The U president’s staff is working hard to encourage the arts at the U and to keep alive a feeling of excitement around creative mediums.
Establishing the President’s Gallery, located on the third floor of the Park Building on President’s Circle is just one of many ways this has been done. The gallery is composed of paintings, photography and sculptures, all of which are chosen out of a pool of submissions from students, professors and other faculty from the U including Gretchen Dietrich, executive director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and Paul Stout, an artist and chair in the Department of Art and Art History. The theme of the exhibition this year is “A Sense of Place.”
This theme is explored from countless perspectives, including Native American-inspired culture and photography of urban graffiti. The sheer variety of this collection is refreshing, keeping the viewer constantly engaged as each piece is so different from the last.
One of the most interesting pieces is Ronald Day’s tessellation of neon-colored origami paper cranes titled “Among Heavenly Beings.” The striking colors helped it stand out and because it felt like such an abstract take on the theme, it made the viewer feel misplaced, or even confused.
Sandi Pershing, the U’s assistant vice president, said the goal is to provide a platform for the U’s creative community to showcase their art.
“We surely hope that it will inspire others to enjoy, discuss and appreciate the various art forms that are exhibited there,” Pershing said.
This gallery encourages students within the arts to realize that they can, in fact, be recognized and successful in their pursuits.
This is the second incarnation of the President’s Gallery, reinvigorating the first that took place in the fall of 2014, according to Brynn Fronk, assistant to Pershing.
Pershing said this change was not a replacement of an old gallery, but rather a new use of the space to reinvigorate an old tradition.
“In the early days of the Park Building, the building did house art, but this is an opportunity for us to bring art back into the Park, so to speak,” Pershing said.