Trevor Southey: Reconciliation Exhibit @ UMFA (Oct 21 - Feb 13, 2011)


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
--Shelbey Peterson, UMFA Public Relations and Marketing Associate
shelbey.peterson@umfa.utah.edu, p: 801-585-1306, c: 801-580-7848
--Donna Poulton, UMFA Associate Curator of the Art of Utah and the West
donna.poulton@umfa.utah.edu, p: 801-585-6815


Trevor Southey: Reconciliation
October 21, 2010-February 13, 2011


Salt Lake City, UT – The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) presents Trevor Southey: Reconciliation, a retrospective exhibition of the most significant works from each period of former Utah-based artist Trevor Southey’s (b. 1940) career. Organized by guest curator Day Christensen, in collaboration with Donna Poulton, UMFA associate curator of the art of Utah and the West, the exhibition will be on view in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building at the University of Utah from October 21, 2010–February 13, 2011.

Two thousand square feet of gallery space on the UMFA’s first floor is devoted to Trevor Southey: Reconciliation. The exhibition comprises more than 60 works created over the last 50 years, including oil paintings, sculpture, and works on paper, which collectively create a profoundly biographical body of work.

The exhibition is designed to trace four distinct passages in Southey’s life that have defined the essential qualities of his character and art.

The first room in the gallery space explores his youth in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and early art education in England. The second passage focuses on his life as a married, practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his desire for a utopian lifestyle created around family, farmstead, and art.

Works in the third section reflect Southey’s decision to acknowledge his homosexuality in 1982, which was not a repudiation of his previous life, but rather an attempt to acknowledge his own identity. In the final two rooms, Southey’s reconciliation of his life decisions are explored through his evolving artistic approach to the human form.

“One of the most striking and endearing qualities of the artist Trevor Southey is his candor and honesty—traits that characterize not only his personality, but are richly reflected in the sculpture, etchings, and paintings in this evocative retrospective,” said Donna Poulton.

“The UMFA has been planning Trevor Southey’s retrospective exhibition for two years, and we are delighted to present the work of this talented and much-loved artist,” said Gretchen Dietrich, executive director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. “Southey’s art—rooted so deeply in the human figure—is an amazingly rich and lyrical exploration of what it means to be a human being.”

Trevor Southey: Reconciliation is generously sponsored by the B.W. Bastian Foundation, Jim Dabakis, Stephen Justesen, Tom McCarthey, and Mary McCarthey, with additional support from Day Christensen, Sam Stewart, Diane Stewart, Alyssa Warnock, John Warnock, and Marva Warnock.


FREE PUBLIC PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

Artist Reception
October 21 • 4:30-6:30 pm
Meet artist Trevor Southey, enjoy light refreshments, and experience the Trevor Southey: Reconciliation exhibition on opening night at an artist reception. This event is supported in part by the University of Utah Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center (LGBT) as part of Pride Week. For a full list of Pride Week events, please visit http://www.sa.utah.edu./lgbt/events/Uprideweek.html.

Panel Discussion: “Alpine Ideal”
October 21 • 6:30-8:00 pm
The UMFA is pleased to present a panel discussion with artists Trevor Southey, Gary E. Smith, Dennis Smith, and Neil Hadlock. These gentlemen will discuss their lives and artwork, focusing on a movement in the 1970s known as the Alpine Ideal.


For more information, please visit http://www.umfa.utah.edu/trevorsouthey_reconciliation or http://www.trevorsouthey.com. A press kit can be downloaded at http://www.umfa.utah.edu/southeypresskit.


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The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is located on the University of Utah campus in the Marcia and 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. Like the University of Utah, the UMFA strives to be a safe haven for discussion, dialogue, and free expression. 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 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Wednesdays 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Weekends, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; closed Mondays and holidays. For more information call (801) 581-7332 or visit www.umfa.utah.edu.