My main purpose in visiting the States during Spring Festival this year was to celebrate my oldest nephew’s baptism. This meant I got to spend a lot of time with family, which is always good. I also got to visit two outstanding art museums.
Springville Museum of Art
My brother lives in Springville, Utah, which is home to the highly rated Springville Museum of Art. Nevertheless, in all my time living in Utah or visiting them in Springville, I hadn’t found time to visit this institution until now.
The museum is in a Spanish revival building built by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. It was the first art museum in Utah. The museum’s collection is interesting. It was started with donations from two prominent Utah artists in 1903. That part of the collection has grown to include many works from celebrated Utah and LDS artists including John Hafen, Cyrus Dallin, Mohonri Young, LeConte Stewart, among many others. The other mainstay of the museum’s collection comes from the Soviet Union.
A Visit with My Niece
I took my niece to the Springville Museum of Art with me. She is young, so wasn’t too interested in slowly perusing the galleries. We still had fun. I got to quickly look through the main collection and at two temporary exhibitions. One of these was all about whimsy in art. We took a few minutes to create our own masterpieces.
Then, we spent some time in the basement where we drew a still life, colored on the wall, and built our own art museums out of wood blocks. It was lots of fun. Perhaps next time I go, I will be able to examine the collection in more detail, or maybe I’ll go with one of the kids and we can play in the museum basement.
BYU Museum of Art
I visited the BYU campus a couple of times while in Utah to interview potential teachers for my school, Amerlish, in Beijing. This also meant I could pop into the outstanding BYU Museum of Art. This museum competes with the big boys in quality of shows and collection. My visit coincided with three exhibitions I had time to explore.
Louis Tiffany
The glassworks of Louis Tiffany and his studio are gorgeous. They abstract nature in a simple and beautiful way that it feels like nature frozen in colored glass. The exhibit at the BYU MOA was small, but it was outstanding. Mostly consisting of lamps, it also had a religious works niche that highlighted the Tiffany glass in Utah houses of worship including the Salt Lake Temple.
The Interpretation Thereof
This exhibition features contemporary LDS artists and their interpretation of scripture through art. It takes the realm of religious art into the modern way of thinking instead of viewing religious subjects through the eyes of historical art. I enjoy many of these pieces and have seen many before. It is a great exhibit to peruse in conjunction with some of the museum’s historical art collection to compare and contrast the way artists visualize the same subjects and stories.
M.C. Escher
Since art classes as kids, many of us have been fascinated by the works of M.C. Escher. He never really considered himself an artist, and during his day was more celebrated by mathematicians. His tessellations and impossible sketched illusions wake the wonder in most people who see it. I had only seen his work in books previously even though I tried replicating it in a 9th grade art class. Seeing it in person was thrilling. I could get up close and examine the change from one from to the next in the tessellations. I could follow the winding stairs to nowhere and marvel the architectural forms only possible in two dimensions.
This exhibit also convinced me it wasn’t too far to go from Madrid to Granada to visit the Alhambra on my impending Spain trip. I have wanted to visit that architectural masterpiece for years. Knowing that it inspired some of Escher’s work made me resolve to visit it sooner than later. I don’t regret that decision.
Utah’s Legacy of Art
Many wouldn’t think of Utah being a hotbed for art, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. During the pioneer days of the Wild West when most places beyond the Mississippi were frontier towns, leaders of the LDS church were sending people back east and to Europe to study art and architecture. Some great American artists came from the territory and state. Today, many very talented artists live and work there inspired by the natural scenery. When you take a trip to Utah, be sure to visit one of the outstanding museums (most are free) or galleries including the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Church History Museum, the Conference Center, BYU Museum of Art, Springville Museum of Art, and Park City’s Main Street.
