Communities & Towns

5/27/2018 Communities & Towns

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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST LIST

Duane R. Anderson, The Garden(1996) oil on canvas, 46 x 46

Jonathan Brown, So . . . Luke has a Sister!(2000) watercolor

Paul H. Davis, State Street (1979) oil on canvas, 19-5/8 x 15-3/4

Mark England, United States of America(2005) mixed media, 48 x 80 St. George(2000) pencil on paper, 48 x 47-1/2 Salt Lake Palm(2005) mixed media, 36 x 36Calvin Fletcher, Logan Baseball (1936) watercolor, 20-1/2 x 13-1/2Irene Fletcher, Cache Valley Innocence(1937) oil on canvas, mounted, 29-7/8 x 36-3/8Alvin L. Gittins, Card Players(1959) oil on canvas, 20 x 44

J. T. Harwood, All the Worlds a Stage, Liberty Park (1893) oil on canvas,22-3/4 x 31-3/4

Frank R. Huff, Jr.,Jordan River Temple(1985) watercolor, 29-1/2 x 39-1/2Judith Mehr,Grandma is a Story Teller(2000) oil on canvas, 34 x 44

Cal Nez, Navajo Nation Fair (1989) oil on canvas, 24 x 32

Ella Gilmer Peacock,Moroni Turkey Hatchery Plant(1990) oil on board, 13 x 17

Arch D. Shaw, Twice Told Tales (1993) oil on canvas, 30 x 40

Andrew Smith,Moon Pool(2004) mixed media, approx. 14 x 8 x 4

Additional Images (no biographies included, see sma.nebo.edu for bios)

Elzy J. Bill Bird,Near Vine St. & 9th E.(1936), pencil, 7 x 8-3/4


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Elzy J. Bill Bird, Plowing, Studies from my Youth, charcoal

Elzy J. Bill Bird, Reservation Near Santa Clara - Ut. (1937) pencil, 7-7/8 x 9-3/4

Joseph A. Everett,Main Street at South Temple, Salt Lake City1940 watercolor,12 x 15-1/2

George Inshaw, Old Augustus Sell Boyer Home, Springville(1917) oil on board, 14 x 20

Howard Kearns, Bos Grocery(late 1930s), pen and ink, 5-1/2 x 7-1/2

Bent Franklin Larsen, Eureka, Utah(1937) pencil, 8 x 9-5/8

Bent F. Larsen,Mine at Mammoth, Utah (1932) oil on canvas, 24 x 20

Gaell W. Lindstrom, Remembering Butte(1991) watercolor, 11 x 17

Robert L. Marshall, Snow Canyon, (1984) watercolor, 23 x 33-1/2

Waldo P. Midgley, The Empire State Building(1936), oil on canvas, 47-1/4 x 43-1/4

George Ottinger, Sugar Refinery Burning(1885) oil on paper, 16 x 24

Lorus B. Pratt, Fishing Along the Jordan(1916) oil on canvas, 16 x 28

Ian M. Ramsey, Farm in Winter, Centerville, Utah (1990) watercolor, 14 x 21

Gary Ernest Smith, Farmer with Grain Sack(1990) bronze, 77 x 25 x 35

Pilar Pobil Smith,Mujeres Veracruzanas (1994) oil on canvas, 40x 30

Charles Squires, The Bride(1903) mixed media, 18-3/4 x 9-1/2

Kathryn Dunn Stats, Vista, Torrey, Utah(2002) oil on canvas, 30 x 40

LeConte Stewart, Railroad Tracks -- Winter(1933) lithograph, 10-3/4 x 15-3/4

LeConte Stewart, Threshing Wheat in Porterville(1948) oil on board, 21-7/8 x 29-7/8

Edna M. Van Frank, Home for the Holidays: Centerville, Utah(1923) watercolor,10 x 13-3/4

Richard A. Van Wagoner, Donor Bank(1990) oil on canvas mounted, 48 x 71-3/4

Florence E. Ware, Watching the Ski Meet: Portrait of Theodore Milton Wassmer(1936) oil on board, 30-1/4 x 24-1/4Blanche P. Wilson, Taylor Avenue, Ogden(1992) woodcut/blockprint, 15 x 18

Mahonri M. Young, The El at Hudson River at 129th Street New York (1909) pencil,7-1/2 x 10

Frank I. Zimbeau,Main Street Salt Lake City(1929) pencil, 11 x 13-3/4


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNS

Index of Teacher MaterialsArtist BiographiesDuane R. Anderson The Garden ..................................................................................................5Jonathan Brown So . . . Luke has a Sister! ..................................................................................7Paul H. Davis State Street ...........................................................................................................9Mark England St. George..........................................................................................................11Calvin Fletcher Logan Baseball ................................................................................................15Irene Fletcher Cache Valley Innocence ......................................................................................17Alvin L. Gittins Card Players ...................................................................................................19

J. T. Harwood All the Worlds a Stage, Liberty Park .................................................................21Frank R. Huff, Jr. Jordan River Temple .....................................................................................23Judith Mehr Grandma is a Story Teller .....................................................................................25Cal Nez Navajo Nation Fair .......................................................................................................27Ella Gilmer PeacockMoroni Turkey Hatchery Plant ................................................................29Arch D. Shaw Twice Told Tales ...................................................................................................31Andrew Smith Moon Pool ........................................................................................................33

Art Lesson PlansCommunity Patchwork Tile Mural .........................................................................................37Books of Your Town or Community .........................................................................................45

Instructions for 8-page books ........................................................................................47 Instructions for making sketchbooks ...........................................................................49CityscapePhotorealism .............................................................................................................53Defining Community..................................................................................................................59Skills and HillsCreating Perspective in Drawings ...............................................................65Genre scenesDrawing scenes from everyday life ...............................................................73Making a Map of Your Community .........................................................................................77Narrative Art ................................................................................................................................81Social Issues In Art ......................................................................................................................85Drawing TreesSimple Techniques.........................................................................................87 Tree Shapes Worksheet ...................................................................................................94Wash Day in Brigham CityCross-curriculum lesson .........................................................95Who are my neighbors?A matter of community ..................................................................97Stamp Your Passport!! ................................................................................................................99Visual Icon HuntPhotography ............................................................................................103InstallationInfluencing Public Perception One Room at a Time ....................................105

Dance Lesson PlansDancing Your TownElementary ............................................................................................ 111Dancing the Spirit of your CommunitySecondary ............................................................112


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Language Arts Lesson PlansLinking Art, Literature, and Music Seven activities for ages 5-12 .......................................................................................115Our Town: Exploring the Community ...................................................................................121

Music Lesson PlansMusic that Portrays a Community .........................................................................................129

Social Studies Lesson PlansRoxaboxenwhat makes a community? ..............................................................................131

AppendixElements and Principles of Art ..................................................................................................IISpringvilles Sculptures to Live By Tour ................................................................................ IV


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Duane Anderson (1966 ) Provo, Utah

TITLE: The Garden 1996MEDIA: Oil on canvasSIZE: 46 x 46

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Duane Anderson was born in 1966 inSacramento, California. He moved to Utah forthe first time as a college student to study fineart at Brigham Young University in 1984. Aftergraduating with his BFA, Anderson continuedpursuing his art career and eventually movedto New York to begin a Masters Degree in FineArts. Although Anderson enjoyed the activeNew York art scene, he finished his MFA andreturned to Utah one year later, in 1995. Sincethat time he has been a contributing part of theUtah art scene. In addition to creating his ownart, Anderson has also taught art classes for

BYU.

One of the things Anderson enjoys aboutcreating art is the ability of art to communicateand express his own questions and ideasabout society and culture. His art often causesviewers to ponder what society is teaching andwhether these teachings are valid. It asks whatour culture has become and what our ownplace is within that culture. For this reason,some of his art can be accurately described as

social commentary.

For example, in his work The Garden,Anderson has captured a whole communityon his canvas. However, the interesting thingabout this particular community is that allthe houses are the same. Rows of identicalhomes, lawns, and fences divide the area intoneat cubical properties. In the background, a

radiant and powerful glow emanates from amass of skyscrapers and city buildings. Thiswork apparently expresses some of Andersonown views about the urban and suburbanelements of contemporary society. In thisway, his art encourages the viewer to explore

personal opinions about society and thepositive and negative elements it includes.

The title of the work,The Garden, may referto the Garden of Eden, which was beautifuland innocent and inhabited by Adam andEve, who were told to tend the garden and tomultiply and replenish the earth. PerhapsAnderson wants us to think about the curren


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state of the earth and whether it is beingreplenished. The title also could refer to theway suburbia grows workers for the city,the ways suburbia is not garden like but morefactory like, the ways we have lost our personalidentity.

In addition to painting, Anderson is also afilmmaker. Although film making and paintingmay be appropriately seen as completelydifferent forms of art, there are obvioussimilarities of Andersons style within bothof these mediums. Among his films, oneentitled Shooting People was premieredat the Springville Museum of Art in 2000.This particular film focused on the lives ofprofessional journalist photographers andquestioned whether capturing images of other

peoples sorrows and hardships is morallycorrect.

As an artist, Anderson prefers that each viewerapproach his work individually and draw hisor her own conclusions without being biasedby any other information. For this reason, hedoesnt like to talk much about his specificworks of art. He hopes that his art will causeviewers to think and then draw their ownconclusions, both about his art and about the

world around them.


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Jonathan Brown was born in Muncie, Indianaon November 24, 1963. His love of drawingstarted early, and one of the cartoons he didof the high school principal almost got himexpelled. (Luckily, free speech came to his

rescue.) He attended Salt Lake CommunityCollege and landed his first job at the DavisCounty Clipper in Bountiful, Utah. Brownjoined the team of Salt Lake Citys DeseretNews when he was hired as a free-lanceeditorial cartoonist in 1997. Shortly thereafter,he beat out the competition and earned thehighly coveted position of Editorial Cartoonist,which he still holds today.

Brown has won many awards for his editorialcartoons and is recognized nationally andinternationally. Most often his recognitioncomes from editorials written in response tohis work, and these range from citizens allover Utah to Salt Lake Citys mayor, RockyAnderson. Even though he was once seriouslythreatened by a reader, Brown doesnt mindnegative reactions to his editorial cartoons.What he hopes for most is that his work willinspire people to act, and writing a letter to the

editor is just that. Because all art is subjective,many times his work is misunderstood;people see things in the cartoons that he didntintend. Even though some dont agree on hisviewpoints, most praise him for keeping themcurrent on national and local Utah issues.

Browns artistic inspiration came from a varietyof sources including Pat Oliphant (often seen in

the Washington Post and the New York Time

Jeff MacNelly (creator of the comic Shoe),and Jim Borgman (of the Cincinnati Enquire)Brown comments that although he tries to dewith all subjects, his favorite to do is politicalcartoons. He does the most of these as he jumfrom one issue to the next.

His style has evolved over the years and varifrom one genre of cartoon to another. Heusually sticks to traditional stylistic methods(such as cross hatching) in his political

cartoons. The one artistic technique he usesin all his works is drawing with the Col-Erasnon-photo blue pencil first. This pencil doesnot reproduce when photocopied or scannedinto the computer, so he can use ink directlyon top of it. When he does ink in the cartoon,he uses sable brushes (Kolinsky series 7, No.2, and No. 0). He actually draws with theink-filled brushes and later adds the cross

COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Jonathan Douglas Brown (1963 ) Springville, Utah

TITLE: So . . . Luke has a Sister! 2000MEDIA: watercolor



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hatching and lettering with a pen. The finalstep is to scan it into his computer and emailit to his boss at Deseret News. (Gotta love theinformation age!)

There are no secrets to how Brown comes upwith his memorable editorial cartoons. Itsdefinitely a process that you learn how to doover time, he explains. The first thing youneed to do is narrow the topic down so its bitesize. A reader needs to get it in a matter ofseconds. . . . Flood your mind with lots of news,and connections happen between one story andanother. The ideal cartoon is one that seemsorganic: so perfect and natural. Of course,perfection doesnt come instantly. Once youcome up with a good idea, he confesses, Youneed to keep working on it to better it. It takes

me two to four hours to think of an idea and afew more to try it out. Often, I change my mindmid-process. It doesnt always end up how Istarted.

Many might argue that cartooning is not art,and his high school teacher even told him this.Brown completely disagrees. I dont see anydifference between oil painting and cartooning.. . . Artists create. . . . Construction workerscan be artists, too. They can create artwork

just as much as I do. Besides doing editorialcartoons, Brown sculpts and hopes to one daydo cartoons in 3-D.

Brown gives several pieces of advice forthose wanting to fully experience his workor actually go into cartooning themselves. Ifyou want to understand an editorial cartoon,he advises, Plug yourself into the media fora while and youll understand it better. [My

cartoons] are social commentary. For youngartists wanting to follow Browns footsteps,he recommends that they saturate themselveswith current events. You need a collegedegree to broaden your experience as much aspossible, and you also need to develop a talentfor drawing. He also admonishes not to limityourself to just the visual because dancing,acting, and theatrics will help your cartoons.

One more thing: writing is key. Cartoonwriting must be in bite-size chunks. Avoid thetemptation to write too much. Less is more!

[If you would like to contact Jonathan Brownfor additional information for your class, herequested you call his office phone numberat (801) 491-8221. Dont hesitate to leave amessage if hes not there.]


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His paintings are beautifully observed andput together with a touch that is both broad

and refined, each mark showing sensitivity toconditions of light and a wonderful control oftonal values. This responsiveness to light is thepainters supreme gift. (Andrew Forge)

Paul Davis, a painter, teacher, and art adminis-trator, was born December 2, 1946, in QuonsetPoint, Rhode Island. After attending BostonUniversity and earning both a Bachelor of FineArt (1973) and a Master of Fine Art (1975),Davis began a long and distinguished career

as a teacher and painter. He taught at BostonUniversity, Reegis College, Art Institute of Bos-ton, and the University of Utah, from which herecently retired.

Davis has exhibited around the state of Utah aswell as in numerous group exhibits through-out the country. His work has been seen at theBountiful Art Center (Bountiful UT), the Kim-ball Art Center (Park City UT), Springville Mu-seum of Art (Springville UT) Corcoran Gallery(Washington, DC), Amerika Haus (Hamburg,Germany) and many others. Paul Davis is therecipient of the Painting Prize, Utah 80 fromthe Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Utah ArtsCouncil Visual Arts Fellowship, and the West-ern States Arts Federation/NEA Fellowship forVisual Artists.

COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Paul H. Davis (1946 ) Teasdale, Utah

TITLE: State Street 1979MEDIA: oil on canvasSIZE: 19-5/8 x 15-3/4


Davis says of his own painting methods, Asmy paintings accumulate layers of paint, theyaccumulate layers of meaning for me. Whena painting is almost done, if it is any good, Ibegin to realize what it has been trying to tel

me. If it is a good picture it continues to reveitself. Deseret News Jan. 24, 1981

As Davis looks to the future he continues to acelerate in his painting career. He is currentlworking on opening a studio/gallery for Utaartists.


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Paul Davis has had a distinguished career as anartist. His work is described as being remark-ably original. Davis is a realist who probesbeyond mere imitation to find complexities andintensities of contemporary living. He is amost serious and dedicated artist with an acuteeye and a highly developed critical sense. Hiswork is sophisticated, knowledgeable and com-pletely independent. (Andrew Forge)


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: G. Mark England (1959 ) SLC, Utah

TITLE: St. George 2000MEDIA: Pencil on paperSIZE: 48 x 47-1/2

TITLE: United States of America(2005)MEDIA: mixed mediaSIZE: 48 x 80

TITLE: Salt Lake Palm(2005)MEDIA: mixed media

SIZE: 36 x 36all artworks used by permission of the artist


In 1959, George Mark England was born inBoston, Massachusetts, while his father wasstudying at MIT. He grew up in Californiaand Minnesota, and moved to Utah in 1975.He graduated from Brigham Young Universityin 1986 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing

in 1986 and in 1988, earned his MFA in paint-ing from BYU. He has taught art at BYU, RicksCollege, and Utah Valley State College. For thelast ten years he has been a homemaker, home-builder and designer, and artist. He has fourchildren and lives in a home in Alpine whichhe designed and helped build.(Needs updat-ing)

Mark England says he cannot remember notknowing what he wanted to do. His art wasa given rather than a conscious choice, withno concern about whether it was viable froma monetary standpoint. He appreciates thechance he has had these last ten years to makeart that has meaning for him rather than feelingpressured to make art that would sell.

Although England has created a variety ofartworks that range from shadow boxes, to 3-D


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assemblages to very large drawings, he saysthe theme of all of them is collage. His earlierwork includes shadow boxes with combina-tions of two and three-dimensional objects aswell as glass bells with complex arrangementsof small found and manmade objects such asbranches and very small plastic toys, stamps,and lights. His drawings, like St. George,although created solely with pencil on paper,have the same complexity of imagery his 3-Dwork has: plants, everyday objects like tele-phone poles, identifiable landmarks, and refer-ences to the geographical area from the present,past, and future.

Mark England says he uses collage because it isthe most common universal mode of creationin the 20th century. It is the most accessible,

most pervasive and democratic, and addition,is difficult to do wellhe likes challenginghimself. The universality of collage draws him(he points out that MTV music videos are vi-sual and sound collages) as does plain, ugly, oreven negative images which he redeems fromtheir banality, and also collages banality, byrecombining, recreating them in a setting thatprovides a new context and thus, new mean-ing.

Rarely did his earlier work have themes orstories. He thinks of them as lyrical and magi-cal, playing on subliminal feelings and beingfocused on rhythm, line, design, and such.These works challenge viewers to examinethings they normally would dismiss. Hisdrawings, England says, are more concrete, al-

though the themes are secondary to the beautyof the drawingthe texture, value, and linequality. He does not want to sucker viewersinto liking his artwork by drawing beautifulsubject matter. His drawings do have themesand, like all his work, multiple layers of mean-ing.

Many of Marks drawings suggest a religioustheme or question, and they ask how weve in-teracted with the land, both good and bad, pre-

senting places in a magical time in which past,present, and future all exist at once, a collage oftime and history. Space, too, is twisted and dis-torted. He hopes viewers of his drawings areintrigued and that his artworks provoke view-ers to thinkhe doesnt so much want to pres-ent ideas as to stimulate them. He admits hescurious about peoples reactions to his workand says observing viewers at shows has toldhim many viewers are unsure what to make of

his artworks and dont spend much time look-ing at them. However, he says members of theartworld (strangers) do tend to remember hisdrawings from past shows.

England has deep religious feelings but feelsmany people try to substitute concrete experi-ences and details for what are multifaceted andcomplex spiritual experiences with intricate

Mark England,Large Self-Portrait2000


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implications and relationships. He is quick toexplain he is not angry, he just wants viewersto make connections and ask themselves ques-tions. He also hopes his drawings are beautifulin their entirety and are an intriguing way ofbeing visually provocative. His titles he alsohopes are intriguing. His drawings should beread visually, emotionally, tactilely, intellectu-ally, and spiritually.

St. Georgewon one of the five merit awardsfor Utah Works on Paper show 2000. Englandchose St. George as a theme because the cityis an enticingly bizarre place to him, full ofcontradictions. It has mountainsareas ofcoldjuxtaposed with palm trees and extremeheat. Even the name, St. George, a Catholic

saint, seems like a strange name for a Mormon-settled town that is dominated by a brilliantwhite LDS Temple. The geography of the areahas resulted in a town that winds around vari-ous bluffs, disjointed groupings of buildings.St. George is a retirement and golf mecca, butit also is downwind of the Nevada test sightfor atomic bombs, which has resulted in highcancer rates among the population. The atomic

blasts themselves contrast with the shapes ofthe palm treesone detail he includes in hisdrawing.

In addition to palm trees, the drawing featurcactus, agave, deciduous trees in containers,and narrow cypresses. Scattered throughoutthe drawing are symbols reminiscent of petroglyphs as well as telephone poles, the wires atangled mass that no longer connects to any-thing. The poles too have strong images ascrossesperhaps asking us what we have anwhat we will sacrifice. The very complexityand enigmatic nature of the images demandthat we not only examine the drawing closelybut that we also examine ourselves closely.The drawing poses questions but provides noanswers.

Excerpts from a Recent Artists Statement:

During the past two years I have focused onmaking the transition from drawing to paintiand pushing my work to new ways ofexpression.

In my earlier drawings I focused on line andthe wealth of information it could convey. NoI am working through the challenges of color

and value within the context of issues I havecontinued to explore for the past twenty yearThe American landscape is cloaked in culturaopacities and cluttered with human debris. Icontend that no one with a twentieth-centuryeye can see through the layers of artificialmeaning and histories we have imposed ontothis finally impenetrable continent. So, ratherthan trying for that ever-elusive glimpse of alandscape or history in its purity, I choose to

draw the perceptions and impositions betweus and a place we cannot know.

In my paintings of America I am far moreconcerned with representing and question-ing cultural and visual expectations than witillustrating a scene. In a sense, my paintingsand drawings are anthropological; in them, Ioften dwell on the values, activities, and even

Mark England, West Fields2005


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of ancient and contemporary cultures, trac-ing the traces they left behind. I am especiallyintrigued by the events through time that tieseemingly unrelated people and events togeth-er in broad cycles. . .

All of my work, in some way or another, isabout landscape and how we see ourselvesthrough it and impose our values on it. . . .These are maps of time, culture, dreams,perceptions, the future, and how we wish tosee ourselves and our history. They invite the

Mark England, Small Town (2006)

viewer to become lost in them and then tomake conscious and intuitive sense of theperceptual environment. I twist perspective,visually and historically. Because of the juxta-posing of unrelated buildings and events, eachscene could be hundreds of years in the past,or in the process of being constructed, or in thefuture after everything has been torn down,destroyed, or worn away. All things, time, his-tory, memory, and perceptions are present inthese paintings.(markenglandart.com)


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ARTIST: Calvin Fletcher (18821963) Logan, UtahTITLE: Logan Baseball 1936MEDIA: watercolorSIZE: 201/2 x 131/2


Calvin Fletcher was a shy child whose artistic

gifts were apparent early in his life. Althoughhe was most interested in sculpture, no localteachers were available, so his parents arrangedlessons with the painter J. B. Fairbanks, whohad a studio in Provo.

A year later Fletcher entered Brigham YoungAcademy, from which he received a certificatein normal drawing. 1901 He then attendedBrigham Young University and graduated twoyears later with both a Bachelor of Science and

a certificate in Fine Arts. While attending BYU,he taught as an assistant professor of art andmanual training, and he continued to teach fora year after his graduation, before leaving theuniversity to study at New Yorks Pratt Insti-tute.

Fletcher and his wife Sarah spent just one yearin the East before returning to Utah where Cal-vin had been offered the chance to head the artdepartment at Utah State Agricultural College,later Utah State University. Fletcher remainedin Logan until 1912 when he took a sabbati-cal and returned to New York, this time alone,Sarah having died in 1909.While in New York, Calvin Fletcher studiedwith Charles Binnes at Columbia and underRobert Henri in evening classes. Having ex-panded his artistic exposure considerably,

Fletcher then moved to London to work withSir William Rothenstein and then to study atthe Central School of Arts and Crafts with J.M. Doran, a textile designer. By May of 1913Fletcher and five others were working in arented studio in Paris, where Fletcher stayeduntil October.

Fletcher returned to the United States, intending to take a position at the Art Institute of


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Chicago, but instead, he returned to Logan tochair the art department.

For the next 30 years, Fletcher stayed home,although his literal orientation to nature gradu-ally changed, largely because of broadeningexposure from his own visiting artists program.In 1927, Fletcher had joined B. F. Larsen in apainting course at BYU, taught by a visitinginstructora San Francisco based artist, LeeR. Randolph. During the course of the work-shop, Randolph had expressed concern aboutwhat he saw as the limited exposure of Utahartists to what was happening in the art world.Fletcher went home to Logan determined tochange this limitation; to do so, he created anartists-in-residence program at Utah Statethat brought in artists from other areas of the

country.

The Swedish/Kansas artist Birger Sandzenwas the first visiting artist. (Moonrise in theCanyon, Moab, Utah ) Initially, Fletcher washeavily influenced by Sandzens brilliant purecolor, bold brushwork, and strong design. . .A cross between Neo-impressionism and theFauvist painters of France. This influence isevident in the rich, high-chroma colors in WashDay in Brigham City. Fletchers Logan Artist

Group was made up of the most progressivepainters in Utah, including Henri Moser, Lou-ise Richards Farnsworth, Barkdull, and ReubenReynolds. However, the influence was soonreplaced by Depression era regionalism, whichdominated the state in the 1930s. Logan Base-ball, while not an actual Dirty Thirties paint-ing, does have a more subdued color schemethan Wash Day although both have a regional-ist feel to the subject matter and satisfaction

with the uncomplicated life they represent.

Over the years, the visiting artists program hadthe desired effects of exposing local artists tothe modernist artistic developments in Americaand of increasing Utah artists receptivity tonon-traditional approaches. The years alsobrought a diversity to Fletchers own artisticstyle. And if, as critics have noted, Fletcher

never fully developed his own style, his openmindedness toward change and new ideas, aswell as his natural compassion, made him amarvelous teacher.

In 1926, Fletcher married his most promis-ing student, a young woman named IreneThompson. Fletcher had 2 children from hisfirst marriage to Sarah and 6 from a secondmarriagehis second wife Zettie had died inchildbirthand he and Irene had 6 children,giving them a total of 14 children. Among theFletchers children are three who became art-ists themselves: Dale T. Fletcher and ElizabethFletcher Snow, painters, and Robert Fletcher,a ceramicist. In spite of the time demands oftheir very large family, Irene Thompson Fletch-er went on to become a successful artist in her

own right.

Calvin Fletcher will be remembered for hisyears of service to and innovation in the Utah

State Art Department, to the Utah art scene,and as a representative on the national artscene. He was a member of national and lo-cal arts associations, served in various officialcapacities, won numerous local awards, andexhibited nationally. However, his most im-portant contribution to Utah art is probably hispublic support for modern forms of art inter-pretation.


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Irene Fletcher (19001969) Logan, Utah

TITLE: Cache Valley Innocence1937MEDIA: oil on canvas, mountedSIZE: 297/8 x 363/8


Clara Irene Thompson, known to the art worldasIrene Fletcher, was born in 1900 in Hooper,

Utah. She studied art under both Harry Reyn-olds and Calvin Fletcher, whom she later mar-ried. She was Fletchers star pupil in 1925-26, and exhibited throughout Utah and in SanFrancisco in 1932. Like many Utah artists dur-ing the Great Depression, Irene Fletcher partici-pated in a Public Works of Art Project, paintinga mural at the Logan Public Library.

In 1938, when the New York City MunicipalArt community put together the Third Annual

National American Art Show, Irene was chosenas one of only five artists to represent the stateof Utah. After this, she had several solo exhibi-tions throughout Utah. Four years before herdeath in 1969, the Utah State University hon-ored her with a retrospective exhibition.

Amidst all her painting, she raised her six chil-dren and the eight Fletcher already had withthe organization that such a large family natu-

rally required. Each child in her household hadspecific obligations and responsibilities to thefamily that were written into a daily schedule.

She was generally considered a charmingwoman. Of the time in which she took classesfrom Calvin Fletcher, it has been said that herpersonality endeared her to everyone, especial-ly to the teacher.

Stylistically, Irene Fletcher belonged to themodern school, and has been said to haveinfused her art with an admirably controlleand often gracious sense of interpretation thwent beyond what a fleeting glance or hastysketch might show.

As a member of the modern school of Utahart, she, along with eight other artists and artadministrators, issued a statement detailing tideas of the modern artist and defining mod-ern art to the public. They felt that modern ashould not attempt to merely reproduce sur-faces photographically, but instead use indi-vidually conceived forms to convey emotionAlso, one of their key tenets was that the arti


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should be allowed total freedom in conceivingand creating his or her picture and in organiz-ing their conception into unified form, ratherthan being hedged in by standards. In theirstatement, Irene and her fellow writers issued acall to artists across the state who shared theirideas to come forward and join them as the firstgathering of modern artists in Utah.

The painting featured in this packet, Cache Val-ley Innocence, shows a young child looking outthe window at an idyllic rural scene. The childis the artists son Dale, who later also becamean artist, like his parents. The window frameis set at an angle to the edge of the painting sothat the pieces of the frame and the open win-dow make subtle diagonals that enliven thepainting. The child both gazes and also reaches

upwards into the painting, leading viewerseyes to the bowl of bright red tomatoes, alsoeyed by a robin. The pyramid shape of thetomatoes extends into the animals, groupedby the fence, that then leads the eye beyond, to

the rich green field and the out buildings andmountains that complete the scene, retainingthe viewers gaze in the picture frame. Thecomposition contains many stable triangularshapes such as the one made by the fence andcows, which provide, along with the obviousbounty of life, that clarity of purity and inno-cence the artist was trying to achieve.

Burke. Dan. Utah Art of the Depression. SaltLake City: Sun Lithography Company, 1986.

Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, andVern G. Swanson. Artists of Utah. Layton, UT:Gibbs Smith, 1991.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin,William C. Seifrit. Utah Painting and Sculpture.Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 1991.


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNS ARTIST: Alvin L. Gittins (19221981) Salt Lake City, Utah

TITLE: Card Players1959 MEDIA: oil on canvas SIZE: 20 x 44


Alvin Gittins was a portraitist and teacher.Gittins was born in Kidderminster, Worcester,

England, and came to the United States as anexchange student in 1946. He graduated with aBachelor of Arts from Brigham Young Universi-ty in 1947 and was appointed to the Universityof Utah Art Department faculty in that sameyear. He served as Head of the universitys ArtDepartment from 1956 to 1962.

When he came to the U, Gittins brought withhim a powerful concept of Academic Realismto replace the still lingering effects of French

Impressionism, already decades in the past.He chose academic methods to express simpletruths about humans by way of the humanface. He admonished students to go beyondpretty rendering in their search for somethingauthentic. As time progressed, he experiencedfirsthand the changing face of art. Gittinsfound himself in a field which sought to chal-lenge the establishment and abandon tradition.Rather than join the effort, Gittins clung to his

personal style of realism.

Gittins taught his students that the drawn por-trait was more than a tool, that it was a work ofart in itself. His portraits epitomize this ap-proach. Although tightly conceived and ren-dered, they glorify, document, speculate, andeven validate the sitters. Gittins himself saidPainting is not to imitate, but to explicate.

With his work Gittins documented the lifestyof his subjects, speculated on their true naturglorified the fine detail of their figures, andvalidated himself as one of Utahs finest painers. His background settings, exhuberant coland attention to line and detail have led Gittito be regarded as one of the most skilled por-traitists not only in the state, but in the nation

Gittins subjects were always depicted withconvincing realism and always in a setting hdeemed appropriate to define their characterWanting to understand himself, Gittins usedhis art as a way to achieve this self-concious-ness. Although traditional realism in art wasabandoned by the majority of artists of his dathe human figure provided Gittins the motifwith which he could fuse traditional techniqu


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and contemporary awareness of formal values.During his career he experimented with pas-tels, oils, watercolors, charcoals, and even pen-cil. When he died in 1981, he left in his wake alegacy of Utah artists such as Don Doxey, SusanFleming, and Ed Maryon.

Card Playersis more genre scene than portrait,yet Gittins ability to convey personality is seenin each of the four women. Those contrastingpersonalities create the drama of the situation,and the painting invites us to enjoy the sight oftwo lovely young women being beaten by theirolder, much less good-looking counterparts.

The details Gittins has captured, the brass bowlof chocolates in the corner, the shiny tea kettle,and the bird carved on the mantle, indicatethat one of the four women lives in FederalHeights. . . the upper crust of Salt Lake City.The artist may be making a statement about thecounter culture in Salt Lake by portraying threeof the four women in sleeveless dresses, andadding a cigarette to the hand of the fourth.In this case, Gittins has defined the womenscharacters by placing them in a setting whichallows us to almost see them in action, link-ing the card game and its players to our ownpersonal experiences.


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: J. T. Harwood (18601940) Salt Lake City, Utah

TITLE: All the Worlds a Stage, Liberty Park 1893MEDIA: oil on canvasSIZE: 22-3/4 x 31-3/4


J. T. Harwood was born in Lehi, Utah, on April8, 1860, into an arts-oriented family. As ayouth he spent time sketching, and later stud-

ied art with Utah artists George M. Ottingerand Danquart A. Weggeland. In 1888, at theirurging, Harwood became one of the first of agroup of Utah-born artists to travel to Franceand study art in Paris.

Before going to Paris, Harwood fell in lovewith his art student, Harriet Richards; and in1891, while in Paris, they married. In 1892, hebecame the first Utahn to have a painting in theprestigious Paris Salon. During the next few

years, the Harwoods divided their time be-tween a Salt Lake City studio and Paris, wherethey returned repeatedly for refresher experi-ences. In 1904, having returned to the UnitedStates, James began to teach art in the localSalt Lake City high schools and to paint in hisstudio.

During the period of 1907 to 1910, Harwoodswork changed from tightly controlled Academ-ic Realism paintings similar to the 17th centuryDutch and became more oriented toward tonal-ism and somewhat broader in approach as hemoved toward Impressionism.

In April of 1921, his beloved Harriet died. Twoyears later, Harwood became the head of theart department at the University of Utah. Aschairman, he developed an art program which

craftsmanship, an emphasis that was carriedforward long after Harwood was gone.

In December of 1927, Harwood met and fellin love with a young literature student, IoneGodwin. Their relationship was consideredscandalous because of the age difference of 4years, but on June 1, 1929, they married. Harwood found in Ione the inspiration to begin are-energized period of work.At 70, Harwood resigned from the Universityof Utah to have more time to paint and took family to Paris once again, where he painted,made prints, and participated in exhibits. Ovthe next nine years, Harwoods art becamerecognized for its pointillist style. He madefrequent trips to Europe until 1939, when thethreat of war kept the Harwoods in Salt LakeCity, where he died in October of 1940.


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Harwood, although an exacting draftsman, hada warm personality and was known as a pa-tient, loving teacher. As an artist, he is knownfor charming slice of life genre paintingslike Boy and Cat: My Little Son, Heber JamesandRichards Camp, Holiday ParkWeber Canyonaswell as for his later pointillist landscapes. Healso was a gifted printmaker and watercolorist.

All the Worlds a Stage, Liberty Park, anothergenre painting, depicts a peaceful family out-ing at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. Family

members are spread out under the protec-tive canopy of leaves provided by a grove ofmature trees. Two women fix the meal at thepicnic table while a small boy gazes at anotherboy, high in one tree. Under that tree, a youngcouple talks, clearly focused on themselves.To the viewers left, two girls play on a teetertotter and in front, grandpa watches a babywho lies on a blanket. The scene is one of con-

tentment and satisfaction. The title, All theWorlds a Stage, may come from Harwoodsexposure to drama through his parents, bothnoted thespians. The composition reflects thetraining Harwood had received in Paris as wellas his natural talent. Unlike some work Har-wood did while in France, this painting feelsAmerican; it shows us Harwoods life in Utah.


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Frank R. Huff, Jr. (1958 ) Kaysville/Salt Lake City, Utah

TITLE: Jordan River Temple 1985MEDIA: watercolorSIZE: 29-1/2 x 39-1/2


Jordan River Temple (1985), exemplifies thework of Frank Ray Huff Jr. and his desire toportray an interesting and complex composi-

tion. His figureless depiction of hay field, trees,temple, and clouds reflects both the still ruralfeel of much of Utahs countryside but alsoHuffs interest in capturing abstract and an-gular patterns. Because he so often paints onlocation, he captures the atmospheric details oflight but is unable to depict figures before theypass through the scene.

Huff is known to work in both oil and water-color depicting landscapes, cityscapes, still-lifes, and figures, all with an emphasis on lineand the same disregard for nostalgia. Hisearliest influence was without doubt his father,Frank Huff Sr., who as a commercial artist, washis sons first artistic idol, and the teacher fromwhom Huff learned the importance of compo-sition and line.

Born in 1958 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Huffbecame as talented in golf as he is in art. In

1977, he was admitted to the University of Utahon both art and golf scholarships. Althoughhe trained with Alvin Gittins and F. AnthonySmith, Huff was a more dedicated golfer andwon more awards and honors in golf than inart. It was not until his success in the 1982 ParkCity Arts Festival that he decided to invest histime and future in his artistic abilities.

In August of that year, he married Jean Russeand began painting more and more frequentlHis paintings began to reflect the influenceof Richard Diebenkorn, Edward Hopper, andespecially, Edgar Degas. He appreciates thes

artists for their use of compositionally beauful and inventive space, and their ability tofocus on completely new and contemporarysubjects. Degas paintings of ballerinas, forexample, depict more than dancing figures.Degas utilizes creative points of view and fuldevelops his background space with interestbrushstroke and texture. With new inspiratio


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Huff returned to the University of Utah in 1987to study under Paul Davis and David Dornanfor a year.

Frank Huff was then painting, and he con-tinues to paint, up to 200 pieces a year. Hestill draws inspiration from Degas and hopesthat his compositions will be as involved anddetailed as were those of the Impressionistmaster. He continues to create works whichreflect contemporary lifeboth in subject mat-ter and application. The artist now resides inKaysville, Utah, with his wife and five chil-dren. He is interested in the art and thoughtprocesses of children and hopes to reflect a newplayfulness in his future works.

Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, and VernG. Swanson. Utah Art. Layton: Gibbs Smith,1991.

For more images of Huffs work, go tohttp://www.frankhuff.com/p2.html

or to sma.nebo.edu


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Judith Mehr (1951 ) Salt Lake City, Utah

TITLE: Grandma is a Story Teller 2000MEDIA: Oil on canvasSIZE: 34 x 44


Judith Mehr was born in San Francisco, Cali-fornia, in 1951. Art has always been an impor-tant part of her life and that was one of the rea-

sons she decided to pursue it as a career path.Her professional art training was received atBrigham Young University. She graduatedwith a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1974.

After graduation, she returned to California fora few year, but soon came back to Utah. Shehas lived in Salt Lake City since then and beenan active part of the art scene in Utah for 22years.

Art is one of the best ways Mehr finds of com-municating with others. Sometimes her artconveys her own feelings and emotions andother times it tells a story or narrative thatmany people are familiar with. Nature andpeople around her continually interest her andgive Mehr things to say through her art.

Although Mehr has many artists that she ad-mires, she does not have one specific influence

on her work. She says that she is continuing tocreate her own style and find her own artisticvoice. Mehr feels that as she creates she is ableto express herself and her personal style be-comes more and more refined.

Although she also paints landscapes and still-lifes, Judith is best known for her portrait andfigurative works. Perhaps one of the reasons

for this is because her figurative works usualhave some kind of narrative or story. Judithsays that she often feels it is easier to involveviewer in a portrait or figurative work becauthey can tell a story better.

Grandma is a Story Teller, one of Mehrs mostrecent works, is an excellent example of a wo

that is very viewer involving and interestingThe painting depicts a grandmother surrouned by her grandchildren, who are shuckingcorn and listening to her tell stories. It is ap-pealing in its charm and simplicity.Viewers can imagine what stories thegrandmother has to tell and think of similarstories they have heard through the years frotheir own relatives.


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Commenting on this work, Mehr said, I de-cided to gather my relatives together anddesign a story telling painting that wouldinvolve a grandmother telling family stories toher grandchildren while they were doing somechore. I used my grandmothers house (porch)and my aunt to play the grandmother. Hertwo grand-daughters, chihuahua dog and twoboy grand cousins were the models. This is ascene that easily could have happened in reallife because we all have often sat on that porch

and shucked corn, telling stories and gossiping,etc. . . . There are so many scenes in our livesthat we have in common with other people.This one seems to remind many of the similar-ity of family activities and conversations in ourlives.

This particular work may also be so captivatingbecause of its large size. Mehr prefers to paintlarge canvases because they are easier to visu-alize and execute.


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Cal Nez (1958 ) Sandy, Utah and Shiprock, New Mexico

TITLE: Navajo Nation Fair 1989MEDIA: oil on canvasSIZE: 24 x 32 Used by permission of the artist


Cal Nez was born in Tocito, New Mexico, in1958. He is a member of the Navajo TachiiniiClan. He was raised by his grandparents andspoke only Navajo until he began attending theBureau of Indian Affairs Boarding School.

Mr. Nez left New Mexico and moved to SaltLake City, Utah, in 1973. It was there, at SouthHigh School, that he met his mentor, KenBaxter, the South High School art teacher. Nez

took his first class from Baxter in tenth grade.Baxter quickly noticed Nez talent and encour-aged him to continue in his art education. Ialways had the ability to paint . . . [it was] justa matter of getting it refined, says Nez. Baxterguided Nezs talent until he graduated fromhigh school.

After high school, Nez did not continue on to

receive a formal education in the arts, but henow the owner of his own graphic design buness, Cal Nez Design, Inc., in Salt Lake City.

Nez considers himself a graphic designer whappens to paint. Nez is not particular abouhis style and dabbles in a variety of mediawhatever his current project needs, he can doit, whether its logo design, painting, sketchinor photography.

This particular piece, Navajo Nation Fair, waspainted as a poster logo for the fair in WindoRock, Arizona, in 1989. It is an original artwork, as are all of Nezs pieces. Viewers see

the fair in the reflection of the mans glasses.Nez intent with this piece was to make eachviewer Navajo for an instant, helping viewerto see the world through the eyes of a Navajoperson.


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Ella Gilmer Peacock (19051999 ) Spring City, Utah

TITLE: Moroni Turkey Hatchery Plant(Moroni Feed Company) 1990MEDIA: Oil on boardSIZE: 13 x 17


Ella Peacock lived in Spring City, Utah, a smallcommunity that has become known as an arts

center. Spring City is the only area west of therockies that is a Historical District. Peacockand her husband moved there after visiting thetown and being touched by the local landscape--Peacock says she was thrilled by the sage-brush--some of which she planted in their frontyard. Although Peacock grew up in the luxuri-antly wooded East and spent time at a summerhome on the coast, it is to the dry, mountaindesert country she is drawn to live and to painttonalist landscapes in what is known as the

Dirty Thirties style that although now out offavor, still perfectly suits her sere landscapesand simple scenes with rural buildings.

Peacock never used photographs and didmostly plein-air paintings that retain that intui-tive feel for subjects that is too often dissipatedin studio works. She gives viewers a slice oflife look and feel for a place that conveys vol-umes about the people who live in and love

the areas, without ever depicting those people.Peacock was rarely completely satisfied withher work and buyers often found themselvestold to come back after she had reworked anarea of the painting she wasnt pleased with.Years after making the original painting shesometimes returned to the spot pictured torework part of a piece. She said even if the arealooks different, she was often able to

recapture the feeling she had earlier and re-work the painting to a level that was accepta(even to her critical eye).

Peacocks range of jobs in her early yearstaught her many skills. She used some of thoskills to make simple frames for her pieces thecho the rough, simple beauty of her paintin

She passed on this skill to Lee Udall Bennion(another of the Spring City artists) who nowalso makes her own frames that match the styof her strong paintings.

Ella turned 90 years old this year (1995) and nlonger does much painting. [However, at lastcontact (summer 96), she was again workingon some new paintings.] She keeps some of


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her older workowned or promised to buy-ers or institutionsaround her the way manypeople keep treasured objects or friends. Herhouse, like her work, is simple and spare andreflects her practical approach to life. Her onefront room, now her studio, has two large shoplights with daylight-colored bulbs wired intoposition, their cords plugged into a socketscrewed into the old chandelier bracket, look-ing like an electricians worst nightmare.Around the border of the room runs an Egyp-tian-inspired frieze she painted years ago, andthe best chair belongs to a large, orangey cat.

She wears a narrow, patterned scarf around hergray hair and comfortable clothes and makestelling remarks and dry jokes. She looks likeher paintingsstrong, molded lines delineat-ing the unadorned beauty of Utahs dusty hills.

In 1999, four years after this biography waswritten, Ella Peacock passed away.


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COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Arch D. Shaw (1933 ) Roosevelt, Utah

TITLE: Twice Told Tales1993MEDIA: Oil on CanvasSIZE: 30 x 40


A. D. Shaw was born October 8, 1933, inHutchinson, Kansas. He was raised on a farm

in Montwell, Duchesne County, Utah. Al-though he moved to Salt Lake City in 1966 towork for the Utah Education Association andfor the Jordan School District in the graphic artsdepartment, his ties to Montwell have alwaysremained strong. His rural upbringing hasgreatly influenced his work, giving much of hiswork a western bias.

From 1966 to 1984, part of A. D. Shaws respon-sibilities included doing illustrations, cartoon-

ing, and photography. During these years, hewas able to pursue painting only on a part-timebasis. Finally in 1984, after working 20 years inthe field of graphic design, Arch Shaw left Jor-dan School District to pursue a full-time careerin the fine arts.

Today, no single subject dominates Shawspaintings. He is a plein-air painter of westernlandscapes, a genre painter of todays western

people, a studio painter of period subjects,and a cartoonist. He has enjoyed success asan artist and has shown his work in galleriesthroughout the western United States. (Pleinair means painted outdoors, usually moreimmediate and impressionistic than studio-painted pieces. Genre paintings show normalpeople doing typical day-to-day activities.)

Arch Shaw has as wonderful sense of humorHe often shows his puckish nature in his painings. In fact, this is readily seen in his paintinEgo Trip: Self Portrait. (See above, and on thSMA web site) According to the author StevHale, When members of Utahs art colonywere asked to paint self-portraits for a show,Shaw obliged with one that portrays a rear


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view of himself at work. A mirror showing hisprofile painted with near photographic fidel-ity, and a full view of his self-portrait on theeasel.

About this painting Katherine Metcalf Nel-son wrote, This artist portrays himself in hisstudio, painting a cartoon of his face, while hisrealistically painted profile, on another easellooks on. His backside, in faded well-creasedjeans and jacket, is the center of attention.Above him hanging from a rafter is a gumby-like alter ego. . .

In Twice Told Tales, Shaw depicts three men,farmers, chatting during a break in their workday. The posture of the men tells viewers thesemen are old friends, comfortable with eachother. The title, Twice Told Tales is more evi-dence of Shaws humor, his understanding ofrural life, and of people in general. This is thedurable friendship of similar men, consecratedby the repetition of the stories of their everydaylives.

Shaws down-to-earth philosophy shows in hispaintings. He is a dedicated family man whoseidea of heaven is . . . to take a fishing rodalong on a painting trip.


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Andrew Smith was born in Highland, Utah,in 1978. As the son of a sculptor and painter,he was exposed to all kinds of art at an earlyage, and, like many kids, he made things.But it wasnt until Smith was about 20 that hestarted making his own artwork that wasnt anassignment for a class. Although he attendedclasses at Utah Valley State College, he did notcomplete a degree, and he believes not havinga university degree has helped him in someways. He says, I think the biggest advantageis it allowed me to go in the direction withmy art that I wanted to go. Which was to justdo what inspired me and I enjoyed the most.

This helps me to create the strongest pieces. However, Smith does say that he wisheshe had more art knowledge, with art historyor basic designall the things I would havelearned in college.

Perhaps his lack of concentrated study is partof what has allowed Smith to develop andretain his spontaneous approach to his art,one that is reflected in the finished projects.People often ask me, Smith says, how I get

the ideas for creating my sculptures. The truthis I usually dont know what a sculpture willbe until it is actually in the process of beingbuilt. I approach my work with a very wideexpectation of what it may become, and I tryto allow myself to let it go in the directionit wants to go. Most of [the constructionprocess] is trial and error, a kind of formfollows function. If an element is not working

COMMUNITIES AND TOWNSARTIST: Andrew Smith (1978 ) Lehi, Utah

TITLE: Moon Pool 2004

MEDIA: Mixed

SIZE: approx. 14 x 8 x 4


or just doesnt do what I had hoped, I will cuoff and try something else.

I enjoy the raw creativity in this process. Iam constantly observing the world aroundme seeing things that capture my attention.Sometimes I will try to incorporate theseelements into my art somehow or one willspark an idea that leads to another idea and son. My strongest pieces are usually the ones had the most fun making. Art doesnt alwayshave to be serious, political or even emotiona

Sometimes it can just be fun.

Smiths goal for the future is to continue tohave fun new ideas and still be able to useold ideas in new ways. He would like tocontinue to learn about new styles, techniquetools and supplies that help him to generateideas for new work. I just enjoy creatingthings and always have, he says. Sometime


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when people look at my Kinetic or RollingBall Sculptures they will ask, What does itdo? I usually answer, Its doing it. Andrewbelieves the moving elements of his sculptures draw people in and make them wonder howthe piece works, encouraging viewers tostep into a new frame of mind where they cansee forms and shapes in places they normallywouldnt.

In his work, Andrew uses items like bearingbelts and pulleys that he purchases fromindustrial stores so the moving parts will bereliable and last a long time. But it is the foundobjects and the way he puts the items togetherthat make Smiths sculptures the fancifulcreations that draw people in, mesmerizing notjust children but also adults and even infants.

Andrew says the found objects he uses help togenerate ideas as well as generating a specificlook or even function in a piece of art. He oftenfinds these objects at antique stores or scrapmetal yards and sometimes, he has peoplecall him, to ask if he wants some item theyregetting rid of. These items have a lingeringessence of their original use and that sense ofpast makes the sculptures a captivating blendof old and new.

Some of Smiths pieces are commissioned,built for a specific space. But even withcommissioned work, Smith says he usually letspeople know that he doesntknow what the final productwill look like. I dont knowhow it will work or whatobjects I will use or find forthat sculpture, he says. Iwill try to draw a shape

or rough sketch of howsomething will sort of look.But luckily, most people willjust trust me to run with it.Sometimes I will comparea commission to works Ihave done in the past so Iknow what direction or styleto go with. But so much is

determined by the mechanics and engineeringof a piece that I never really know what itwill look like until it is actually being built orfinished. This really isnt too different fromthe pieces I make just to make. I think themain difference [with commissioned works] isthat they have a space that they need to fit inor relate to, and I try to picture things in thatspace while I am creating.

Moon Poolis one such work. A large piece,it was commissioned by the SpringvilleMuseum of Art for its permanent collection.The sculpture was fabricated and installedin the Museums Atrium during the springof 2004. Moon Poolfeatures several uniquewater movements including a laminar flownozzle that creates a glass-like arch of water.

Another main element in the sculpture istwo large copper kettles that likely were onceused in a candy factory. The larger of thetwo is about four feet in diameter. The centerof the sculpture is a large water wheel. Thewater wheel rotates a series of smaller wheelsthrough a system of belts and pulleys. A singlewater pump powers all of this. As Moon Poolcycles through its motions the soft clangingand banging sounds of its parts bounce off theadobe walls of the Atrium, enlivening the space

and providing a foil for the static artworks onthe walls in the adjacent galleries.


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LESSON PLANS


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One of the oldest traditional ways to get toknow ones community is to work togetheron a project that has value to all involved. Infact, that may be the way original communitiesdeveloped from family clan groups, as anextended cooperative labor force. In formertimes, people often had to give up their creativeurges to deal with utilitarian necessities likegroup barn raising, quilting bees, harvest timeand community work projects such as hunting

and gathering, building irrigation systems,road networks, draining wet lands and creatingfords and bridges over rivers.

This was not always the case. The CavePaintings of Altamira and Lascaux, which are

probably about 17,000 years old, are evidencesof communities working together in harsh anddifficult circumstances to create an object ofaesthetic and spiritual importance and greatvalue. While we dont know for sure whatthe meaning and purpose of the very largerendering of wild animals and hunting scenesfrom these cave paintings actually meant tothe community that created them, we do know

they worked together over long periods of tim(probably generations) to create somethingthat somehow reflected the emotional, creativspiritual, and aesthetic needs of the communat large but that still possessed qualities andcontributions of individuals.

Objective: Students will demonstrate anunderstanding of a community cooperativeart project and an understanding of personal

symbols by designing a ceramic tile with apersonal symbol, glazing it, and hanging it uas part of a permanent installation on the waof the schoolcelebrating how THE WHOLEIS MADE UP OF INDIVIDUALS.Materials: Pencil and paper, bisque-fired ceramic tiles, glazes, and a donatedprofessional tile setter to hang the tiles on thewall.

Process: The first step in any art project is todevelop an idea. In this project each studentwill develop and render a personal symbol.This project provides a great opportunity todiscuss symbolism in art both ancient andmodern with your class. We start by drawinfour personal symbols on paper. The fourcategories areMonogram, Geometric Design,Symbolic IconandSelf-Portrait. Each studewill choose one of the four ideas to apply to aceramic tile. The Personal Symbol is then

chosen, and the color scheme is applied withcolored pencil.

The chosen symbol is then drawn lightly ona commercial bisque-fired tile. [Bisque firedmeans that the commercially manufacturedtile has already been fired once, and is partiavitreous so that it is hard and sturdy but notcompletely vitreous so it will still absorb the

TILE MURAL

COMMUNITY PATCHWORK

Cave painting in Lascaux

digischool.nl/ckv1/studiew/praktischeopdrachten%2

0klas5/ckv.htm


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moisture from the glaze, thus adhering theglaze chemicals to the tile before firing]

After the symbol has been drawn on the tile,it is time to glaze. Low fire commercial glazesare fine. Make sure you read the label carefully.If the glaze label does not say, CAUTION, itis probably safe. To be extra safe, especiallywith very young students who like to lick theirfingers, look for the NON-TOXIC sign on thelabel. Before you get too concerned, rememberthat most glazes are safe as dirt. They aremessy but not lethal.

Before you start glazing, make sure you workout a color scheme for the whole mural. In thelast one we did at our Elementary School, weused the Color Wheel color scheme. That

is, the tiles were organized from left to rightstarting with the violet background tiles onthe left, then the red ones and on to orange,yellow, green and blue on the far right. Eachtile had a color scheme also. The symbol wasto be colored in the complementary color to thebackground so that the violet tile had a designin yellow and so on. If more colors wereneeded, then the rest of the colors were to beanalogous to the complement . . . that is, if thecomplement was yellow the analogous colors

would be yellow orange and yellow green. Ifother colors were necessary, they had to havethe Color Masters approval. These werecalled accent colors.

Most students at any age feel that more isbest. The more colors the better. Teach yourstudents: The more colors you use, the lesscolors you can see. The less colors you use,the more you can see each color. Use a

Jackson Pollock print to show what morecolor looks like and use some simple PietMondrians to show how less colors used ismore colors seen. After you, as the MASTERORGANIZER, have made those kinds ofchoices and had those discussions with thestudents, it is time to start recruiting thecommunity to be part of your patchworkproject.

So, who do you want in YOUR COMMUNITY?Here are some ideas; but remember, you getto define the target community you wish toinclude. We want students from every agerepresented by our community. We wantall the skill level of students represented also.We want all the teachers represented and allthe staff including custodial and secretarialand lunch workers. We want all the aidesand special helpers like the school nurse andthe school psychologist and speech therapist,librarian, and special ed helpers. We also wantparents and other family members. We wantto include former students, pre-students whohave not started school yet, older and youngersiblings, and friendly neighbors. [We hadan adversarial relationship with an elderlyneighbor couple who complained and called

the police if any students walked across theircorner lot directly across the street from ourfront entrance. We invited them to join in ourcommunity mural and have not heard a singlecomplaint since.]

Love Star by a friendly Neighbor

We wanted to define our community as largelyas possible. You may not want to, thats O.K.We made a special invitation to neighboringschools to be represented. Two were andtwo were not. We invited the Police, CityGovernment, the District Office (they really


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responded) and we invited the local churchesand businesses. One of the businesses weinvited was an independent tile setter withchildren at our school, and he hung thewhole mural for free. We even invited ourlegislative representatives, but they declined(they knew me and were suspicious that wewere trying to recruit them to the public schoolagendathey were right). The obvious pointhere is that we wanted to create a work of artthat expressed the feelings and attitudes of avery large community. We have done otherprojects were we defined the community withmuch narrower strictures. We have done onlystudents, only teachers (try that one, it is ahoot because most of our colleagues had toovercome some serious performance anxietyit was one of our finest successes). We have

done grade specific projects, only scouters, P.E.class, and so forth.

It is obvious that there are many approachesto this kind of project. The subject mattercould be very different, but the idea that acommunity of people come together to expressa unified idea is at the heart of what art isabout.

This is an abbreviated version of this lesson

but it should suffice. If you have any technicalquestions about this project, talk to Bobor Louise Nickelson at the Springville ArtMuseum. There is a childrens tile monolithin the basement of the Museum near therestrooms. Also check out the American ForkChildrens Library tile mural. There are over6000 tiles in the Library mural, all of whichwere made by children over a years time byjust about everyone interested in the whole

city of American Fork. Feel free to call andtalk to Joseph Germaine at Shelley ElementarySchool in American Fork where our communitypatchwork mural is installed.

For those who arent familiar with the ideaof pre-sketching or searching for the visualproject, here is a process to help young artstudents think and define their choice. We call

it Thinking Spaces. First we take a pieceof drawing paper and fold it into quarters.Have students draw over the folded lines tocreate four thinking space windows. Nowlabel each window: Monogram,GeometricDesign, Symbolic Icon, Self-Portrait. Whenthe four personal symbol ideas are quicklysketched, have students choose one and applthe appropriate color scheme. Remember thif you only have one choice it not only is youbest, but it is also your worst. You must haveat least three possibilities to choose the bestone.

THINKING SPACES for the Personal Symbproject.


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Community Patchwork Mural Illustrations 1:

This is a close up of one or our teachers self-portraits, along with her kindergarten

daughters self-portrait.

The family that CLAYS together stays together!


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Community Patchwork Mural Illustration 2:

MOM DAD

Tiles by parents are very interesting. The Mom on the left traced the actual size of each of herchildrens hands and her husband and herself. Nice idea. The Dadon the right caused muchcontroversy among our faculty because his personal symbol seemed horrific. This father hadjust returned from a year in Iraq and had something to express about his recent experiences. Itseems strange to me that we dont appreciate honest expression of feeling in front of children;and then are surprised when, as adults, they cant express themselves without jumping out of tbox entirely. When showing ones emotions and feelings and experiences is not allowed or eveappreciated, because those feelings or experiences are not the same as ours, the only option weleave is for people to throw away the normative social conduct and blatantly offend everyone.

Anyone observed this happening in our otherwise quiet and NORMAL communities? Toexpress even the darkest feelings and thoughts is a human right and to ignore and not responduncomfortable feelings is also a human right. We each should have the right to choose.

2-year old with glaze pencil 2nd grader Our Social Studies teacher


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Community Patchwork Mural illustration 3:

The tile on the left is by a school administrator who was getting remarried. She brought me apicture from the internet and had me, the real artist, draw, glaze and fire the tile so it could behers. Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die. What do you think thelesson is when our models think that art is something that others do for us? I am always amazedby the amount of performance anxiety modeled by those who are supposed to be teaching ourchildren how to overcome that same anxiety. The tile on the right was made by one of our districtadministrators. Actually, it was made by a second grader because the district guy,was nevertrained as an artist and didnt have the magic gift. Abdicating to a seven year old should havebeen embarrassin, but it was not. This of course is the ultimate lame excuse because the magicgift in art is the same as those gifted in reading, writing and math . . . tenacity and perseverance.Why do we persist in the myth that only those with a special gift are expected to learn? Why

dont we assume that only those with magic gifts in reading, writing and math should botherbeing taught those subjects? Should we all abdicate to e e cummings or Ernest Hemingwayand never bother with writing again? Art is an integral part of every human life even if it is notacknowledged.Notice, we are not using names because we are happyfor any participation for any reason.

The finished mural The newspaper article


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Community Patchwork Mural illustrations 4 The Thinking Space tile examples:

MONOGRAM GEOMETRIC DESIGN

SYMBOLIC ICON SELF-PORTRAIT

Related Projects: You can alter the mural project by making the mural smaller, by usingdifferent-sized tiles. Sizes from 412 inches are available (try DalTile). You can also try differen

shaped tiles. You can change this project drastically by having the students make the tiles as barelief sculptures. If you are adventurous, try making a large, three-dimensional clay relief murand cutting it into tile pieces for ease in firing and hanging. Try using surface coloring media lipaint, watercolor, spray paint, or try gluing textural materials to the fired clay. This mural projcan also be done on paper with pencil or watercolor and the tile taped onto the wall. A papetile mural will offer the same learning opportunities as a clay tile mural, but the outcome is muless dramatic. We always do both, paper and clay, at the same time. This lets everyone exhibittheir personal symbols as part of the paper mural, and then we select appropriate ones for thefinished tile mural.


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Making Books of your Town at the UpperElementary Level

Objective:Students will learn to make simplebooks and will draw illustrations in the bookfor a story about creating a magic town using amagic crayon.

State Core:MakingThe student will exploreand refine the application of media, techniques,

and artistic processes.Overlap objects as a method to create a sense ofdepth in an artwork.Expressing: Discuss and choose ideas andsubject matter for artworks. Portray an idea orshort story in the students own artwork.

Materials: images of the artworks in the packet a copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon

by Crockett Johnson Good quality drawing paper, 12 x 18,one sheet per student

sketch paper pencils crayons scissors

Show the class the images of the artworks. Askwhich artworks remind them of your town andwhich are different. Then ask what students

might choose if they were making an artworkabout their town. What would they like to seethat isnt in their town?

Then read Harold and the Purple Crayon tothe class. Have the students make books,directions on page 30. They will need somescratch paper to sketch ideas on. They should

decide five places they might want to visit wtheir magic crayons. They should make pencsketches of the places and what they might fiin those places. The sketches should help thestudents decide where to position themselvein each drawing so the figure is in front or tothe side of the buildings or large objects inthe picture. Students can choose which colorcrayon they want to use, but it needs to be daenough to show up on white paper.

Then students should turn to the first pageinside the bookleave the cover till later. Onthe first page they should draw themselveswith a crayon in their hand. Then, makingsure the lines dont stop, they should drawthe five places on the five pages. If they arensure how to make the line stay connected, hathem plan it out on sketch paper before goingon. The last page should have them homeagain. When they are finished with the insid

of their books, students can make a drawing the cover, putting their name on as author.

Steven Songer,Liberty Patchwork

Books of Your Townor Community


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Let students trade books and see how manydifferent places the students chose to go. Youmay want to share the books with anotherclass.

Students old enough to write can add simpletext at the bottom of each page.

Variation:use black paper and make thedrawings using a light-colored crayon.

Making Books of your Town at the UpperElementary or Middle Level

Do the previous activity except rather thanreading Harold and the Purple Crayon,read something on the class age level. (See

the Literature activity for ideas) Then havestudents make a book about their town. Asabove, students should plan their drawingsbefore beginning to draw in the book. Youmay want to pose the assignment and givethe students a week to make sketches aroundtown. In addition, you may want to link thisactivity with a writing assignment (see theLanguage Arts lessons)

Link: You may want to cover some of the

material from the activity on Genre Scenesbefore students begin drawing.

Making Books of your Town at the HighSchool Level

Make sketchbooks following the directions,pages 3134. The sketchbooks have beenadapted from Books, Boxes, and Wraps, by

Marilyn Webberley. The book has many funideas and is available through Amazon.com.

After the sketchbook are complete, show theclass the artworks from the packet. Havestudents discuss what kinds of places theartists have painted or drawn. Ask studentswhat reasons the artists had for choosing whatthey portrayed. Then ask what places have

meaning for them in their community. Givestudents two weeks to fill the sketchbooks withdrawings or paintings of the community. Askstudents to also write about the community.The writings can be short phrases or poems orlonger descriptions or observations. When thestudents have finished, allow all the students,who are willing, to share their sketchbookswith other class members.

Extension:Students should choose somethingfrom their sketchbook to make a largerartwork of. They may choose one sketch, acollage of sketches, or an artwork which oneof the sketches sparks. When the artworksare finished, have an exhibit that contains thesketchbooks, notes made by the student aboutthe experience, and the finished artworks.

Idea: You may want to cover specifictechniques or processes before students begindrawing.


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Directions for a simple folded book. For a small book, use 8-1/2 x 11 paper, or make a largerbook using 11 x 14 paper.


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Making a Sketchbook

Materials: Posterboard, one 8-1/2 x 11 sheet per student, cut in half (5-1/2 x 8-1/2) Medium weight, smooth paper, three 8-1/2 x 11 sheets per student, one cut in half (butchepaper works as does bond copy paper. Must fold without cracking) Good quality drawing paper, nine 8/12 x 11 sheets per student

Big sewing needles Crochet cotton, two 1-yard pieces and one 15 piece per student Beads or small charms, 3-8 per student (optional)

Make the front and back covers by laying one piece of posterboard on a piece of the smoothpaper, as shown in figure 1. Glue the posterboard to the paper, a. Then cut the corners of thepaper, b. Make sure you leave a small space between the corner of the posterboard and the cutthe paper will cover the edge of the posterboard.


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Fold the three angled sides of the paper up over the cardboard, and glue, c. Trim one small pieceof smooth paper so it is just smaller than the cardboard, and glue down, d. Make the back coverthe same way.Fold all the drawing paper in half, width wise. Take one folded sheet and glueover the free edge of the cover paper, e. See figure 2, below. Do the same with the back cover andone folded sheet of drawing paper.

Place two sheets of folded paper inside each other and place in the center of the folded sheet thatis glued to the cover. Do the same with two sheets for the back cover. Place the last three sheetsof folded drawing paper together, inside eachother. You should have three groups of threesheets: one attached to the front cover, oneattached to the back cover, and one separate.These groups of paper are called signatures.

Using a straight edge, mark the center foldof each signature about 1 down from thetop, 1 up from the bottom, and at two pointsequidistant between the two marks. Use theneedle to make holes where the marks are,going through all three sheets of paper, figure3.

Then arrange all three signatures so the holes are aligned and the front cover is facing out on oneside and the back cover on the opposite side.


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Thread a needle with one of the 36 pieces ofcrochet cotton. For purposes of showing thesteps in sewing the book together, the inside foldsof the signatures are shown with the page widthreduced in size, the insides of the signaturesfacing up. Solid lines show where the threadshows inside the signatures and the dotted lineswhere the thread goes on the outside.

Start sewing at 1. From inside the middlesignature, push the needle through the hole tothe outside, leaving a 4 tail of thread. Bring theneedle through the hole at 2, going from outsideto the inside of the front signature. Next, pushthe needle in at 3, going from inside the firstsignature to the outside. Come up at 4to theinside and then back down and outside at 1.

Come up at 5, go down at 6, and come up againat 4. Leave a tail at 4.

Do the same process for the bottom half of thebook. Start by going down at 7, leaving a 4 tail.Come up through at 8and then down at 9. Come up through to the inside at 10, and then dowat 7. Bring the thread up through at 12, down at 11, and up through at 10.

Tighten the threads and tie the tails at4and 10in double half hitches. Retighten if necessary, antie the tails at 1and7together. Cut ends short, figure 5.

Using the short piece of crochet cotton, string severalbeads or charms together and tie off both ends, leavingthe needle on one end. On the outside of the book,push the needle under one of the top threads, shorten asdesired, and tie off.

Give students small pieces of blue styrofoam or of somesoft printing medium like Safety Kut(you can find scrapsof blue styrofoam insulation at building sites for free oryou can buy a sheet of Safety Kutand cut it into small

pieces). Using a pen or knife, have the students pressa design into their piece of styrofoam. The students may choose to make a personal design, adesign with a reference to buildings, or several students can make designs which they can usetogether to make a building shape or larger design. Even very simple designs can make aninteresting pattern when the shape is turned and printed in slightly different colors of ink. Seeexample of a finished book, below. Students may want to add their name to the front.


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Motivation: Divide the class into groups of4 or 5 and give each group a variety of 20-30small art prints. Instruct each group to select5 images for a proposed art exhibit entitledCityscape. Encourage the students tocollaborate on their choices. As the studentscreate their exhibits, walk around and vieweach exhibit, asking the groups to supporttheir choices. As a class create a definition ofcityscape, encouraging input from each group.

Have the groups determine if their exhibit fitsthe definition the class has created.

Art History: View the cityscapes from severalartists (I.e., Bruegel, Estes, Goings, Hopper)or works from art styles that emphasis urbanviews such as American Scene, Ashcan artists,or the Eight. Use some of the followingbackground information as you discuss variousworks:

The Eight (Maurice Prendergast, RobertHenri, George Luks, Everett Shinn, JohnSloan, Williams Glackens, Arthur B. Davies,and Ernest Lawson) were all realists whowere attracted to the life of the streets andtheir commonplace realities. Some of themwere former journalist-artists and were calledthe Ashcan School or The RevolutionaryBlack Gang because of their depictions of theempirical realism of urban development in

the new century. Although they were neverformally organized, and staunchly individualin their styles and techniques, all eight artistsunited in their aversion to the approvedacademic art of their day. They were familiarwith advanced trends in European art andhelped organize the memorable 1913 ArmoryShow where the US public was exposed to theavant-garde art of Europe.

Maurice Prendergast(1859-1924) was bornin Newfoundland but grew up in Boston. Heapprenticed early to a painter of show cardsfor stores and labored to save enough moneyto study in Paris. From his three years in Parihe was influenced by Impressionist techniquHe didnt portray Impressionist atmospherrather he used pure colors laid side by side intiny strokes to create brilliantly colored formHe returned to America where his colorful

style was not widely accepted. He went backto lettering store cards until he joined TheEight.

Robert Earle Henri(1965-1929) was the sonof a successful faro player out of the WildWest. Henri co

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