The Salt Lake City Arts Council, located at the Art Barn in Reservoir Park, programs visual arts exhibits year-round in the Finch Lane and Park Galleries. Artist are invited to apply for exhibits annually. Typically, the applications are made available in January and due back to the Arts Council in March. The exhibition program is designed to give local artist an opportunity to show their current body of work. The application process includes a thorough and competitve review by the Visual Arts Committee of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, with members from the board of directors and visual artists from the community.

Both one-person shows and group exhibits are considered. The quality of work, as evidenced by images of previous work submitted with the application, a range of styles and mediums, and a balanced exhibition season are among the criteria considered in the application review process.

For a complete listing of exhibits for the 2013 gallery season, click here.

Gallery Hours

Gallery Stroll (third Friday of the month):
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
 

For more information on the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll, visit their web site.

Current Exhibit
June 21 - August 2, 2013

The human figure, as depicted in peasant farmers or as a body in motion, is the theme of the latest exhibition at the Finch Lane Gallery. Silver gelatin photographs by Carl Oelerich and mixed media and ceramics by Heidi Moller Somsen are featured in adjacent galleries, opening with an artists' reception on Friday, June 21 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The show continues through August 2 and is open for the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll on Friday, July 19 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Carl Oelerich presents his photographs from a decade-long project documenting the guajiros of western Cuba. Guajiros are peasant farmers who are the agricultural backbone of Cuba in their economically-challenged countryside; they farm by hand, without use of machinery. The photographs depict the resilient and proud guajiros, the challenges under which they work in tobacco fields, to the simple wood houses in which they live.

Oelerich's silver gelatin photography technique is intentional. "Just as the guajiros farm in a traditional fashion, the photographs are made in a traditional manner," said Oelerich. "I develop the black and white film much as it was 100 years ago and the photographs are hand printed. At no point has there been a digital influence as I prefer traditional methods over modern technology."

Heidi Moller Somsen's mixed media and ceramics examine the human figure in motion from an intuitive point of view. "Sinews, ligaments, muscle, bone, brain stem, neurons, veins, and tendons. Inertia versus movement. Flight, fight, or freeze. To understand my work as I make it, I need to experience it physically. Using my own body, I begin with a performance," said Somsen. This performance includes moving into a "serpentine figure" in which the body spirals around a central axix, similar to Michelangelo's "Victory." From this stance Somsen creates her art, either through digital photography or a ceramic piece that reflects the motion she has experienced.

The serpentine figure depicts harnessed energy rather than an inert state of being. A serpentine figure is one that is either contorting to escape, or winding up to battle. Somsen is interested in the energy and the anxiety held within these figures and what is going on beneath the surface. The resulting artistic piece can be an extruded rope of clay or the drawn line on a photograph. Her love of material and their differences is expressed as well, as she combines clay, wax, wood, paper, and paint sticks.

Opening Reception: Friday, June 21, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Gallery Stroll: Friday, July 19, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.