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Art Around the Corner Awards Young Creators

The Gala dinner kicking off the annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit was an inspiration again this year as we celebrated the talented artists who submitted their pieces, and recognized the sponsors and patrons who help make it all possible.  But there was a different twist this time around, as we awarded two gifted young student sculptors, who participated in the very first iteration of our new Young Creators Program. Each of the winners was awarded a $300 scholarship from Art Around the Corner (AAC).  

Sam Harr, 17 years old, displayed an original metal sculpture that he completed in a Dixie High School welding class.  Titled “Chain Rose”, it showcases the intriguing contrast of a delicate flower supported by a heavy chain stem. “I found the perfect piece of chain, and an old metal grate for the base, that would have been thrown away. To me, the piece means that no matter how much you get beat up, it will shape you and make you stronger. This whole experience makes me want to do more creative things. I like taking these random items and making them into something interesting.”  

Logan Clark, 16 and attending Dixie High School, exhibited his work “Vaquero”. The piece combines welded horseshoes and scrap metal in an intricate creation that brings to mind the old west. Logan, son of noted local sculptor Matt Clark, has an artistic streak that runs deep. As an infant, his father would take him into the studio with him and he started welding at age six.  When he was eight years old, he created a robot with gears that moved. Arranging items and components in strange, unexpected ways is what fires his imagination.

Last fall, Art Around the Corner began this new initiative, to encourage and grow high-school-aged artists living within the Washington County School District. The centerpiece of the Young Creators Program is a juried contest, featuring original three-dimensional sculpture. The mission is to provide a platform for young, emerging artists to receive exposure and gain confidence in their artistic abilities.

“It’s so wonderful to see this program come to life”, says Kasi Miller, AAC board member. “ We want to inspire the younger generation to keep art alive and thriving in our great community. Having them at the Gala lets us honor them just as we honor older, experienced sculptors. It’s a place for these up-and-coming artists to be surrounded by those that can help them grow and develop into their greatness.”

This coming Fall, we’ll be launching another Young Creators contest, working through the schools to announce the program and bring more new talent into the Southern Utah creative community. So, for budding young artists, their parents and their art teachers, now is the time to start thinking about concepts that could be entered into the contest.  Up to twelve student artists can be selected, and each will be invited to attend the Gala dinner in the spring as AAC debuts the new works of art in the Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit.

Art Around the Corner is a non-profit foundation working to enhance downtown St. George with captivating outdoor art.  The Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit is the foundation’s flagship project, which each year selects around two dozen sculptures for an temporary installation.  Organizations and individuals can buy pieces for public or private installation. The foundation retains a portion of the proceeds, which in turn funds expansion of the city’s permanent sculpture collection.  

Cindy Trueblood
Director of Sales & Community Relations

Transformative Cowboy Sculptor

I will always have a deep emotional connection to Art Around the Corner because this program introduced me to Matt Clark.  In the 12 years since, my life has been immeasurably enriched by the friendship we have forged. Matt is a master artist, enlightened philosopher, wise councilor, and one of my most treasured friends.

He is also the most genuine person I know, without a smidge of pretension. Matt certainly is not concerned with what others think of him, and sometimes can be brutally honest.  But even in those moments there is a natural compassion that flows freely from him. I have learned more spiritual truths in Matt’s presence then I have anywhere else.

People say suffering is the gateway to enlightenment.  Perhaps this is why Matt is such a sage. He knows heartache.  As a young man, he was paralyzed when a vehicle he was working under fell on him.  He has been in a wheelchair ever since. But this is not the story I want to tell about Matt.  It is only the backdrop for an incredible life, still unfolding.

Matt once explained the personal importance of his work.  He related how, when his injury first occurred, the medical professionals saw him as broken.  They advised his parents to put him in an institution since the burden of caring for him would be too great.  Basically, they were ready to throw him away. Fortunately for all of us, Matt’s parents didn’t listen and later he decided to become a sculptor, creating art for his own spiritual healing and for uplifting others.  

Today, Matt uses recycled items to create his art.  He finds scraps discarded as no longer useful—rusted, broken, and tossed aside.  Matt asks himself, “What is the best purpose for this object.” He searches for each piece’s innate power and gives it a new reason to be.  For him, the transformation is symbolic of his own journey.

As a teenager he dreamed of becoming a world champion cowboy.  Now he expresses that dream by creating majestic horses. Although minimal in execution, they convey power and personality.  Standing next to one the other day I thought, “If only I could win your trust, I bet you could take me to magical places full of wonder and awe.”       

If you visit Matt’s work shop, you’ll see on the wall this saying from the book, As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, “Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage, these are the makers of the after-world, the architects of heaven.  The world is beautiful because they have lived. Dream lofty dreams and as you dream so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be.  Your ideal is the prophesy of what you shall at last unveil”. We anxiously await the unveiling of your next dream, Matt.

Art Around the Corner is a registered non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the arts and enriching our community.  AAC’s annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit features sculptures by nationally renowned artists on public display in the downtown area of St. George, Utah. If you’re interested in sponsoring or purchasing a piece or want to be involved, please contact Cindy Trueblood.

Cindy Trueblood
Art Around the Corner
Director of Sales & Community Relations
www.artaroundthecorner.org

In early 1990, Scott Rogers was selling oil and gas wells in Texas.  Six months later, he decided to become a sculptor and never looked back.  The catalyst was a piece of art that totally captured his imagination. It was his first purchase of sculpture and he was entranced by it.  He spent months studying it, even taking it outside to look at it in the moonlight. One day he came home from work, and the thought struck him with force, “I can do that.”  Rogers says of that moment, “I had this gnawing, this prompting.” That day he went down to his local art supply store, cleaned them out of clay, and started sculpting that night.

In the ensuing years Rogers has hardly slowed down, becoming one of Utah’s most prolific sculptors.  While his creative focus and artistic reputation centers on the “old west”, his subjects range from rugged mountain men to wondering conquistadors, to old-time sports teams, and from majestic animals to pensive mothers to gushing oil rigs.  His studio in Paradise, Utah is replete with ongoing projects, and he is especially known for his group compositions. All of them have one unifying element, emotion.

“When beginning a piece, the first thing I do is isolate an emotion I know intimately. Something that pulls at my heart.  In fact, to me the words ‘sculpture’ and ‘feelings’ are synonymous. I love it when someone views one of my pieces and says, ‘I feel like I’m on the back of the bucking horse’ or ‘I can hear the roar of the stampede’.  I know art uplifts the spirit, it makes one want to be better, to reach out for that which is good in life.”

Part of Roger’s mastery is found in the geometry of his compositions, and how the inherent shapes build emotional impact.  “Humanity has specific responses to certain shapes”, he explains. “If I sit and draw an ‘s’ shape, it gives a certain feeling.  If I draw lightning bolts, that gives a different feeling. Composition is so important. I’ve learned that people feel great composition, rather than see it.”  

For the 2016/2017 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit, Scott Rogers’ piece “All Her Chicks” is on display along the sidewalk in downtown St. George, just in front of the Main Street Plaza.  The bronze depicts an expectant mother, her heart full of love and anticipation, feeding a brood of baby chicks in the barnyard. For her, serving is a joy and her home is where all are made to feel welcome.  

As with all sculptures in the exhibit, “All Her Chicks” can be purchased or leased-to-own by interested organizations or individuals.  Art Around the Corner is a non-profit foundation, and all purchases from are tax deductible. The work of the foundation has been a highly effective collaboration between the arts and city planners.  The resulting works of art enhance our public spaces, lift our spirits and elevate our quality of life.

Cindy Trueblood
Director of Community Relations & Sales

Almost every professional artist I’ve ever spoken with knew at a young age they were destined to walk the creative path.  But often, that path is not a straight one, but meanders with lots of twists and turns. James G. Moore is one example.

Born in Fort Collins, Colorado, Jim grew up in a family of six children.  His parents were mindful to expose their kids to the wonders of the world surrounding them.  They took regular trips to the mountains, libraries, museums, churches, and other places of learning.  He recalls spending countless hours together with his father in the woodshop where his creative inclinations were encouraged and flourished.  Art was his favorite subject in school.

Jim was heavily influenced in his high school years by what was happening in the neighboring town of Loveland, Colorado.  In the early 80s, Loveland experienced a boom in sculpture sales and manufacturing due to it’s “Sculpture in the Park” show. This show started in 1984 with fifty local artists participating and an estimated 2,000 people attending. Today, Loveland hosts the largest juried sculpture show in the country with over 160 artists, tens of thousands in visitors and sales over $1 million in one weekend!  Loveland has been described as a “city which has a love affair with the arts”.

Knowing this, perhaps it is not surprising that Jim produced his first bronze edition when he was just 16 years old.  After graduating high school, Jim joined the Navy Reserves, went to boot camp and then entered his freshman year of college at the University of New Mexico where he studied art.  He returned to Colorado and worked for a small bronze foundry in his hometown. This period of his life was spent learning and improving his skill in all aspects of the bronze casting process.  

In 1990, Jim put his art on hold as his Naval Reserve unit was recalled to active duty, and deployed in support of Desert Storm.  While his creative career was interrupted, this experience proved to be highly influential. “After the war ended our ship traveled to the South Pacific so I was provided the opportunity to see parts of Thailand, Hong Kong, The Philippines and Japan” he recalls. “I was exposed to arts and crafts that have strongly influenced my style.  I was especially enamored by the huge temples and beautiful, serene Zen gardens of Japan”.

Jim taught middle and high school art for 15 years before taking the leap of faith and making his sideline passion for sculpting into his full-time work.  He describes his last few years as rewarding and full of adventure. Jim’s faith plays a central role in every aspect of his life. It is this environment, he says, that has elevated his artwork to a level of excellence that makes it stand out as unique and inspired.  

Jim’s piece “Blue Heron Though the Ages” is part of the Art Around the Corner exhibit for this year, and can be seen on the corner of Main and Tabernacle.  This piece was inspired by a petroglyph Jim saw in the Petrified Forest National Park. He replicated the scene several times in styles representative of different periods of time: prehistoric, impressionist, and abstract expressionism.  A bell was added to merge Western and Asian aesthetics, and provide interactivity. It rings with a deep, resonate tone.

Art Around the Corner is a non-profit foundation working to enhance downtown St. George with captivating outdoor art.  The Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit is the foundation’s flagship project, which each year selects around two dozen sculptures for a temporary installation.  Organizations and individuals can buy pieces for public or private installation. The foundation retains a portion of the proceeds, which in turn funds expansion of the city’s permanent sculpture collection.

Cindy Trueblood
Art Around the Corner Foundation

Look closely at one of Patrick Sullivan’s intricate works of carved stone, and you can start to sense movement and warmth emanating from within the rock. Observers often describe the “flow” inherent in his sculptures.  Originally from Vancouver, Canada, and now a dual-citizen living in Pine Valley, Utah, Sullivan talks openly about the living nature of the stone he loves to work with. “You have to get a feel for each one”, he says, “especially the big ones. There has to be an intimate connection between the stone and my own consciousness, my spirit, for the piece to really come alive.”

Sullivan prefers to do much of his work with hammer and chisel, just as sculptors have done for centuries. “I love to work directly with the stone to capture the essence of feeling from the moment of creation.” But electric or pneumatic tools have their place as well, particularly when working in the harder materials that he prefers, such as granite, basalt, and marble.  For several of his public art projects, Sullivan has set up his workbench outdoors, in full public view.  “That’s a really engaging way to sculpt,” he says. “People get involved and feel like they’re a part of it.  It’s not just something that was dropped in. They’re a part of the creative process.”

One of Patrick Sullivan’s pieces, “O’Keeffe 5”, was jury selected for St. George’s 2015 Art Around the Corner Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit, and is currently on display in front of the Main Street Plaza between the Boulevard and Tabernacle.  The sculpture is part of a series honoring the great American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe.  Carved from white, Carrara marble, the smooth, evocative shapes form an excellent example of Sullivan’s trademark style, his own blending of abstract and representational styles which he terms “lyrical symbolism”.    

Sullivan has been commissioned to create large pieces for multiple communities, with over 20 public art projects installed in the United States, Canada, and Germany.  Tulsa, Oklahoma selected his 10-foot, 10-ton sculpture in Indiana limestone, “Last Love 7” for display in Guthrie Green Park. The 8-ton piece “Motion” is permanently installed at the Centennial Hills Transit Center in Las Vegas.  And Vandalia, Ohio chose his 6-ton “Vandalia Chiseled” for public display.  The artist carved each of these on-site, allowing people to watch as he worked.  “I see public art as a healing thing,” says Sullivan. “As I’m creating, I do think about people and how they will interact with my work.”

For the 2015 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit, “O’Keeffe 5” is sponsored by the Utah Division of Arts and Museums.  As with many of the pieces in the exhibit, this beautifully carved stone sculpture can be purchased, or leased-to-own by interested organizations or individuals.  Art Around the Corner is a non-profit foundation, dedicated to enhancing the community and elevating the quality of life through public works of art.  All purchases from the foundation are tax deductible.  For those interested in Patrick Sullivan’s work, or in supporting Art Around the Corner, see www.artaroundthecorner.org.

Cindy Trueblood
Director of Sales and Community Relations