Artists of Utah / 15 Bytes

Artists of Utah / 15 Bytes Utah's Art Magazine Published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, 15 BYTES has been UTAH'S ART MAGAZINE since 2001.

Our monthly edition is published on the first Wednesday of every month and we follow that up with daily bytes posts on this site. You'll find links to artistsofutah's other programming to the right.

Utah artist Ryan Harrington has spent two decades shaping the state’s creative landscape—not just through his clean-line...
12/15/2025

Utah artist Ryan Harrington has spent two decades shaping the state’s creative landscape—not just through his clean-lined, color-driven artwork, but by quietly building community around him.

From framing and curating to mentoring emerging artists, Harrington has become a connective force in Utah’s art scene. His Midvale studio is now a gathering place where visitors wander, talk, and discover new work in a space designed to feel welcoming rather than exclusive.

He has channeled that ethos into a group exhibition and fundraiser at Harrington Art Studio, with proceeds going to the Utah Food Bank. The show brings together a lively mix of artists—from skaters and illustrators to photographers and abstract painters—reflecting the broad, collaborative energy Harrington has helped nurture.

Read the full story about Harrington’s at https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/ryan-harrington-is-building-a-quiet-architecture-of-influence/

We've had some bright ideas in our time.Like that first bright idea, almost 25 years ago: create an online platform to u...
12/02/2025

We've had some bright ideas in our time.

Like that first bright idea, almost 25 years ago: create an online platform to unite and strengthen Utah’s art community. And the even brighter one: in the face of dwindling coverage in traditional media, create an online magazine about the arts in Utah. Hello 15 Bytes.

But we've had others.

Have we ever told you about the Artist Matchmaker app?

No, not a dating site for artists, though when we first mentioned it back in the day someone begged us for just that. Can you imagine? I mean, someone in the couple needs to have the health insurance.

No, Artist Matchmaker would be an app where professionals who are into art could connect with artists in need of a trade. Plumbers, massage therapists, attorneys could all swipe right on the Utah artists they love. And those artists could all swipe right on new wood floors, tax services, dental work, etc.

We'd get more artwork out of storage and onto walls.

These days, the coding wouldn't be too hard.

But it seems like there might be a lot of legal work involved. Any lawyers want to swipe right on our idea?

DURING HELP US KEEP THE LIGHTS ON OUR BRIGHT IDEAS—both the ones that by now have become an essential part of the Utah art community's ecosystem AND the ones still waiting in the wings.

Your support keeps the engine running: it fuels the stories, the exhibitions, the awards programs, the conversations, and yes, even the wild schemes that could become the next big thing in Utah arts.

Support us at https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/this-years-giving-tuesday-is-about-bright-ideas/

The Salt Lake Art Museum (SLAM) Finds Sanctuary in the TempleCompleted in 1890 for Salt Lake City’s first Jewish congreg...
11/21/2025

The Salt Lake Art Museum (SLAM) Finds Sanctuary in the Temple

Completed in 1890 for Salt Lake City’s first Jewish congregation, the B’nai Israel Temple carries a depth of cultural memory rare among the city’s remaining historic buildings. Its survival is uncommon in a city where progress has a habit of erasing the physical traces of its own past. Restoring the temple and establishing the Salt Lake Art Museum (SLAM) within it brings into view a narrative that has long remained at the margins of the city’s broader historical accounts. ...

Read the full article at http://15bytes.com

This Father Daughter Duo Wants to Build an Art Fair in Utah From more than 30 years of launching exhibitions, including ...
11/21/2025

This Father Daughter Duo Wants to Build an Art Fair in Utah

From more than 30 years of launching exhibitions, including the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Kevin O’Keefe has learned one thing above all: face-to-face connections matter. “It became clear that getting in front of the right person shortens the time to a decision and dramatically increases business,” he says. “As marketing changed and access to decision makers became much more difficult—calling was impossible, voice mail blocked you, emails were never opened or spammed out, social was too scattered and indirect—if you did not meet the person randomly in a supermarket for instance, an exhibition was the only way.”

That’s why when he and his daughter, Briana Dolan, both moved to Reno, Nevada in the wake of the pandemic, they founded the Reno Tahoe International Art Show to showcase the local creative community.

Now they want to do the same for Utah...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT http://15bytes.com

Directed collaboratively by Tamara and Madison Howell (yes, mother and daughter), Pygmalion's "Tiny Beautiful Things" tr...
11/10/2025

Directed collaboratively by Tamara and Madison Howell (yes, mother and daughter), Pygmalion's "Tiny Beautiful Things" transforms Cheryl Strayed's "Dear Sugar" columns into monologues full of movement, vulnerability, and real connection. In our interview, Tamara Howell—middle school drama teacher by day, Sugar by night—reflects on collaboration, memorizing Strayed’s literary prose, and what it means to speak words of healing out loud.

Read the article at http://15bytes.com

Shalee Cooper had already begun to pack. A few paintings were boxed, ready to be shipped back to the Mandelman/Ribak Fou...
11/06/2025

Shalee Cooper had already begun to pack. A few paintings were boxed, ready to be shipped back to the Mandelman/Ribak Foundation, which the gallery had been working with since 2018. After six years at the Bogue Foundry, Modern West’s lease would be up in December. In a changed art market, the future of the Salt Lake City gallery felt ambiguous: there was a real scenario in which the physical space would shutter and Modern West would exist online only. Cooper was packaging the first works to be sent back when founder Diane Stewart called and said: Wait.

Across the country, from mega-galleries to co-ops, the art world is doing this same kind of reassessment. A surprising number of large galleries have closed their physical locations outright, or opted for private appointment-only spaces, or gone fully digital. Modern West found themselves at that same fork in the road. The two floors they occupied at the Foundry were unnecessary for the way they actually functioned in 2025. The question was: find a new space, go fully online, or close entirely. It looked like they were headed toward the second option when Stewart found something.

Read the full article at http://15bytes.com

Monsters All Around: Amanda Michelle Smith’s Battle Scenes“They’re not strong,” Amanda Michelle Smith says of her warrio...
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/

Whether one is drawn to the storytelling aspect of Joe Brubaker’s figures or the weightless elegance of Heather Zusman’s...
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/

When Courtney Derrick was asked about artistic inspiration, she didn’t look to international art stars—she found it in U...
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

Not everyone takes an interest in the backstory of art. That said, Margaret Wilson Morris tells a story about her recent...
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/

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