It feels really good to be writing this, it's been a while since I could...
Ahem! I am excited to be able to invite you to my new and current show, Animal Destiny and Other Stories, which will be on display this month from January 6 thru February 13 at my very own friendly neighborhood Salt Lake City Public Library's Marmalade Branch. I'll have a bunch of new artwork hanging, and would love for you to stop in and check 'er out if you're able. There will be a reception Friday, January 24 from 4:30 - 5:30 PM and I'd love to see ya there too.
Here is the Marmalade Branch address and hours:
280 West 500 North Salt Lake City, UT 84103 | Mon–Thu · 10am–8pm | Fri–Sat · 10am–6pm | Closed Sundays
I also love (there's a whole lot of love going 'round, ha!) showing my work in the local libraries. Such beautiful and large spaces, lots of nice people, books.. and art! I've always been a huge library and book nerd, especially growing up. I've spent so very many happy hours in the public library, learning about every subject imaginable. Happy times!
I haven't shown my work much lately.. four years. The COVID Experience™ really put the damper on all that for me for quite a while. But I've remained very busy, and I've made a lot of artwork. It's so good to have this opportunity to show my work again! I feel like a piece of artwork isn't truly finished until it's been shown and shared publicly.
I'm really proud of the work I've been making. I've had this very loose series of artwork going that I've been calling "Animal Destiny" and it's been important and significant for me personally. I aint afraid to say that I am an animal lover, and I want to make friends with every beast and bird I meet. I made great friends with a wild hawk one summer years ago, and that experience may have been what started this whole thing, me diving headfirst into nature and the surrounding hills. After spending years of pure joy out in the hllls, something happened. I don't know how to phrase this other than to say: there was a great disturbance in the Force! I don't want to go into it too much, but you can probably get an idea for what I was feeling here. Eventually, I found myself wanting to draw the animals I was seeing and living with as a way for me to deal with this constant grief I've felt with them, with the animals. But I didn't want to paint that grief, I wanted to try and show the power and beauty I see in them.
I think of the Animal Destiny: Horse artwork included on your invitation (at the top of this post) as the first piece I did in this unofficial series, even though I'd been drawing and painting animals for years before that. With this horse, my mind really zoomed in on celebrating the beauty of animals. I became focused on the memories I've had with them, simply seeing them, spending time with them.
I've watched horses run through the ocean surf and that was absolutely one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!
