Seeing the Sacred at Urban Arts Gallery

By Staff

“The artist’s mission is to make the soul perceptible.” Alex Grey

At the end of each year, Urban Arts Gallery places a call for submissions and creates exhibits for the following year based on the work that arrived. “As we reviewed the submissions for 2018, we noticed that quite a few artists were exploring this mystical, visionary, psychedelic style,” says gallery manager Scott Tuckfield. “It was natural, then, to group those artists together and have a show with a spiritual theme.”

As to whether the Salt Lake arts community has a particularly spiritual side to it, Tuckfield muses, “Utah’s particular cultural milieu creates conditions that steer a lot of people’s minds in that direction. Whether it be through devotion to a church, or through rebellion from it, a lot of people around here are primed to ask questions about the nature of the Divine and of themselves.

“But I think Western culture as a whole is undergoing some sort of spiritual evolution, one which is fueled by increased exposure to Eastern concepts, such as the growing popularity of yoga and meditation, as well as a deepening scientific understanding of the universe. Our minds are constantly getting blown in all sorts of ways, and artists everywhere are picking up on those vibrations in the collective consciousness. In other words, this is a movement that is happening in our culture anyway; we’re just giving it wall space to express itself.”

Tuckfield says Seeing the Sacred aims to transcend boundaries of culture and tradition. “t’s dynamic and challenging, surreal and cosmic—modern, yet timeless. We want to create an exhibit that’s uplifting, inspiring and beautiful. We hope it resonates with our patrons, and celebrates our shared humanity.”

Seeing the Sacred

Urban Arts Gallery (116 S Rio Grande St.)

November 6 through December 2

November 16: gallery stroll reception, 6-9pm

Admission is free.

urbanartsgallery.org/

Artists this year include:

Alexander Hofstetter, Alice Bain Toler, Birdie Hess, Brittany Roig, Brody Froelich, Chris Bodily, Grace Ryser, Graham Rich, Halley Bruno, Jessica Douglas, Krystal Meldrum, Mykael David Lazzeri, Naomi Owen, Scott Tuckfield, Todd Powelson, Tyler Bennett and Violet Soleil.

This article was originally published on October 31, 2018.