From Missouri to Utah: Alisa McCusker joins the Utah Museum of Fine Arts as senior curator

Among the museum curator’s most valuable skills is to demystify and make accessible to exhibition visitors the opportunity to interpret the stories behind the creation of great works of art, whether they were made 500 years ago or even within the past several months. For her doctoral dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin, … Read more

A world premiere by LajaMartin, return of an iconic 1989 piece and a restaging of 2013 ensemble work set to mark Precipice, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s 59th season opener; 10th season with artistic director Daniel Charon

Along with a world premiere by the locally based choreographer duo LajaMartin, Precipice, the 59th season opener for the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, will feature the reconstruction of To Have and to Hold, one of the most widely known dance compositions by Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith also known as the “bench piece,” and the return … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: Two of the festival’s newest dance offerings feature Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcoatl de Utah, Carnaval de Barranquilla Utah

EDITOR’S NOTE: This feature is presented in Spanish and English versions, both primarily made possible by Mark Alvarez. The Utah Review deeply appreciates his willingness and linguistic fluency to prepare proper versions in  both languages. For the Spanish version of this feature, see here.  A point often made in The Utah Review is that dance … Read more

Detrás de escenario del Festival de Arte de Utah de 2022: Dos de los nuevos compañías de baile de UAF son Ballet Folklórico Quetzalcóatl de Utah y Carnaval de Barranquilla Utah USA

Nota del Editor: Este artículo se presenta en español y inglés, gracias a Mark Alvarez. The Utah Review, aprecia su esfuerzo y su capacidad de ayudar en la preparación de las dos versiones. (English version is available here.) The Utah Review con frecuencia ha señalado que la danza lleva la corona de las artes en … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: Fitting in, Mark Zirinsky’s metalwork pieces celebrate the ubiquitous presence of geometry in our lives

Nearly one-third of the artists in this year’s Utah Arts Festival’s Artist Marketplace are appearing for the first time in Salt Lake City. Now retired from his career as a mining engineer, Mark Zirinsky (Booth 142) has been gaining nice traction on the arts festival circuit, with 48 shows in eight years. Zirinksy, who lives … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: Angelina Kidd and the ideal of A Light Heist in her photographic artistry

Angelina Kidd, (Booth 161), of Redmond, Washington, is among the 57 artists making their first appearance at the Utah Arts Festival’s Artist Marketplace this year. Kidd specializes in the handmade aspects of her photographic artistry, with 3-D paper collage imagery constructed by hand then silhouette photographed. Colors and textures come from the paper and she … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: Using the lost wax technique, Ogden-based bronze sculptor Jon Morgan creates works representing stories with emotional undertones

Jon Morgan is among the 59 Utah artists of the 175 being featured in this year’s Artist Marketplace at the Utah Arts Festival. A largely self-taught sculptor who is based in Ogden, his essential mantra in his creative process is that “art should be beautiful, it should be interesting, but it should have a higher … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: 50th Utah All-State High School Art Show traveling exhibition set for The Gallery at Library Square

A toilet that did not work turned out to be the unexpected inspiration for Sophie Santos when she created her digital painting, Solution 5: Oyster Mushrooms to Combat Oxidized Oil Spill. “I was actually stuck in the nastiest motel when I started working on Solution 5,” the Olympus High School student said in an email … Read more

Two Salt Lake City plein air artists among 22 invited to 14th Annual Grand Canyon Celebration of Art at Grand Canyon National Park

Two Salt Lake City artists will be among 22 selected for the 14th Annual Grand Canyon Celebration of Art at Grand Canyon National Park, which begins in September and continues through January 2023. Michelle Condrat and Paula Swain will be among those invited to paint en plein air (outside on location) for a week at … Read more

Sundance 2021: Utah film industry weathers pandemic with resilience, resourceful risk taking

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Part I is an overview of the Utah film industry in the current moment. Part II (tomorrow) will offer a summary preview of the Sundance 2021 feature-length and short films, which The Utah Review will cover. In several hopeful signs, given its size, Utah’s film industry has weathered the pandemic with enough resilience … Read more