Branching from the confines of conventional art, Warnock Resident J. Morgan Puett has situated herself in Utah. And for her stay, the visiting artist has organized an assortment of events designed to redefine the meaning of art.
With hopes of taking art from its designated locations and putting it into everyday life, Puett reworks the art cliché by intermingling different creative mediums such as film, fashion, food and philosophy.
“My son would say, ‘I want to be a scientist who studies everything,’ so that’s what I do. I think he was reflecting what his parents’ do. [I study] curiosity, travel, the environment, activism and anything socially and politically engaging,” Puett said.
When fashioning her installations or coordinating creative events, Puett forms what she calls a “hypervisual” quality. Today, she will bring that aesthetic component to a lecture at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. By flashing images of her life and past projects, Puett’s lecture will catapult the run of her Warnock residency.
“The Warnocks are very involved with the U in several areas. They have an extensive American Indian collection of artifacts that had a large exhibition at the UMFA about five years ago. It was stunning,” said Marina Gomberg, communications manager for the College of Fine Arts. They were the lead donors for the relatively new Warnock engineering building.
Founded in 2008, the Marva and John Warnock Endowed Visiting Artist in Residency Program biannually welcomes someone from the world of contemporary art. Called a fashion designer and project artist, Puett will spend the semester researching, teaching and creating.
Attempting to describe how she fits in the mold of contemporary art, Puett’s lecture will portray the narrative of Mildred’s Lane, her property in northeastern Pennsylvania. Mildred’s Lane is a place where artists from all backgrounds collaborate. Burrowed in the woods, the 96-acre lot contains a farmhouse, installation art and sometimes tents housing artists from all walks of life.
“Art can be anywhere. It doesn’t have to be in a gallery. It doesn’t have to be in a museum,” Puett said.  “For me, it [art] happens in the middle of the woods in rural Pennsylvania in a place called Mildred’s Lane. That whole 96-acre site is the artist project.”
From the forest in Pennsylvania to the empty space of a storefront, Puett is bringing her concept of contemporary art to U students in her lecture and in a special topics class. Located at 824 South 400 West, Puett’s workspace is yet another artist collaboration. For Puett’s class, students will work together and participate in Salt Lake City’s monthly gallery stroll in February, March and April.
To Puett, art has no restrictions, so the space — empty for now — could welcome gallery strollers by providing a dining experience or displaying an auditory and visual installation.
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