Community, creativity, and the remarkable talent of local artists in the Holladay area will be celebrated at Art Elevates, a two-night art exhibition at the Salt Lake Olympus Stake building. The event is an opportunity to experience a variety of art pieces in mediums such as sculpture, photography, mixed media, painting and 3D art forms. Students through master artists were encouraged to participate in the gallery display, which will include a nod to the old masters’ classical style of art and contemporary works reflecting the art world today.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Olympus Stake art committee is sponsoring the event. Catherine Arveseth, an exercise physiologist by profession and writer by passion, is the chair and lead organizer of Art Elevates, and Jeremy Peterson has served as the co-chair.

According to Arveseth, the event's vision is to showcase the talent of local artists while lifting and bringing the community together. The exhibition is an effort to create an experience that has the potential to bring a diversity of people, faiths and affiliations together in the community. 

“Recently, I’ve felt we need an infusion of more art, poetry, and music into our societies – a shot in the arm of sorts that pushes against the distraction of digital media and feels grounding, real, and inspiring,” Arveseth said. 

In a recent conversation, Arveseth pointed out the art exhibition was created to be multifaceted in purpose: support artists by giving them a forum to display their art, get people involved in the community, and inspire people to join together in an experience and conversation about art that lifts the community. 

  “We are excited to showcase these local artists who may not have had a venue to display their art before, and we look forward to bringing people together through a celebration of and conversation about art,” Arveseth said. “I feel like art elevates our minds and souls. It often takes us places we haven’t been before, sparks imagination and creativity, lifts our spirits, and intimates toward things that often can’t be expressed through speech or written word.”

During the two-evening art exhibition, the Holladay community will have the opportunity to experience the world through the eyes of some of Utah’s most accomplished artists.

Lynn Nichols, a talented local landscape artist, will display two paintings in the Art Elevates exhibition. A recent trip to Greece inspired both paintings. Nichols’ art has been juried into the Springville Art Museum Spring Salon and the Freedom Festival Art Show. He has also displayed his art in the Covey Center, Provo City Library, and the Springville Art Museum Spiritual and Religious Show. Nichols feels creating and viewing art is essential to society and he says, “Anytime we can disconnect from the rush of daily life to relax and enjoy art, it is a restorative time which inspires higher thoughts and deeper connections to nature and each other.” 

Scott Snow is a nationally recognized artist and former art professor at the University of

Utah and has done commission work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other large organizations nationwide. Snow has received the nation’s top award for courtroom art coverage and has sketched in many famous trials. He will display two pieces of art, “Autumn‘s Gift,” completed for the Brigham Young University Foundation, and “Campfire Spirits,” a woodcarving piece created from native aspen trees. Snow worked on the carving while sitting around the campfire at night during backpacking trips in the local mountains.

Kate Harrington Mooth, a former Brigham Young University art professor and instructor at the Visual Arts Institute, is an award-winning expressive artist with deep connections to the expression and use of color associated with the Fauve artists. Mooth’s artwork explores themes of memory and personal connections. Her mediums of choice are oil and acrylic, and she will be showcasing two pieces titled “Corcovado” and “Cumulus.”

“Memory shifts, distorts, and fades,” Mooth said. “It is layered in imagery and emotion. I try to capture the tension between what is remembered and what is forgotten. By using fragments, repetitions, and distortions. I represent the way memories accumulate and overlap, sometimes uncomfortably. This layering reflects the emotional residue left behind by relationships. Ultimately, the product becomes an exploration of color and the layering of paint. Many of the marks are reactions to how the paint transforms with layering."

Holladay Artist of the Month for September 2024 Jill Buckmiller, a master artist, will display three paintings during the show. She says she finds success as an artist when she can paint what she loves without worrying about whether the piece will be marketable. To her, the deeper meaning of artistic success is encapsulated in the words "peace, hope and joy."

“There is so much hopelessness and despair in the world,” Buckmiller shares on her website. “I want to create a little piece of peace and hope. I would be eternally grateful to have my collectors see my artwork not only as a bright spot on their walls but as a conduit to joy.”

The Olympus Stake organizing committee welcomes Holladay patrons’ art lovers of all ages and those for whom this might be their first interaction with a gallery experience to the exhibition. There will be live music, refreshments and a feedback card for patrons to fill out as they exit the gallery. “We’d like to know what pieces moved viewers or meant something to them. And most of all, what the experience was like for them,” Arveseth said.

Art Elevates, a community gallery night, will be held at the Salt Lake Olympus Stake building located at 2700 E. 4500 South. The event will run Jan. 30-31. Doors will be open for strolling through the gallery both evenings from 5 to 9 p.m. 

For additional information about the Art Elevates exhibition, contact Catherine Arveseth 571-643-2003.

For additional information about the master artists mentioned, contact them at: 

Lynn Nichols www.lynnnicholsart.com/       

Kate Mooth Instagram Kate Harrington Mooth (@kateharringtonmooth)

Scott Snow www.scottsnowfineart.com/scottsnowfineart.com/BIO.html 

Jill Buckmiller www.instagram.com/jillbuckmiller/ λ