"Dreamscapes" has been an exciting fixture of downtown Salt Lake City since November 2018. In the time since opening, it has inspired thousands of people and helped contemporary artists find their place as well.  Earlier this week I visited the exhibit and spoke with the Executive Director of the Utah Arts Alliance and artist Derek Dyer about the project.    The Exhibit  "Dreamscapes" is an experience like no other. Nestled into a small storefront in the heart of The Gateway mall, the exhibit is deceptively expansive. After entering the space, my group and I were led to a living room. Dim lighting revealed poetry pasted to the walls above a scatter of unassuming furniture.  We soon found a secret opening that led us to the rest of the exhibit. After leaving the living room, we found ourselves in a dream world. The path through the exhibit was intuitive. Following each installation to the next felt like the unconscious sequencing of a dream.  The light...

  Keaton Henson is an English musician, poet and visual artist whose work is known to provoke intense emotion and feeling. He has released five folk-rock albums, including the popular “Dear” and “Birthdays." His paintings have appeared in galleries around the United Kingdom, and he has published two books of poetry as well as "The Tallowmere Annual" — an audio-visual experience containing Henson's art, words and original compositions. In 2019, the album "Six Lethargies" — composed by Henson and performed by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra — was released and well-received by fans and critics alike as Henson's first musical release since 2016’s “Kindly Now." "Six Lethargies" features just seven songs but manages a run time of one hour and five minutes, during which emotional highs and lows are brought to life by a haunting composition.   "Monument" Henson spares no emotional expense with his latest record, "Monument," and the result is a wonderfully...

  Even as the days grow colder and the University of Utah campus barrels into a semester wrap-up featuring online instruction, the arts here at the U continue to flourish. A plethora of events planned for the remainder of the fall semester and into the winter are engaging students, faculty, and audiences alike in creative action. These events will be available to audiences through the university's Arts Pass program.    Art and Art History Currently, the Department of Art and Art History has been celebrating retired painting and drawing professor Tom Hoffman with an exhibition in their Gittens Gallery. For students who have been impacted by his work or are newly discovering him, it is a safe and immersive event taking place on campus. Virtually, for the past several weeks, the department has also been hosting a series of discussions with “Visiting Artists.” Previously, visual artist and author John F. Simon Jr. and multimedia creator Jeannette Ehlers spoke to...

  In spite of the changes to daily life that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, the University of Utah’s theatre department has found a way to keep the arts and theatre alive through an entirely virtual production of “The Night Witches.”  Written by local Salt Lake playwright Rachel Bublitz and directed by Alexandra Harbold — an assistant professor in the theatre department — "The Night Witches” tells the story of oft-forgotten Russian female fighter pilots.    A Brief History Lesson During World War II, the Soviet Air Force created a night bomber regiment for the women who wanted to help fight against the Germans. Although they were ill-equipped and forced to build planes out of wood and canvas, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment played a key role in continuing to bomb the Germans during the night — ensuring that they would not be able to sleep. The Soviet army was not initially welcoming to this all-female aviation team, and their regiment was left with...

  Oakley Burt As I'm sure we're all aware by now, COVID-19 has severely impacted a usually flourishing film industry. Major films such as "Dune," "No Time to Die" and "Black Widow" have been pushed back multiple times, hopefully settling on 2021 release dates. However, the streaming giants — Netflix and Amazon Prime Video — have continually been supplying fantastic media for our consumption. One such film, "The Trial of the Chicago 7," released Oct. 16, quickly became my favorite for the month. Directed by Aaron Sorkin, the film is an American historical docudrama that centers on the six-month trial of activists Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), John Froines (Danny Flaherty), Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) and Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins). Black Panther Party co-founder, Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is also tried alongside the seven. Charged by the federal government with conspiracy...