A new exhibit at the St. George Museum of Art tells the story of art in southern Utah

The St. George Museum of Art is celebrating its 35th anniversary this month by showcasing ceramics, sculptures, paintings, drawings and photographs from local and national artists whose work is tied to the history of St. George or the museum itself.

Meagan Evans, the museum’s manager and curator, said staff and city leaders chose about 30 pieces from its collection of 1,300 for the exhibit called “The Heart of St. George: Selections from the Permanent Collection.”

The exhibit will run through Feb. 28.

“We have works by local artists such as Glen Blakley and Roland Lee. We have pieces by celebrated 20th century American artists including Minerva Teichert and Maynard Dixon, Mahonri Young and Dorthea Lange,” Evans said. “What we’ve done for this show is really pull out the highlights of the last 35 years. It’s a chance to really think about the role of the museum … and how important it is to support the arts.”

The museum specializes in art of the American west, mostly by contemporary Utah artists, though it also features artists from neighboring states.

Evans recently moved to southern Utah from Heber to oversee the museum and said she is excited to bring in more children and adults for tours, educational programing and other events.

“There is so much potential for this museum to grow. This museum is a hidden gem and we’re trying to bring it to the forefront.”

The Southern Utah Tribune asked Evans to highlight five art works or artists from the new exhibit:

St. George Boulevard by Robert Adamson b.1962

This oil painting depicts St. George Boulevard in 1997. “We want people to come in and see their city represented. This is a really powerful piece in that way,” Evans said. City officials were asked to choose artworks, and Councilwoman Natalie Larsen picked this one. It shows the sign of her family business Larsen’s Frostop, which closed in 2002.

Our Spring Rain Dazzler by Lee Gilmore Scott b.1974

The painting, chosen by City Councilwoman Dannielle Larkin, depicts a rain storm by the Diné artist.

“He’s known for these really vibrant dreamlike paintings that fuse Diné motifs with elements of abstraction and representation,” Evans said. “We see stylized and playful forms that really recall the reverence Diné people have for the land.

“I love the emphasis on land in his work. He uses that repetition of line and color with this really cool energy. You might associate the colors with the heat of the desert floor. Most of his work, if not all of it, are these visual meditations on beauty and nature.”

Artist Dorthea Lange, 1895-1965

Five photographs — depicting a rodeo, the St. George Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other buildings and a young girl — from the nationally renowned photographer will be on display. They can’t be shown here because of copyright laws.

Lange worked for the Farm Service Administration during the Great Depression, documenting rural communities with “documentary precision and empathetic vision,” Evans noted. She was in southern Utah in the 1950s.

“She actually comes to St George, and she photographs people in St George,” Evans said. “So she’s a big deal in American art history, but she came to our little city.”

Artist Minerva Teichert, 1888-1976

Known for her murals depicting scenes from the Book of Mormon, including in the LDS Manti temple, Teichert’s work has been celebrated by the LDS Church History Museum and is a highlight of Brigham Young University’s Museum of Art in Provo.

“One of the first exhibitions in the St. George Museum of Art was on Minerva Teichert, so I’m gonna say we were ahead of our time,” said Evans, noting that the St. George museum acquired 23 of Teichert’s early pieces from when the artist lived in Idaho.

St. George will display a 3.5-inch by 3-inch watercolor painting called “Bronco Buster,” which Teichert made on a slip of paper. Her desire to paint was depicted in a 1992 article by The Daily Spectrum: “While living in the ‘old ranch’ in Idaho the house was so small she did not have any room to work on large canvases [...] supplies were hard to come by so she painted on the margins of books, on cupboard doors and on brown paper bags.”

“She persisted no matter where she was,” Evans said. “She kept drawing and kept perfecting her methods and her artwork.”

Artist Glen Blakley, 1942-2020

Ceramist Blakley was a longtime fine arts professor at what was then called Dixie State University, and he founded the museum and became its first director. His pottery will be on display to reflect his distinguished career and his lasting influence on the arts in southern Utah.

“He was a really big voice for promoting arts, and one of the founders of the St. George Museum of Art. So when you come into the exhibit, you’ll see his work, which I think is so important to center, because without him, we might not even be here,” Evans said.