This Saturday is the Urban Arts Festival, and it’s taking place on our doorstep. You won’t want to miss this event, or miss the Skatedeck painting competition in the gallery. Come by on Gallery Stroll for a preview of the professional category, and come back for the voting and amateur divisions on Saturday.
The month of May at the Gray Wall Gallery brings not only a welcome relief from the showers and cold of a Utah spring, but also some new artists pumping some new life onto the creative soul of the city. The work of ten artists grace the walls of the gallery to form a cohesive body of work not to be missed.
Dorene Miya returns for her second month at the gallery with her detailed work in stain glass. She has said about her work, “I love change and diversity, and so am naturally drawn to glass with its amazing visual and textural properties and how those properties constantly change with light.” The display is by the front window, capturing the sunlight and casting color on the walls.
There is space in the gallery this month to celebrate the contests of the Urban Arts Festival held on Saturday, May 21st. The gallery will be open from 10 am to 9pm that day as city members gather to compete in creating a unique skatedeck. Patrons are welcome to come in and place their votes. Visit UrbanArtsFest.org for more details.
Matthew Hall is featured in two different mediums this month. The gallery features his ceramics, as well as his found art which he has described, “I am choosing to deal with the objects that we ignore—or rather that we have such familiarity with that we know them without consideration—and treat them in ways that tease expectation.
D’Arcy Benincosa’s cohesive exhibit “Our One Body” is featured on the large wall of the gallery. Uniform in it’s black and white nature, the photography depicts the belief that the essential identity of being human is written in the lines and curves of the body. The body, often, places each of us within a collective. She has sought to capture that collective spirit.
qi peng is back this month with his collection of rejection letters that he said “documents the process of how an emerging artist was able to navigate through the contemporary art world and grow within the system.” Part of that growth came through his rejection, which has made his victories that much more poignant. New to the gallery this month is Giuliana Serena. Through her Moontime Rising project, Serena brings forward a resource for change with the Moon Cycle Timepiece, a timekeeping tool for everyone which supports the reintegration of natural time and the human experience.
Richard James Enbody has a pristine reputation among artists in Salt Lake City. His work is a culmination of all his experiences through childhood transisitioning to adulthood. Much of his art is inspired by his past life experiences, which have been full and numerous. His work is next to Hannah Montgomery’s jewelry exhibition. She has handcrafted various pieces that will appeal to many men and women. Her delicate handywork is just the perfect way to express yourself.
Finally, Nic Rodriguez and Daren Young are gallery regulars with ever changing ideas and passions. Rodriguez’s work this month cast shadows on the art of Chinese calligraphy, accented by bold blues and greens where one would have expected to find reds. His work is at once calming and exciting. Young’s work is both refined and delicate in it’s depictions of scenery, both local and of Venice.