The show coincides with "portfolio days," where students are invited to meet with university professors to get feedback on their art. "I wish I had something like this when I was a kid. It's really unique, as a student, to have such a variety of people in the state behind you."

If you walk through the show, you might be struck by the variety and the quality. But you might also appreciate the unguarded honesty of the work. "A lot of the students are concerned with capturing a particular time, taking a snapshot of life," said Nickelson.

In artist's statements submitted with their work, the students talk about their ideas and inspirations. And in their words as well as their art, you see the search for meaning that is a part of their lives:

— Emily Kay Frandsen talks about the beauty of a paint-peeled door.

— Makell Smith wanted to take ordinary objects and give them a "Rembrantesque quality."

— In her painting of an old Utah theater, Courtney Dayley wanted to "preserve in oil the innocent age of past cinematography."

— Josue Chavez wanted to capture in a photograph the experience and wisdom etched in his father's face.

— David Martin was simply "excited to make something big" in his bigger-than life portrait of "Whitney."

— Sohee Kee missed the sister who went to live in another country and "created this painting of her to remind me of our quiet times together."

— M. Dean Egan wants his ceramic "Bionic Drawback" piece to remind us "often times we try to improve what we have and who we are. Most times we don't need to. Be proud of the human underneath it all."

— Amanda Seamons finds a metaphor for her life in a nest of eggs and a soaring bird.

— But perhaps Alicia Drollinger speaks for many when she writes of her journey into art for her "Cubist Self-Portrait: Study #1." Picasso and Braque, she notes, "had the unique talent of taking what they saw and creating something completely new: cubism. They have inspired and guided me though the journey of breaking past my realistic nature. By spending my hours slaving for the mistress of oil paint, I too, can see things for more than they appear to be."

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E-mail: carma@desnews.com