This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Find a trickster in the desert: Head out to Antelope Island between Tuesday and Saturday and you'll encounter Dwayne McDiarmid's Trickster Project, a 21-foot-long vehicle that's like a Mars Land Rover designed by Dr. Seuss. The wheeled platform, equipped with solar panels, scarlet velvet and gossamer sails, a 5.8-cubic-foot freezer and GPS systems and dispenses ice cream. The artist has transported it to desert environments that include Medicine Bow, Wyo., Dead Horse Plat, Nev., and Oatman, Ariz., and invites visitor participation. McDiarmid is chairman and associate professor of sculpture at Ohio University and an artist-in-residence at Spiro Arts in Park City.
McDiarmid has been actively engaged in the construction of sculptures, performances and events since 1984 and has been awarded regional project support from the National Endowment for the Arts. He says he enjoys "wearing of the costume of the un-understood." He's known for his unusual art projects, including the creation of a blanket dispenser for the homeless in New York in the 1990s and for a Chesapeake Bay wetlands performance project in which he bathed himself and animal shadow puppets in gallons of used motor oil to demonstrate experience what wildlife experiences during oil spills.
For more information about finding the Trickster installation, take a chance and ask a ranger as you enter the island. Better yet, call McDiarmid at 740-541-0962.
Homage at Horne: Byron Katie's been in town this weekend, and one wonders what her take is on Jonathan Horne's bas relief homage. Katie is a writer and spiritual teacher with a loyal following that includes Horne, a retired Salt Lake orthopedist and occasional sculptor. "I'm a little pokey," admits Horne, who crafts about one sculpture per year. His Katie sculpture is on display at the gallery of his niece, Karen, at Horne Fine Art, 142 E. 800 South, Salt Lake City.
Gallery hours are Wednesday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m. or by appointment. Call 801-533-4200 for more information, or visit the gallery and ask of Horne's sculpture Katie's four famous spiritual questions:
1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it's true?
3. How do you react when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?