Artists of Utah / 15 Bytes

04/24/2025

Monsters All Around: Amanda Michelle Smith’s Battle Scenes

“They’re not strong,” Amanda Michelle Smith says of her warrior girls. “They’re angry.”

In ceramic reliefs that blend the beautiful with the brutal, Amanda Michelle Smith unleashes a universe of girls in frilly dresses battling beasts—part fairy tale, part feminist reckoning. But these monsters? They’re campy. Cute, even. Because it’s not dragons or demons that scare her—it’s people.

In her Provo home studio, surrounded by protest posters, punchy affirmations, and her two children, Smith creates art rooted in fury, love, and survival. Her latest exhibition, Trust Issues, now on view at UMOCA, strips back the myth of divine promises and perfect motherhood to confront deeper truths.

From temple garb to pharma fortresses, blood-soaked swords to mushroom gardens, Smith’s work reckons with faith, trauma, and the fragility of care in a system stacked against her kids. “I’m in a state of constant grief and terror,” she says, “and there are monsters all around.”

Read our artist profile at https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/monsters-all-around-amanda-michelle-smiths-battle-scenes/

03/12/2025

Whether one is drawn to the storytelling aspect of Joe Brubaker’s figures or the weightless elegance of Heather Zusman’s abstract sculptures, the works now at Julie Nester Gallery will undoubtedly spark conversation, both with others and within oneself. In the gallery’s beautifully lit space, enhanced by both natural and warm spotlights, Brubaker’s sculptural figures occupy the walking space and Zusman’s large, fluid wooden sculptures seem barely supported by the walls. The works by these two California artists create a fascinating dichotomy between fluidity and statuesque prowess, offering viewers a compelling interplay of movement and stillness.

Read the full article at https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/where-figures-meet-flow-joe-brubaker-and-heather-zusman-in-conversation/

02/19/2025

When Courtney Derrick was asked about artistic inspiration, she didn’t look to international art stars—she found it in Utah’s own Randall Lake.
After a decade in branding and design, Courtney Derrick returned to Utah eager to revive her painting practice. A mentorship with Randall Lake proved transformative, teaching her to embrace bold colors, trust her instincts, and see beyond the ordinary. Now a full-time artist, Derrick balances structure with intuition, letting each painting evolve in unexpected ways. passion for painting.
Read the full article at http://15bytes.com

09/26/2023

Not everyone takes an interest in the backstory of art. That said, Margaret Wilson Morris tells a story about her recent series of miniature quilts, how they came about and what they mean to her, that everyone who makes, cares about, or even thinks about art should be aware of. First, though, the quilts.
There are at least 66 framed and individually numbered works, though only about half are at Phillips. Additionally, for those counting, some frames include two separate quilts mounted side-by-side or one above the other. Adding more to the museum character imparted by the use of frames, in most cases Morris has compounded the nature of the quilt by juxtaposing and then sewing together several conventionally complete designs, thus treating them as blocks in a larger (though still quite small) quilt: one where the occasional lack of an overall organizing pattern might have traditionally led to their being typed as “Crazy,” which is also one way to describe the feeling of grief. The overall effect of the exhibition, however, is very much like the way miniature models are often mounted together to lend the final product an encyclopedic character. ...

Read the full review of the show at Phillips Gallery, up through Oct. 13

https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/margaret-wilson-morriss-quilted-monuments-to-the-indomitable-human-spirit/

09/25/2023

https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/new-textures-new-colors-and-new-media-in-kershisniks-annual-david-ericson-show/

09/21/2023

https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/going-underground-for-chuck-landvatters-digital-analogue/

09/21/2023

https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/alfred-lambourne-program-examines-the-grave-peril-facing-a-great-lake/

There’s something familiar about this landscape, but it’s not quite right. Yes, the verdant, green foreground and the rounded, purple mountains in the distance speak of an abundance of water because, unlike the hard-edged verticals of the red rock, mesa country of southern Utah deserts, northern...

09/21/2023

Come to our Fall Open Studio on Sept. 23!

02/09/2021

http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/paul-heath-wayne-thiebaud-and-a-whole-lot-of-paper-plates/

02/09/2021

http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/richard-diebenkorn-give-megan-gibbons-a-wakeup-call/

02/09/2021

http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/claire-akebrand-growing-up-with-paul-klee/

02/09/2021

http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/scott-carriers-running-after-antelope-relevant-decades-later/