Anne Becker finds beauty in the man-made repetition of suburbia.
She captures the shapes of houses, fences and rooftops in her abstract oil paintings of the suburban landscape.
Becker’s romantic view of suburbia recently earned her the prestigious Howard Clark Exhibition Scholarship. She is one of two U students to receive the $1,000 scholarship and have her work displayed at the pARTnership galley in downtown Salt Lake City.
Becker, who has a degree in sociology, views the man-made landscape surrounding her home with a critical eye.
“I’m always thinking about the places we live and how they affect how we act, what we do and just us,” said Becker, a senior fine arts major.
Becker observes suburbia as she drives her two children to after-school activities in Draper, where she carries out a busy life as a wife and mother.
While working on a piece, Becker will often ask for the opinion of her daughter, Lelia. She recognizes her daughter, a product of the suburbs, as one of her biggest critics.
Luke Folger — who also received the scholarship — paints surrealist ethereal atmospheres of dreams and the stories hidden in them.
In his collection, titled, “Surfacing,” Folger attempts to evoke the stories and narratives found in his dreams and memories.
Folger, a senior in the fine arts program, sees dreams as a way for people to begin to know themselves and digest the experiences of life.
“Dreams are usually thought of as nonsense in our culture,” Folger said. “But they reveal things we don’t realize when we’re awake.”
Folger said the paint is a tool to capture the right color and tone in his works, but he relies heavily on the uncontrollable drying process to shape each individual piece.
