Art Exhibitions @ What is art? (SLC: Jan 24 - Mar 7)

COLLABORATION HELPS ANSWER THE QUESTION “WHAT IS ART?”

Salt Lake City—Three new exhibitions at the Finch Lane Gallery explore themes of collaboration and the question of “What is art?” The exhibitions run January 24 through March 7, with an artists’ reception on Friday, January 24 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Susan Beck and Bonnie Sucec collaborate their drawing and imaginative skills to create paired images that showcase both artists’ work in their exhibition “Short Stories.” The artists will discuss their work in a gallery talk during the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll on February 21 at 7:00 p.m.

Multi-media artist Tara Carpenter straddles the boundary between psychology, sociology and art. and asks the viewer to become a participant in the visual art process. Carpenter will discuss her work at a gallery talk at 7:00 p.m. on January 24.

University of Utah art students have been creating public art murals across the Salt Lake Valley for a decade. The project is called "Perspective Realia" and the exhibition features prints of these murals. Kim Martinez, who directs the students, will give a gallery talk during Salt Lake Gallery Stroll on February 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Short Stories

Veteran artists Bonnie Sucec and Susan Beck combine their drawing and imaginative skills to create paired images offering different interpretations of the same subject matter. Sucec and Beck have been working together since 1978, but this recent work involves combining a visual description by one artist of a work done in her studio. The output involves using this description, interpreting the information, and incorporating it into a separate drawing by the other artist in her own studio.

Strong partnerships initiate and excite experimental approaches to materials, imagery, and compositional devices as part of a larger practice. The goal is not to duplicate but to achieve a greater personal fluidity within a very complex visual arena.

What is Art to You?

Tara Carpenter explores the idea of what makes “Art” through several different lenses: price, permanency, materials, labeling, artist statements, and opinions. Each work in the show poses questions about a different lens and asks the viewer to respond in an interactive way. Using clay, string, and viewers’ response to the question, “What is art to you?” the same title that she gives her exhibition, to showcase the many ways art can be created and interpreted. Carpenter connects those responses into a visual installation that blurs the lines of art and science.

Perspective Realia

Since 2013 over 200 University of Utah art majors and community members have painted 24,655 square feet of murals, which is more than five miles of art in the community. Associate Professor Kim Martinez developed an educational approach that taught critical and social consciousness to students, while working with community leaders to create murals that would best exemplify the community in which the mural was to be located. The mural project, "Perspective Realia" allowed students the opportunity to create, propose, and implement public art in the form of murals throughout the Salt Lake City area since 2003. The students gained firsthand experience in the challenges involved with implementing their ideas and practices and educating business owners and community leaders. This exhibition celebrates the creative collaboration between students, faculty, and public partnerships.

The exhibition features 21 prints of the various murals completed, plus the context under which the mural was created. A 13-minute documentary about the project will also be shown in the gallery.

Who:               Susan Beck, Bonnie Sucec, Tara Carpenter, and University of Utah Arts Students

What:              Finch Lane and Park Gallery Exhibitions

When:             January 24 through March 7, 2014

Where:           Art Barn, 54 Finch Lane in Reservoir Park

Finch Lane Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with additional evening hours during the Salt Lake City Gallery Stroll on February 21 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. All events are free of charge. For additional information, contact the Salt Lake City Arts Council, 801.596.5000 or visit www.slcgov.com/arts.