Painting Archives - BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications

At Bethesda’s Waters: Celebrating 20 Years at the MOA

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 16:32:07 +0000

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BYU student showcases 7 years of work in abstract art exhibit

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 16:58:35 +0000

Imagine a man jamming out to trap music in his studio as he rhythmically goes to town on a canvas. This is how Stephen Clawson, a senior art major at Brigham Young University, does his paintings in the basement of his grandmother’s home, also known as his studio. That same trap music could be Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby any other day of the week, a song with a slower and more melodic essence to it, but this is how Clawson likes to work. His work over the past seven years culminated into what he called an abstract art experience. The gallery at BYU was packed from wall-to-wall with his work. “Some of these things are horrible paintings, but I still wanted to put them up,” Clawson said. “My teachers didn’t like it, they just wanted me to do eight pieces.” For Clawson, art is somewhat of an escape. He added there is something crazy about painting, a feeling that he — at times — had trouble describing. Sometimes his work just seems to click for him, other times paintings seem flat and dull. The beauty of abstract art is that you can paint over things, or as Clawson likes to do, glue things on to the canvas in a collage style. One instance where a painting fell into place for him was when he had surgery and was still dealing with the pain. He was on some pain medicine to help recovery, and Clawson said he mixed colors to create an orange hue that seemed to fit perfectly on his canvas. He still gets that feeling sometimes, just without the pain medicine. Clawson also uses art as a way of expression. During his time at BYU, he had one instance where he was dealing with depression and he could not seem to get out of “the funk.” Read the full articlewritten by Ryne Williams at heraldextra.com.

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Alumni Arts: The Spirit of the Land

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 14:40:45 +0000

Growing up on a small farm in Highland, Utah, Michael R. Workman (BFA ’86, MFA ’92) knew just what he wanted to do with his life: “Move to a rural area and paint the land. And I’ve been able to do exactly that.” Workman credits his BYU professors not only for teaching him the elements of art but for helping him believe he could make a living with his brush, which he does from his home in Spring City, Utah. “I approach landscapes with a poetic sensibility,” says Workman, who paints in the early-morning or late-evening light. “I’m trying to subtly communicate the spiritual qualities of the land.” Citing artists as eclectic as Rothko and Van Gogh as influences, Workman feels a special kinship with the tonalist painter George Inness, who felt the world was a profoundly spiritual place. “I never set out to be a tonalist, but that is what I seem to be,” he says. His treatment of landscapes shows a reverence for the places and subjects he depicts: “I hope my faith and belief in something beyond this life come through.” See the full article written by Andrew T. Bay at magazine.byu.edu.

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Alumni Feature: Rachel Stallings Thomander

admin — Thu, 21 May 2020 18:07:27 +0000

As Thomander’s view of success expands and the lines between art and non-art blur, new creative possibilities emerge Seven-year-old Rachel Stallings Thomander walked into a university classroom with her mother and looked up to see several large-scale paintings hanging on the wall. “I want to do that!” she thought. The oldest of Gloria and Gregory Stallings’ three children, Thomander periodically attended art classes with her mother, an art minor at UC Irvine and the first woman in her Colombian family to receive a college degree. Mother and daughter worked side by side on art projects as Stallings completed class assignments. “I remember making a small oil painting depicting planets and space, and a dish for chips and salsa,” Thomander recalled. “I grew to love making things during that time and knew I wanted to keep doing it for as long as I could.” Although she continued to pursue her dream of making art, Thomander didn’t consider herself an artist for a long time. From her perspective, only special people were artists. It wasn’t until she decided to major in art at BYU that she slowly became comfortable using the term to describe herself. Read the full article by Abby Weidmer at art.byu.edu.

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BYU Magazine: Minuscule Masterpieces

admin — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 19:04:32 +0000

The Harold B. Lee Library had some unusual visitors in October. Just inside the east doorways, miniature patrons admired postage stamp–sized art in one of alumna McKay Lenker Bayer’s (BA ’18) latest Tiny Art Shows. She held her first back in 2016 for a BYU art class, hanging self-made bitty art a few inches off the ground on Provo’s Center Street. Bayer added the final touches—a tiny spotlight and magnifying glass—and staked out a spot to watch. “I was amazed by the reaction—people squealed with joy, even lay down on the dirty sidewalk to get a good look,” says Bayer. See the full article by Lauren K. Lethbridge at magazine.byu.edu.

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BFA Student Featured In A Solo Exhibition At The Utah Museum Of Contemporary Art

admin — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 18:40:53 +0000

Rachel Henriksen’s show “knew/new” will be on display in the Projects Gallery at UMOCA November 1—January 18 BFA senior Rachel Henriksen first heard from the curator at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) on social media. The curator had seen one of her artworks (the recipient of an honorable mention) at the Bountiful Davis Art Center (BDAC) Statewide Competition. Impressed with the piece and other works of hers he had seen previously, he invited her to participate in a solo show in the Projects Gallery at UMOCA. Henriksen said she was “beyond elated” to receive the invitation—a rarity among student artists, and artists in general. The impetus for Henriksen’s recent work was a painting she made earlier this year while visiting her artist grandmother in Washington. Funded by an experiential learning grant from the Art Department, Henriksen flew to Washington to make art side by side with her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Prior to her visit, Henriksen researched Alzheimer’s disease to try to better understand life from her grandmother’s perspective. While in Washington, she stayed with her grandmother for several days and learned how Alzheimer’s affects her daily routine. They talked and painted and searched through her grandmother’s art-filled garage. Read more at art.byu.edu

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Seeing with the Eyes of an Artist

admin — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 17:00:34 +0000

Greg S. (BFA ’17) and Jean Mcfarland Bean (BA ’17) were BYU dropouts. After a baby and an illness derailed their studies in the 1980s, they decided to leave BYU and head to Washington state. Greg, who had been working nights in Utah with the Springville Police Department, got a job as an officer in Bellevue, Washington, and was eventually promoted to detective. One day his lieutenant ordered him to a weeklong forensic-art class. Then a self-described “art imbecile,” Greg hadn’t put pencil to paper since middle school; this class began a lifelong journey into art. The teacher began by saying that art isn’t about the pencil in your hand, but about what you can see. Those words “literally changed my life and changed the way I saw people,” says Greg. By the end of the week, he could draw “a decent-looking human head,” and by the end of his career on the force, he had become the foremost forensic artist in the Seattle area, helping apprehend scores of criminals with his composite sketches. Meanwhile, Jean developed her own native interest in art. Thirty years after leaving Provo, the Beans received a clear prompting that, even though it was early, it was time for Greg to retire from the police force, and even though it was late, they needed to return to BYU. Read more at magazine.byu.edu More About the Beans “We work on commissions in our home studio together, we go out and paint together, we go to museums together,” says Greg about spending time with his wife, Jean. Their mutual love of art has provided a way for the Beans to grow together, including getting their art degrees at BYU as older students after early retirement. They’ve traveled to galleries all over and spent countless hours discussing artists and paintings. View some of their work at magazine.byu.edu

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Artists from BYU and Across the US and Europe Meet in Iceland to Collaborate on a Show in Santa Fe

Alexis Carver — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 17:33:54 +0000

Diverse artists establish an on-going relationship of community and unity For the past 10+ years, a group of BYU professors — including Claudine Bigelow (Music), Gary Barton (Art), Jen Orton (Art), Joe Ostraff (Art) and Linda Reynolds (Design) — have been collaborating with various artists across the U.S. and throughout the world. After a conversation between a few fellow collaborators — Ostraff, Nuala Clarke from Ireland, Karina Hean from Sante Fe, New Mexico and Ostraff’s wife Melinda Ostraff — the idea of “Odd Nature” was born. The idea evolved into a project where a team of 23 artists — including a total of six students from BYU, the U.S. and Europe — gathered together in Iceland to explore the relationship between humans and the natural world and the impact they have on each other. Each artist specialized in multiple disciplines including design, music, painting, drawing, printmaking, letterpress, book arts, video, performance art and installation work. Ostraff knew he was bringing together some power artists in Iceland, so he sat back and watched the creativity emerge. “I went into the project not wanting to be heavy-handed about what I thought should happen,” Ostraff said. “It will be an ongoing partnership that’s very organic and a lot bigger than I anticipated.” Art major Jeffery Hampshire — one of the six students who were invited to participate in the Iceland trip — discovered lasting ties and an unforgettable experience. “The Iceland trip was great because the students there mixed with professional artists,” he said. “We did projects together, but the main purpose was to set parameters for a future project. We are in communication today, even after that trip.” For Hampshire, the vision of his future changed because of the transpired events in Iceland. “I feel like an actual artist now,” said Hampshire. “The experience in Iceland has changed the way I’ll continue on future projects. I pictured myself as an artist working alone in a studio, but now I see a future of collaboration being a major part of my work.” Claudine Bigelow — a BYU viola professor within the School of Music — also participated in the Iceland trip. “Daily, we would have a workshop, connect it in some way with seeing nature in Iceland, and then we shared an evening meal and spoke about art ideas,” said Bigelow. “We got to know each other well and became fast friends in the process.” The trip was only Bigelow’s third experience working with visual artists. “I loved watching talented people create — watching their drawing and painting techniques,” she said. “It was important for me to watch really gifted artists speak with their own clear voice. I was honored to work together.” After the Iceland trip, 12 out of the 23 artists featured their work at the Santa Fe Community College art gallery in New Mexico. The show was displayed from Sep. 13 to Oct. 10. “Odd Nature” didn’t just establish opportunities for the artists to collaborate on future projects — it also taught life lessons. The title “Odd Nature” is not just an art show, but a definition of diverse people coming together to create something beautiful. “We hope people will find themselves in the project,” Ostraff said. “There were a lot of different people with different beliefs who came together to make ‘Odd Nature’ possible. The civility in the room allowed for people to collaborate even if they didn’t agree or have similar lifestyles and backgrounds, but they did agree to be kind, thoughtful, civil people and it’s been a great thing to think about.” The work was made possible through the generous support of The Ballinglen Arts Foundation and Brigham Young University. For a different version of the story and more visuals, visit art.byu.edu

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Leslie Whyte Graff on Finding Meaning Through Art

Mason Graham — Tue, 07 May 2019 16:45:40 +0000

“When art does a good job, . . . it makes the world less lonely,” says Leslie Whyte Graff (BS ’96, MS ’01). “It makes it more meaningful.” Many of her generation-spanning images depict women performing domestic tasks. Society today “sees domestic work as something to be avoided, and so people become unhappy—not because the tasks are inherently lacking meaning, but because we hear the message, ‘You shouldn’t like this,’” she notes. Read more at BYU Magazine.

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BYU Alumnus Lands Exhibit in Covey Center Gallery

Sydnee Gonzalez — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 22:39:15 +0000

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