• Draper graduated with his M.F.A. in sculpture from BYU in 1995. He joined the faculty in 1999. The artist's pieces are made up of interchanging cast-bronze fragments of figures with blocks of stone. Draper has several pieces in the exhibition, but his "Steward of the Palace," with its schizophrenic union of body parts and rock, is especially good.

• With an M.F.A. from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, Everett adds a hint of metropolitan angst to the Y.'s art faculty, even though he is originally from Provo. His figures have a David Salle flavor (although Everett is a much better draftsman), with their flat, pseudo-commercial/pop appearance. Viewers should enjoy trying to decipher the narrative meaning of "Untitled."

• In addition to receiving his M.F.A. (University of Arizona, 1970), Kimball is also a Tamarind Master Printer (1971). His prints are so visually intriguing — and masterfully rendered — viewers will be enthralled when they come across his exhibition piece "Prologue for a Melodrama," which includes curtains, sets, props, actors and more. He's been teaching art at the Y since 1984.

• Marshall has been on the faculty of BYU since 1969. (Received an M.A. in 1968.) A filmmaker as well as an educator and painter, Marshall is best known for his up-close-and-personal views of Utah wetlands. (The artist is currently in London, so Ostraff and the others selected a few paintings for the show.)

• Ostraff is in his 11th year of teaching at the Y. His work is an amalgam of the unpredictable, taking subjects out of context, and installing them in arenas most irregular. His "By Proximity" piece, "Jacob's Ladder," is almost Motherwellian in color, attack and content, but ultimately remains uniquely the artist's.

• At home with the realistic as well as the expressionistic, Smith is the most figurative of the group. His painting (the only one in the show), "Untitled," includes two chairs, a Roman bust, a bottle of apricots (rendered in exquisite detail) and a portrait of a ring-clad young man. Every inch of the canvas reveals the artist's skill in juxtaposition, color, figure and space. He is a modernist and a classicist at the same moment.

"By Proximity" gives Salt Lakers an excellent opportunity to witness firsthand the talent of those teaching art at BYU. It's definitely worth a look.

If you go . .

What: "By Proximity"

Where: Rio Gallery, 310 S. Rio Grande

When: Through Jan. 9, 2004

How much: Free

Phone: 355-3581

Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Web: arts.utah.gov/visarts/rio_gallery.html

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E-mail: gag@desnews.com