Painting Utah's Mt. Olympus Exhibit @ UMFA (now - Nov 14)

Painting Utah’s Mount Olympus
On view through November 14, 2010

Salt Lake City, UT - While not the tallest mountain in the Wasatch Range, Mount Olympus stands today as a familiar and inspiring natural wonder unique to Utah. In the current exhibition, Painting Utah’s Mount Olympus, on view in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) G.W. Anderson Family Great Hall through November 14, 2010, visitors will encounter large, breathtaking paintings by premier Utah artists, all of whom aim to capture the sublime beauty of our local icon: Mount Olympus.

Organized by Donna Poulton, UMFA Associate Curator of Utah and Western Art, Painting Utah’s Mount Olympus comprises works from esteemed private collections in the local area. The featured paintings span roughly 150 years and were created by such artists as Lee Greene Richards, Gilbert Munger, Edwin Deaken, and David Meikle.

These painters followed in the footsteps of the early Utah pioneers who bestowed Mount Olympus with the Greek name for “home of the gods.” When Brigham Young and his followers settled in the security of the mountain’s shadow, they recognized Olympus as a crucial source of necessary minerals, abundant timbers for building, and precious water in a dry land. However, it was when these pioneers traded their picks and plows for pencils and paintbrushes that the true majesty of Mount Olympus came to light. The mountain was then, as it remains today, a source of undeniable artistic inspiration.

Artists were not the only residents who held, and continue to hold, a deep admiration for the silent sentinel. Throughout time, the awesome grandeur of Olympus’s peak has inspired authors, hikers, geologists, climbers, and adventurers from all walks of life. Many of these Olympus aficionados have shared their thoughts and experiences on a collective, public register located at the mountain’s summit.

As part of the Painting Utah’s Mount Olympus exhibition, the UMFA has compiled a short video to serve as a visual register of local residents’ responses to Mount Olympus, whether or not they have actually climbed it. Looping on a screen next to the large paintings in the Great Hall, this video features the commentary of an award-winning poet who was inspired by the beautiful butte; a former University of Utah student who wrote his thesis on experiencing the mountain through the eyes of an artist; and Caine Alder, a gentleman in his mid-seventies who has climbed Mount Olympus over 425 times in the last fifty years.

The UMFA is delighted to celebrate one of our local natural wonders in Painting Utah’s Mount Olympus, an exhibition generously sponsored by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and Mount Olympus Waters, Inc.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
"Painting Utah’s Mount Olympus" Free Public Lecture
Wednesday, September 15 at 6 pm
Gain insight into the majesty of Mount Olympus in this free public lecture by UMFA Associate Curator of Utah and Western Art Donna Poulton.


####

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is located on the University of Utah campus in the Marcia & John Price Museum Building at 410 Campus Center Drive. The UMFA’s mission is to engage visitors in discovering meaningful connections with the artistic expressions of the world’s cultures. General admission is $7 adults, $5 youth and seniors, FREE for U of U students/staff/faculty, UMFA members, higher education students in Utah, and children under six years old. Free admission offered the first Wednesday and third Saturday of each month. Museum hours are Tuesday-Friday: 10 am-5 pm; Wednesdays 10 am–8 pm; weekends, 11 am–5 pm; closed Mondays and holidays. For more information call (801) 581-7332 or visit www.umfa.utah.edu.