Imagination to Relation @ Southern Utah University, Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery: June 27-Aug 31

SUU’S BRAITHWAITE FINE ARTS GALLERY’S ART INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION 

INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHSBY SMITHSONIAN ARTIST MICHAEL PLYLER

JUNE 27 – AUGUST 31, 2013

Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah: Capturing life through a camera lens has led photographer Michael Plyler on some extraordinary journeys. His commission from the Guatemalan Tourist Institute has culminated in acceptance of his work depicting the Mayan Indians into the permanent collection of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian. Work by this acclaimed artist will be included in the Southern Utah Art Invitational Exhibition and Sale. This annual exhibition will run June 27 through August 31, 2013 at the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery located on the lower level of the Braithwaite Building on the Southern Utah University campus. The gallery’s summer hours are Mon–Sat, 10am–8pm.Admission is free, and the general public is encouraged to attend.

Michael Plyler's work has been acquired into numerous private and public collections on three continents and has been widely exhibited in this country and abroad. In 2010, Michael and Logan Hebner published Southern Paiute: A Portrait. This nine-year project, wherein Mr. Hebner interviewed and Mr. Plyler photographed 32 southern Paiute elders, was published through Utah State University Press. This project was carried out with the full blessing of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah headquartered in Cedar City, Utah. The project also received institutional support from the following organizations: the Utah Humanities Council and the Utah Division of State History; Pioneer Center for the Arts in St. George, Utah; Iron Mission State Park in Cedar City, Utah; Zion National Park; Zion Natural History Association; Zion Canyon Arts and Humanities; Grand Canyon Trust in Flagstaff, Arizona; the Nevada Arts Council; Lost City Museum in Overton, Nevada; Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah; and the Mesquite Fine Arts Center in Mesquite, Nevada.  

Currently Michael is the director of Zion Canyon Field Institute in Zion National Park, Utah. The field institute is the educational arm of Zion Natural History Association and offers 60 educational programs each year with Zion National Park as the classroom for such diverse topics as archaeology, biology, botany, geology, and photography. Michael doubles as the institute's photography instructor. 

Featuring works by some of Southern Utah’s most celebrated artists, the Southern Utah Art Invitational Exhibition and Salewill display more than 150 pieces from various mediums including painting, photography, jewelry and ceramics. In addition to work from Michael Plyler, the exhibition will feature breath-taking pastels by Arlene Braithwaite, vibrant paintings by Ron Spears, Royden Card, Valerie Orlemann and J. Brad Holt, colorful glasswork by Carrie Trenholm, stunning ceramics bySusan Harris and distinctive pottery by Harold Snider. Works on display can be purchased on site at the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery during the exhibition.

The artists featured in the Southern Utah Art Invitational Exhibition and Sale are committed to the great legacy that art has the power to inform, inspire and influence, and donate their work to the annual Friends of the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery Art Auction. The proceeds from the Art Invitational go to benefit the gallery, the community through education and outreach programs for Iron County students as well as ongoing support of the Southern Utah Museum of Art in the forthcoming Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University. Thanks to the support of these artists, the Braithwaite’s programs and exhibitions are free.

The Southern Utah Art Invitational Exhibition and Sale will run concurrently with one other exhibition scheduled for summer 2013. At the Braithwaite, the second gallery will feature an insightful exploration of the art of stage design in Setting the Stage: Imagination to Realization, Scenic Design from the Utah Shakespeare Festival. The work of several designers will be represented in this exhibition as depicted through original scenic sketches and actual production set pieces. Both exhibitions will run June 27 to August 31, 2013.

For more information about the two distinctive exhibitions at the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery, please call (435) 586-5432, or visitwww.edu/pva/artgallery.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE
The Southern Utah University College of Performing and Visual Arts is comprised of nationally accredited departments of Art and Design, Music, Theatre Arts and Dance, as well as a graduate program in Arts Administration and Center for Shakespeare Studies. The College offers 16 different degree areas, including liberal arts Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees; professional Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Fine Arts in art and theatre degrees; and a Master of Fine Arts in Arts Administration degree. More than 60 full- and part-time faculty and staff are engaged in teaching and mentoring over 550 majors in the College. Over 1100 students enroll each year in over 195 arts classes on the SUU campus. The College presents 100 performances, lectures, presentations, and exhibitions each year. The College’s affiliate organizations include the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery, American Folk Ballet, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and the SUU Ballroom Dance Company. For more information about the College of Performing and Visual Arts, contact the Office of the Dean at (435) 865-8561, or by e-mail at cpvamktg@suu.edu.