Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: Jeremy Lee Sanchez finds deaf culture’s artistic power in signed poetry

In a video of just under a minute and 15 seconds, Jeremy Lee Sanchez performs a visual vernacular of his favorite film, The Matrix (1999). It is impressive in its compact richness of conveying the film’s story line as a signed literary work that combines many elements of body movements, iconic signs, gestures and facial … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: Jazz commission concert with Salt Lake City Jazz Orchestra to feature Utah composer Alex Heitlinger; standout sessions musicians Andrea Miller, Chuck Findley

Jazz’s prominence at the Utah Arts Festival has been rising in recent years. Last year’s show featuring the Salt Lake City Jazz Orchestra was a scorcher, with trumpeter Kris Johnson’s tremendously well received festival commission piece A Shift West and a special appearance with Clarice Assad performing new arrangements of iconic Brazilian songs. This year’s … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: Jennifer Worsley’s woodblock prints capture exquisite harmonies of color in classic Japanese technique

Among the five graphics and printmaking artists in this year’s Utah Arts Festival’s Artist Marketplace, which will have 174 artists, is Jennifer Worsley of Salt Lake City (Booth 6) who makes woodblock prints with the Japanese technique called moku hanga. Worsley uses brushes to apply ink to a carved block of wood and then prints … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: Oakland’s Michael Rohner brings his surreal animal totem drawings to Artist Marketplace

Michael Rohner of Oakland, California, will bring his work of surreal and real animal totem drawings rendered in pen and ink that also incorporates a diversified spectrum of color media. A self-taught artist, Rohner (Booth 29) is among the 174 artists in this year’s Artist Marketplace at the 41st annual Utah Arts Festival. Recently he … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: Stacy Garrop’s Postcards From Wyoming will premiere as winning chamber music commission

Growing up first in Walnut Creek and then in Danville, California, Stacy Garrop played piano but her real music strengths were as an alto singer in choir and saxophonist in her high school marching band. At one point, her love of poetry inspired her to try her hand at writing her own verses but that … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: New stories, voices, creative tools unite artistic community for 41st annual festival

Every year’s Utah Arts Festival brings new stories. For the 41st annual festival, visitors will see Florida’s Bill Wharton The Sauce Boss prepare enough gumbo to feed the crowd while he sings in his distinct style of Florida-inspired funk and blues. The Pedrito Martinez Group consistently impresses crowds, including the recent Spoleto Festival, with its … Read more

Peter Bromberg is Salt Lake City Public Library’s newest steward, ambassador for learning, cultural engagement

Seven years ago, when Peter Bromberg was named the new associate director at the Princeton, New Jersey public libraries, he was finishing renovations on his home, a project lasting 18 months. In a Library Garden blog post, he wrote about the customer service turnaround at Home Depot, a store he visited frequently: The most noticeable … Read more

SC16 supercomputing conference provided real-life experiences of collaboration, engagement for everyone on STEM spectrum

For Salt Lake City’s West High School students Nicole Andrade and Kelsie Muhlestein, touring the massive exhibit floor at last week’s SC16 global high-performance computing conference whet their appetites for a STEM field major in college. Kincaid Savoie, one of the University of Utah’s SupercompUtes team members who competed in a 48-hour competition that really … Read more

Dining with new Chef Wiener at St. Regis J & G Grill

A perfect autumn evening unfolded for an elegant dining hideaway at J & G Grill and delivered an appealing combination of bold dishes prepared by the newly appointed Chef de Cuisine, Rachel Wiener. J & G is a part of the signature Jean Georges portfolio, and the St. Regis location specializes in carefully prepared dishes with locally … Read more

An artistic residency worth watching: Repertory Dance Theatre invites ate9 Dance Company for collaborations on many levels

Many hosts dream of the perfect guest who is invited to visit their home. For the Repertory Dance Theatre, choreographer Danielle Agami and seven dancers from the ate9 dance company in Los Angeles are more than perfect guests. During the morning hours, Agami and her dancers have been leading classes for RDT’s SummerDance16, its annual … Read more