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DSC Sears Art Museum Gallery Presents "There are Always Stories to Tell" Summer Exhibit
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 Monday, May 21st, 2012
The Sears Art Museum Gallery at the Dixie State College of Utah Dolores Dore' Eccles Fine Arts Center unveils a new summer ensemble exhibit entitled "There are Always Stories to Tell," featuring the works of four talented Utah artists. The exhibit, which is free to the public, will officially open on Friday, June 8, and will run Monday-through-Friday through August 24, 2012, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
"There are Always Stories to Tell" showcases many of the unique and inspiring geographical features and views of southern Utah, as captured by artists Bonnie Conrad, Craig Fetzer, Sam Lawlor and Dilleen Marsh. A special artist reception, which is free and open to the public to attend, will be held on Friday evening, June 15, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
"It is such a delight to work with talented and successful local artists," says Cieslewicz. "These artists have worked a lifetime to perfect their skills and talents. It's always interesting to see the crossover between commercial illustration art and what is considered fine art. It can be a fine line."
Conrad and her husband, Roger, have lived on several ranches throughout the West and have called Montana, Nevada, Washington, Wyoming, Texas and Utah "home" at one time or another. Those times on those ranches have supplied her with a wealth of information, which serves as backdrops for many of her paintings of the rural American West. Many of her oil works depict women and children, cowboys and cowgirls, Native Americans and some rural animals.
"It is a privilege to be showing with my fellow accomplished artists in the beautiful Sears Gallery," Conrad says. "For this occasion I have gathered a grouping of paintings spanning about a ten-year period. Each is created from an intimate and treasured part of my life and, thereby, has its ‘story.' My hope is that the viewers will connect with them in a ‘story' of their own."
A graduate of Utah State University, Fetzer was elected to The Society of Illustrators in New York 35 years ago and has been an active member since. He has created illustrations for a number of local, national and international accounts, including KSL-TV, the Utah Jazz, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Eddie Bauer, Nordstrom, and Universal Studios, among others. Fetzer has been featured in The Society of Illustrators annuals, and he was honored with awards for his illustrations by the Utah Advertising Federation, Art Directors of Salt Lake City, Calgary Graphics Industry, Simpson Paper Company, and others. Fetzer's paintings were recently featured at a one-man show at the Impressions Art Gallery in St. George, Utah. He shows his paintings in the DSC Sears Invitational, and at the 25th Annual Spiritual & Religious Art of Utah at the Springville Museum of Art.
"I am hopeful to put the observer within the painting and evoke memories taking them on a voyage of self enlightenment and discovery," Fetzer said. "I want to convey in my art a narrative of history, emotion, everyday life and its challenges and joys. Project to the viewer a sense of place, a unique moment in time.
Lawlor currently serves as an adjunct faculty member in DSC's art department. A native of Bountiful, Utah, Lawlor studied at USU and earned a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in Illustration. After a brief stint as a freelance illustrator in New York City, he returned to Utah to begin work illustrating magazine articles for the LDS Church. Since that time, Sam has produced over 300 illustrations for the Friend, New Era, Ensign and Liahona magazines, as well as numerous paintings for manuals, books, videos and church visitor centers. Lawlor and his family relocated to St. George in 2000, and the move influenced him to direct some of his creative energies toward fine art. His works can be found in the collections of such places as DSC, St. George Art Museum, banks, golf course clubhouses, and hospitals, as well as numerous private collectors.
"I'm excited about the opportunity to exhibit a side to our art that most people don't get to see," states Lawlor. "A lot of my friends know that I paint illustrations for magazines, but they don't get to see them together with my fine art and make that side-by-side connection."
Marsh has worked as an illustrator and designer for nearly 40 years. She began her career in California before moving to Utah to work as a designer and senior designer for The New Era magazine, an LDS Church publication for teens. In 1993 Marsh began working full-time out of her home studio in Salt Lake City as an illustrator and painter, and would relocate to Hurricane in 2006. She has illustrated for magazines and children's books, while her paintings have exhibited several times at Springville's Spring Salon, and DSC's Sears Dixie Invitational, among other galleries and venues. Over the years she has developed and worked with community art programs for children.
"I am the possibility of clearly, joyfully, and boldly communicating an idea, a story, through art," Marsh said. "As light gives energy to the colors, shapes and shadows of the desert, an idea or story gives energy to the delicious exercise of being an artist with something to say."
For more information on the pair of exhibits, contact Sears Art Museum Gallery curator Kathy Cieslewicz at 435-652-7909 or at cieslewicz@dixie.edu.
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