Landscape Art Show 2004 — Color of the Land

In its second year at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Days of '47/Deseret Morning News Landscape Art Show, "2004 Color of the Land," will allow visitors to experience a variety of art like never before. With 100 pieces — selected from more than 260 entries — the exhibit offers oils, acrylics, watercolors, woodcuts, an etching, mixed media and a quilt.

This year's $5,000 Purchase Award went to Jared Sanders for his oil "Utah High Desert." The painting illustrates Sanders' command of the medium coupled with a bold composition. "Utah High Desert" will be the first desert landscape to become part of the Deseret Morning News' corporate collection.

Jurors Rob Colvin, Marilee Campbell and Blanche Wilson selected Doug Braithwaite's moody oil on panel "Impending" as the exhibition's $1,000 first-place winner. Braithwaite's piece employs myriad grays applied with broad brushstrokes to emphasize bold pattern. His use of highlights on buildings, farm equipment and the land underscores the impending storm. It is stark and stunning.

Second place, worth $800, went to "Afternoon Walk," a bravado woodcut by Brad Teare that boasts a composition comprised of swirls of rocks, trees and shrubs. The colors selected by Teare are harmonious and truly delicious to the eye — a wonderful design.

The $600 third-place award was given to Steve Kropp for his tastefully rendered watercolor "Late Snow, Foothills." This horizontally composed piece is deceptively simple; bold swathes of color and line are impressive and powerful.

As the $200 honorable mentions, Matthew Warren's "Lily Pads" and David Merrill's "North of Sunrise" both exhibit splendor from polar opposite positions. Warren's piece is a serenely beautiful close-up of flowers floating on a pond. The smoothly applied colors enhance his realistic yet dynamic composition. Merrill's panoramic portrays the majesty of the rising sun on distant hills, partially bathed in departing shadows and luminous sky.

Beginning this year, visitors to the exhibit will have the opportunity to vote for a piece of art to receive a non-monetary People's Choice Award in each of the two rooms — Nauvoo and Bonneville — displaying art. Voting will take place Monday through Wednesday, and the awards will be posted on Thursday.

With nearly double the amount of art that was exhibited last year, "2004 Color of the Land" offers many new artists the opportunity to display their work alongside many well-known Utah landscape artists.

The exhibit, which runs July 19-24, proves once again that the land energizes the artists of Utah, and they have given us a chance to experience the energy and beauty that surrounds us.

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E-mail: gag@desnews.com