Here you go: the next installment of weekly events for the arts-oriented CATALYST community. Also, check out the Local Artist Spotlight for this week, featuring Meggie Troili. (It was published early so interested readers could attend her event last weekend.)
Wednesday April 11
This week, the University of Utah Department of Art & Art History is bringing Massachusetts-based artist Laylah Ali as part of their Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Ali has exhibited her figurative gouache paintings nationally and internationally, including solo shows at the New York MOMA and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Ali’s work is often compared to the panel-by-panel narrative of comic serials, although her faux-naive style is perhaps more reminiscent of the vividly colored social commentary of the Beatle’s Yellow Submarine or Laloux’s Fantastic Planet. And like these animations, the bright, punchy style serves to make the themes of political resistance, social relationships, and betrayal that comprise her subject matter more sinister.
UMFA, University of Utah, 410 Campus Center Drive, 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Friday April 13
This Friday marks your last chance to see the show Perception at the Utah Arts Festival Gallery. This show features multimedia works by Verl Adams, Blake Palmer, and Miranda Whitlock.
With interests and influences from architecture, photography, graphic design, and illustration, this show should provide gallery goers with a survey of some of the interesting contemporary work being done in the community.
Utah Arts Festival Gallery, Festival headquarters, 230 South 500 West, Suite 120 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Saturday April 14
The Kimball Art Center in Park City is doing its part to support young artists in the community: Saturday is the opening for the Wasatch Back Student Art Show: Everyday Art, featuring the work of Summit and Wasatch county students from kindergarteners up to high school seniors. As you might guess from the title of the show, students were asked to include or incorporate everyday objects in their piece, from buildings to coins. The show marks a great opportunity for local youngsters to see their work in the same space that hosts the work of “real” artists—empowering them to embrace the validity of their own work, an important factor for would-be artists at any stage of life.
Kimball Art Center, 638 Park Avenue, Park City, 12-2 p.m.
For those of you who have left your student days behind—perhaps far behind—the local community is doing its part to help you further your practice as well. For those trying to make it as an independent creative, the legal issues surrounding the business aspects of the arts—from copyrights to contract details—can seem like a never-ending morass of legalese, but help is available. UMOCA, in partnership with Utah Lawyers for the Arts, is currently in the middle of its second “Art and the Law” series, which brings in legal experts to speak to the common issues related to different creative areas. This Saturday’s topic is publishing—presented by Nicholas Wells, Esq. of Wells IP Law, this session will cover fundamentals of publishing, promising a guide to the “common steps in the publication process, the application of copyright law to printed and online materials, entering into publishing contracts, electronic rights issues, avoiding liability and promoting your work.” (And film-makers should keep an eye out, as the series will be tackling the legal ins and outs of making documentaries on May 26.)
Utah Lawyers for the Arts is a great resource for in-state artists, providing free legal services to qualifying artists and arts organizations and supporing the ongoing education of the legal community on arts-issues.
UMOCA, 20 South West Temple, 1-4 p.m.