Leslie Graff is much more than an artist, but her work has been featured at BYU, in Church exhibitions and in museums across the country. Her professional life reflects on child development, but her passion for art, especially for a work by her friend and artist Rose Datoc Dall.
The artist Walter Rane sits down with Micah for a live recording touching on a work and an artist that inspired him, his methodology and philosophy on creating artworks, and his wealth of knowledge of what it takes to make meaningful, religious art.
A discussion with Temple Architect Paul Monson and Temple Art Manager Arch Williams, who currently work designing LDS temples and commissioning art for their interiors. Paul & Arch will discuss the role of arts in the architectural designs and how creating contemplative continuity within temples is essential to each individual building.
We sit down with Colby Sanford to discuss a very, aesthetically different piece by Bruce Hixson Smith titled Jacob & Leah, now on view at the BYU Museum of Art in the Interpretation Thereof Exhibition. Sanford also discusses his background, training in ceramics, life in China, and the only four colors that matter.
For the first time, we sit down with a collector to get a new perspective on the state of LDS art and what it means to those who come to own those works. Cris owns several works, most notably a work by Brian Kershisnik on display at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Learn more of what it means to be a collector and how to get started buying LDS art.
This week, we talk with the renowned artist Casey Childs to discuss one of his favorite religious works of art, Agony in the Garden by Frans Schwartz. Virtually unknown until the work came to BYU with the Sacred Gifts Exhibition, this work has become a favorite of artists and enthusiasts alike. Casey discusses Schwartz use of color and light and the ultimate effect of the emotion of the painting.
In this special episode, Micah and Eric announce the first Zion Art Invitational taking place in Salt Lake City from Sep 12-Oct 1 presented by the Zion Art Society. Learn more about the Invitational, the artists involved, and the events surrounding it in this special episode.
Artist Jenedy Paige discusses the devotional art of LDS painter Ron Richmond and how the ambiguity in his work helps her to better understand how her art can be revelatory to herself and others. Talking through Richmond's portrayal of the Resurrection helps inform the issues that she faces in portrayals of sacred imagery in her own work.
In this special episode, we speak with up-and-coming artist Gustavo Ramos who moved from Brazil, to Arizona, to Southern Virginia University and finally Salt Lake City to study painting. His studies have led him to the Hein Academy of Art where Ramos hopes to develop his talents in the vein of a personal inspiration, Walter Rane.
In 1890, President George Q. Cannon sent 5 young artists from Salt Lake City to Paris to study painting in preparation of the completion of the Salt Lake Temple. After convincing the Church to sponsor John Hafen, Lorus Pratt, JB Fairbanks, Edwin Evans, and Herman Haag left for the Academie Julian to study painting under the great French Impressionists of the Belle Epoque. In this special episode, we discuss their background training, and impact on Utah Art in the 20th Century.
This week we stray a little bit from work by LDS artists in pursuit of becoming a "Mormon Michelangelo" to look at the Michelangelo at his peak. The tomb of Lorenzo de Medici, his patron, friend and father figure is a part of the Medici Chapel in Florence, Italy where Hall studied marble sculpting and had a transformative experience in front of this renaissance masterwork.
Emily Larsen Boothe is the Assistant Curator at the Springville Museum of Art and is responsible for organizing exhibitions and shows throughout the year. Springville's collection of Utah and LDS Art may be the finest anywhere in the world, including Jesus Christ is the God of that Land by one of the most treasured and reproduced LDS artists of all time, Minerva Teichert.
We sit down with Ashlee Whitaker, the Run and Carol Christensen Curator of Religious Art at BYU to talk about her favorite piece of religious work in the collection at the BYU Museum of Art. A pair of triptychs by renowned LDS painter Trevor Southey reflect the life of Christ in a style completely unique to Southey and with a depth unparalleled in LDS art.
Part 2 of our discussion with Dr. Probert focuses on the specifics the Assembly Hall, its history and its role as one of the spiritual homes of the early Saints. Many of these buildings were a rare opportunity for leaders of the Church to express our beliefs through art and architecture.
The artist Jeff Hein joins us to discuss how we use monumental religious painting in LDS culture. Much like Carl Bloch's series of paintings for the Fredriksborg Castle in Denmark, Hein is beginning a twenty year venture to create large scale depictions of the life of Christ. We discuss that process the challenges both technically and philosophically of such a task.
In this first half of a two part discussion with Dr. Probert, we discuss the dichotomy of Catholic-inspired and Protestant-inspired architecture and art. The effect that these influences have on our culture, generally have been pervasive. Our discussion focuses on this duality, manifest in a photo of Temple Square in Salt Lake City in the 1890s.
Artist Bryan Mark Taylor discusses one of his favorite landscape works, fortunately housed at BYU's Museum of Art. His work has built on the many varied techniques and teachings honed through years of training and exhibited right now in a new show at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City. Along with two landscape artists Josh Clare and John Burton, the beautiful scenes experienced by the Pioneers in their trek west have been remarkably captured by oil on canvas for us to enjoy today.
Artist and teacher Ryan Brown discusses a recent commission to hearken to one of the most iconic images in modern LDS culture. He also discusses the role of educating patrons, artists and the public on the importance of arts literacy.
Dr. Herman du Toit discusses one of the beast known artists among members of the LDS Church, 19th Century Danish painter, Carl Bloch. His works are nearly ubiquitous, but his role is much more pervasive than the reduced size depictions that are common in magazines and manuals.
Author and Scholar Richard Bushman joins us with Glen Nelson, founder of the Mormon Artists Group to discuss their upcoming Mormon Arts Center Festival. They also discuss a work chosen from the Church History Museum Collection by Daniel Everett, a photographer who captured an abstract image of the Provo City Center Temple.
Dr. Rita Wright, director of the Springville Museum of Art sits down with Micah to discuss the influence that her painting Et in Arcadia Ego by Wulf Barsch has had on her home. They also discuss the importance of fine art, whether classical, modern or anything in between both in a museum setting and in the home.
Paige Anderson has become well known for her geometric paintings, invoking the patterns, color and spirit of an entire era of pioneer quilts. Her position in this timeline has helped her reflect on the role of quilts in the lives of these women crossing the plains and the role of her art in LDS culture today.
This week, Micah and Eric were fortunate to attend the opening of the 93rd Spring Salon. They spoke with 1st place winner Howard Lyon and shared their thoughts of a few pieces in the show, live from the Springville Museum of Art.
In this episode, we speak with Brad Teare, an LDS artist who has done everything from oil paints to wood block prints to illustrating and editing the Friend Magazine. He shares how the venerated Utah artist, LeConte Stewart has influenced him and also shares some interesting information about how art plays a role in church publications.
In this episode, Dr. Micah Christensen sits down with Paul Monson, Church architect and local president of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art. They discuss two important commissions done for temples and the role of classical training in contemporary art and architecture
In a special bonus edition of Mormon Visual Culture, Zion Art Society co-founders Micah Christensen and Eric Biggart discuss the role of a pair of essential actors in bringing art to the Church and bringing the Church to the world
An interview with artist J. Kirk Richards about Bruce Hixson Smith and his work "Woman Taken in Adultery" (2002)
