tom Horton
At the University of Utah, Tom Horton had a promising photojournalism career going, but had to abandon it after developing an allergy to darkroom chemicals.
Skip ahead 25 years to the invention of digital photography, and he was back at the camera,
this time pursuing nature and ethnic subjects and an artistic perspective.
Lake view - Sarah Winkler, Gallery MAR
Sarah Winkler’s approach to landscape painting is distinctive. Her artistic techniques not only reflect the geological forces of erosion and formation, but also reenacts them. She begins by scaling up her miniature landscape collage studies into large scale acrylic works on panel. She applies paints mixed with natural materials such as marble and iron oxide, and then distresses them with salt and sanding tools to mimic the impact of wind and temperature. By working this way, Winkler is not only documenting the actions of nature but recreating them into entirely new utopian visions of the landscape.
Snow Gems - Bret Webster, Bret webster images gallery
Park City snowflakes become jewel-like in an incredible microscopic photograph. This one was taken December 29th, 2015 on Deer Valley Dr.
Published in myriad National Geographic, Smithsonian, Backpacker, New Scientist, Travel and Leisure and countless other publications and text books. Bret Webster is a world renowned fine art photographer from Utah with a lifetime of experience capturing astonishingly beautiful and evocative images
Whispering winds - Jenna Von Benedikt, Meyer Gallery
Whispering Winds layers a configuration of bees over a contemporary abstract background, beautifully combining naturalism and modernism. Jenna’s figure placement and color palate highlight the movement and serenity of the bees as they set out to work.
Born outside of London, England, Jenna gains inspiration from her European roots and places she’s lived and travelled as well as her current surroundings in Utah’s Rocky Mountains. Her work often draws on the meaning of her name, “Little Bird,” and is inspired by man’s connection and stewardship of the earth.
Wilderness - Debra bloomfield, Julie nester Gallery
Wilderness is a photographic series which highlights the importance of continued preservation of wild places. The images were captured over a five-year period in a remote area of northwestern America, “a landscape that is metaphor for wilderness everywhere.” Immersing herself in this unknown terrain, Bloomfield purposely repeated her movements through the seasons with a contemplative stance. The Wilderness series is equal parts art and environmental advocacy. The photographic series was compiled in the book Wilderness, and was released in January 2014 to correspond with the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
Bloomfield’s work is represented in numerous museum collections, including the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; the Honolulu Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, and many more.
Gratitude for sunlight- Susan Swartz, susan swartz studios
Gratitude for Sunlight, 72”x72.” Acrylic on canvas, 2014.
aerial survey #5 - Curtis olsen, j go gallery
The artwork is inspired by the man-made patterns created by farmers using center pivot irrigation, and it references the way climate change is effecting agriculture and our environment. The pieces are made more thought provoking (and beautiful) by the contrast between the cheerful dots and our concern about the consequences of climate change.
Curtis Olson is an artist and co-owner of J GO Gallery, in Park City, Utah. In other incarnations he has worked as a writer, a designer, and an award winning architect whose wide-ranging projects span seven countries and combine cutting-edge design with environmentally sensitive planning and materials.
solace iii - Dan Toone, terzian Gallery
Solace is made completely from repurposed items. The body and ring are fall off pieces from other projects and the sphere is from an old check valve.
“I feel that sometimes the more simple a piece is, the more elegant it is. Synonyms for the word ‘solace’ are comfort, calm, soothe. I hope that the simplicity of this sculpture gives a feeling of peace, calm, and beauty.” - Dan Toone
the aspen family - David Beavis, DB Fine Art
This Aspen Family image is a combination of beauty and destruction. The climate in Utah is ever-changing due to both and human and Mother Nature's influence. This photograph represents the odd weather patterns that we have experienced due to these changes. Snow and green aspens? How does that happen? The answer of course is it should not, but when it does it is a gorgeous sight to be seen.
Where shadows fall - Connie Borup, TROVE gallery
“In my recent art work I am taking a close, intimate look at nature. With a sense of quietude I invite the viewer to have a deeper, and more direct experience with our natural world. I am fascinated by the shapes of plants, leaves, pods branches and twigs and the play of light and shade on their surfaces. Water interests me because of its many visual and symbolic properties. It acts as a mirror to the sky and reflects its surroundings in unique and complex ways. This kind of complexity can increase the meditative state by holding one’s attention and focus longer. My paintings investigate the different levels of reality we can experience with a close observation of nature.” - Connie Borup
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