Hannah McBeth

Fine Art

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Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes Magazine •

UMOCA’s Survey of Utah Artists Explores The Possibilities of the Abstract

Abstraction broke onto the art landscape of different countries at different times, but often as a response to disillusionment with the narrative art relied on previous knowledge of religious or mythical stories. Instead, abstraction provided a totally self-referential possibility, where an artist created their own code of line, form, color, and material, with their own identity dictating the direction of the abstraction.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Animation in the Spotlight: Under the Influence at Rio Gallery

Thanks to Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein storming the art world in the 1960s, scenes from comic books, graphic novels, and newspaper advertisements don’t look totally foreign in art gallery space. However, animation and illustration are still separated from the serious business of producing “high-brow” art by critics and audience members alike. On exhibit at the Rio Gallery, Under the Influence sees local Utah artists challenge these kinds of social and cultural categorizations and explore animation’s role in their personal artistic developments.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Diving Into the Abstract: J. Vehar Evanoff at Modern West Fine Art

Viewers can see some of these signature Vehar-Evanoff techniques in the works that make up Submerged Reflection. Pieces in this exhibit are all on the same large canvases the artist favors — “Untitled I” and “Untitled II” are each 48” x 48”, while “Submerged II” and “Untitled III” are 60” x 48” — are executed in earth tones of umbers and grays and characterized by a vacillating opacity of paint — in places so thinned with Turpenoid or linseed oil one can see through to the canvas.
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Escaping into the Vita Contemplativa: Tranquility at Julie Nester Gallery

Notifications pinging and screens flashing: the average person’s day is filled with hundreds of stimuli demanding attention. In The Human Condition, philosopher Hannah Arendt writes that the point at which the world passed into modernity is when people stopped striving for the vita contemplativa (a life of contemplation) and began idolizing the vita activa (a life of action). Constant doing and accomplishing leaves little time to sit and relax.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Specific Abject at The Rio Brings Depth to the Flat Surface

Finally, one of the most striking works in the exhibit—also in the form of an imposing structure made of repeating objects—is Kimball’s “Five Thousand Souls.” The piece is made of 5,000 pairs of clean white sneakers, stacked in high rows that reach the eye level of an adult. The text alongside the piece explains that in the last few years, vendors on European streets have begun selling scores of used shoes. When the origins of the shoes were traced, authorities discovered that scavengers have been finding shoes and other possessions washed up on the shores of the Mediterranean, where an estimated 5,000 refugees have drowned since the beginning of the refugee crisis.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

A Love Letter From Growth to Decay: Naomi Marine at Finch Lane Gallery

If you reached into your refrigerator and pulled out a carton of plump strawberries, only to find they’re covered in fuzzy, circular patches of fungus, you’d grimace and throw them away, right? You’d hardly examine the tiny, flowering patterns of decay and growth. But fascination with such microscopic details, which show how plush organic material changes over time, is one element that makes Naomie Marine’s drawings and soft sculptures alluring.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Imitation Games: Ben Steele at Modern West Fine Art

Exhibiting at Modern West Fine Art this month, the traditionally trained painter Ben Steele chooses subjects that hark back to a universal and nostalgic American childhood. From Kennewick, Washington, and educated first at the University of Utah and then at the apprenticeship program in Helper—under the instruction of artists David Dornan and Paul Davis—Steele’s Western background informs pieces that are emotionally charged because of their engagement with American symbols and myths.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Bodies of Nature: Ryoichi Suzuki’s Suggestive Stone Sculpture at A Gallery

In his new exhibit, Ryoichi Suzuki’s carved, flowing forms of wood and stone punctuate two rooms in Salt Lake City’s A Gallery. In each sculpture on display, Suzuki uses different types of stone or wood to produce elongated and graceful organic forms. A native of Japan, Suzuki’s subjects hark back to shapes found in Japanese paintings and minimalist Zen gardens, but he also received his BFA and MFA from Utah State University and has spent extensive time studying, creating, and living in Utah.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Evidence of an Alien Universe: Elmer Presslee’s “Unprovoked Collaborations” at God Hates Robots

If somehow the primal essences of cult horror movies, ‘80s arcade games, abandoned amusement parks, and pulp sci-fi magazines were smashed together, Elmer Presslee’s art might have been fused from the resulting debris. Although many elements feel familiar—callbacks to subcultures of the 1970s and 1980s—Presslee’s style is so distinct that the whole body of work feels new and cohesive. Each detailed and polished piece in Unprovoked Collaborations looks like it was plucked from a terrifying univer
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Alchemical Experiments: Colour Maisch and Gary Vlasic at Finch Lane Gallery

The short wall text near the entrance of the gallery space speaks of regeneration and reinvigoration of the discarded, broken, and useless that can be found in a marriage of contrasting materials. The gallery creates a space that mimics an ancient alchemical laboratory, where the artists ask the audience to respond to physical experiments with no typical curatorial barriers, creating an impression that everyone is part of an ongoing process.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Portraits of a Pilgrim Artist: Willy Littig at Mestizo

The untitled photographs in Willy Littig’s exhibit Vecinos wander across the walls of Mestizo Gallery like humble pilgrims. Dressed in understated, neat frames, they appear unburdened by worldly pretensions, as if they are on their way to ascetic enlightenment. Littig captured these images on his recent walking pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, or St. James’ Way, which stretches approximately 500 miles from the border of France and Spain to the Atlantic coast at Cape Finisterre.
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Downy Doxey-Marshall’s kloTH at Alice Gallery

In the deep shade of canopies that flutter like leafy parasols above South Temple’s historic mansions, the Alice Gallery, home to the State of Utah Fine Art Collection, displays Downy Doxey-Marshall’s newest show /klō /. If you’ve ever wondered how to describe the upside-down letters and slashes that follow dictionary entries, (the markings that look like ancient runes and whisper correct pronunciations to a learned few), here’s your tidbit of knowledge for the day: they’re known as “phonemes.”
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

The Remains of Lost Time: Laura Hope Mason’s Extinct

The sister fields of archaeology and paleontology share the near-impossible aim of putting eons of earth’s time into human perspective. The movement and scale of time are notoriously difficult for people to understand, but facing the physical remnants of plants, animals, and early humans brings millions of years into a more relatable focus. Laura Hope Mason’s mixed-media paintings in her solo show Extinct respond to forms and textures in fossils, stone, and artifacts found at the Natural History Museum of Utah.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

Painting The Painted: Kevin Red Star at Modern West Fine Art

Kevin Red Star’s paintings at Modern West Fine Art give the immediate impression of no-nonsense stability and strength. Their compositions—featuring mounted Crow warriors, tipis against starry skies, or profiles of chiefs in traditional costume—are balanced and deliberate. Most shapes are fully delineated. The predominant colors are subtle, earthy tones, which make the canvas look in places like soft, tanned leather.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

World War II in Fragments: The Remembered Light Exhibit’s Take on Loss and Hope

As World War II passes from living memory to documented history, the struggle to keep the devastating conflict vivid in the public imagination is urgent. This call is answered in the exhibit Remembered Light, on display October 15-19 at the Salt Palace Convention Center, in conjunction with the 2015 Parliament of the World Religions conference. The exhibit is comprised of pieces inspired by the stained-glass fragments and memories of World War II veteran, Frank McDonald (1908-2002).
SLUG Magazine - Salt Lake UnderGround •

Rethinking Rural/Urban Dichotomies at the Epicenter Spring Summit

Utah is home to an art scene that stretches across the state, with subversive art pockets in unlikely places, but sometimes, Salt Lake City’s presence eclipses work and communities in smaller towns. Just outside of Moab is one such unassuming town, sandwiched between the prismatic Book Cliffs and the dusty railroad tracks—Green River. With a population of just under 1,000, Green River hosts the arts organization Epicenter, whose founders worked in Green River as AmeriCorps volunteers.
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Film & Theater

SLUG Magazine •

Sundance Film Review: The Courier AKA Ironbark

The audience shifted nervously in their seats as mushroom clouds blossomed and Cold War events unfolded in Dominic Cooke’s Ironbark. Based on true events, it made its world premiere this week at Sundance 2020. Ironbark is the codename for historical Soviet agent Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), one of the most prolific and important U.S. informants in history. Penkovsky passed over 5,000 photographs of classified military, political and economic documents to British and U.S. intelligence forces.
SLUG Magazine •

Sundance Film Review: Luxor

The synopsis of Zeina Durra’s Luxor sounds more like a genre-typical travel romance than what’s delivered. Luxor is closer to a quiet, art-house character study. The protagonist, Hana (Andrea Riseborough), is a doctor on leave from treating Syrian war victims in a clinic on the Jordanian-Syrian border. After meeting locals she knew when she was younger and living in the city, she runs into a former flame, archeologist Sultan (Karim Saleh), and the romance starts up again.
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

The Grand Theatre’s “Young Frankenstein” is Halloween Comedy for Grownups

If you are familiar with the irreverent, bawdy, ever-so-absurdist humor of Mel Brooks’ films and plays, you will instantly understand the kind of wild ride the Grand Theatre’s The New Mel Brooks Musical: Young Frankenstein promises its audience. For those uninitiated into the 1974 cult film, the story follows Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, the grandson of Dr. Frankenstein of monster-creating fame, who returns to Transylvania when he inherits the castle and its laboratory.

To Marry or Not to Marry? “A Doll’s House, Part 2” at Salt Lake Acting Company

Politics and religion are topics to avoid during polite conversation, but today, most would also add marriage to the list. Before the middle of the last century, marriage was an assumed part of life after a certain age, but now, depending on your generation, there’s a broad spectrum of opinions on the matter. A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath, a modern sequel to A Doll’s House by celebrated 19th-century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, explores multiple viewpoints on marriage through three female protagonists.
SLUG Magazine •

Saying “No” to Big Real Estate to Save the Utah People’s Pantages Theatre

What if I told you that you could buy one of the most opulent, historic theatres in the country—built in 1918 and containing a pristine Tiffany skylight, intricate chandeliers and other unique architectural features—for $0? The theater in question is located in downtown Salt Lake City, but unfortunately, the opportunity to buy and renovate the Utah Pantages Theatre was not given to the public or even the wider real estate developer community in general, says Michael Valentine...
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes •

The Fog of Masculinity: Salt Lake Acting Company’s World Debut of Streetlight Woodpecker

Early in Salt Lake Acting Company’s production of “Streetlight Woodpecker,” the protagonist Benji (played by Stefan Espinosa) mistakes the pecking of a neighborhood woodpecker for the sound of distant machine-gun fire. Benji, who has just returned from active duty with debilitating injuries, struggles to readjust to his hometown of Philadelphia. While you can’t get a subject much heavier, the relationships that develop between Benji, his best friend Sam (Carleton Bluford), and his sister (Olivia Custodio) create a work that combines intensity, hilarious dialogue, and warmth. “Streetlight Woodpecker” (a world premiere for playwright Shawn Fisher), examines the experience of veterans with PTSD and more widely, the negativities of how manhood is defined (or not defined) within society.

Explore Salt Lake’s Diverse and Vibrant Theater Arts Scene

The lights go on, the curtains part and the stage floods with sound—the experience of live theater is brighter than ever before. A spotlight is on the Utah theater scene, with local playwrights and performers eager to step onstage for an expanding audience in several new venues. Award-winning and veteran storytellers at the Salt Lake Acting Company and Plan-B Theatre Company reflect on the human experience and shed light on important social topics. The Off Broadway Theatre helps audiences laugh their troubles away with witty parodies and live improv. The Hale Centre Theatre, meanwhile, serves big and beloved Broadway hits like Les Misérables and Guys and Dolls for fans of all ages. These four theaters showcase the diverse magic of the local theater scene with a uniquely Utah flavor.