I love museums. I love art galleries. I love everything that has art in, on or around it. While living in New York City, I visited one museum or art gallery each week. When people asked me what I did for a living, I would tell them that I worked at a museum. I was surprised to hear that a lot of this people had never been to any of the city’s museums. All I would think was, “What the hell do you do for fun in the city then?”  

As I mentioned in my previous post Let’s Talk About Art, museums and art spaces can be very intimidating. There is often a perception that arts institutions and the art they feature are inaccessible by those not already part of that world.  However, particularly in the last few decades, many arts institutions and other arts organizations have been working to break down those barriers and allow art to be accessible to everyone.

The Art Haus SLC is an arts education organization that aims to create a welcoming space for everyone within our community to engage in a dialogue about contemporary arts. While our larger goal is to someday have an actual physical space where we can promote this dialogue among artists from around the globe and our local community, we are currently working to create temporary spaces around the city to meet our goals.  This is what has led TAHSLC to rethink the types of spaces where are can exhibit art and invite supportive dialogue about the arts.  Art in the Living Room is a program that turns peoples' homes into art spaces for one night by presenting the work of upcoming local artists.

In our first Art in the Living Room show on Friday, July 6th, local artists Michelle Christensen, Emily Bagley and Sarah May shared some of their work with the SLC community. The event was held at the home of artist Michelle Christensen and although it was our first event of this kind, the show was very well attended. It was so great to see the artists engage in conversation with members of the community, while others sat on the couch talking about the art or just visiting with each other.

With the success of our first show, we launched our second Art in the Living Room on Friday, August 10th with works by Phil Cannon, Adam Munoa and Salvador Medrano. That show had a very similar feel to the first show, except that this time we had twice as many people attend.  In fact, the attendees were a very diverse group of people from all ages and backgrounds. This is precisely what Art in the Living Room is all about, bringing art to ALL people one home at a time. We are very excited about our success with two shows and want to encourage everyone to come to our third installment, which we are planning now.  If you live in downtown SLC and would like for The Art Haus SLC to bring some awesome contemporary art into your living room, please email us at thearthausslc@gmail.com.

Jendar Marie Morales
Co-founder, The Art Haus SLC

As a child, I loved the "Where's Waldo?" books. Searching through all the lines and colors to find the striped red-and-white shirt with that awful beanie and the thick glasses was one of my favorite things to do. With the following two pieces, I've listed some of the textures used to create them. My intention is to create art that engages the observer. Art that requires further inspection. Art that you can search through. 

Instead of Waldo, you will find manhole covers, vents, bird droppings, oil splatter, wood grain, brick, concrete, and a number of other ugly and mundane textures that combine to make something that is both unique and beautiful. Enjoy!

by Phil Cannon
Salt Lake City artist 
philsyc.com 


Phil will be showing some of his work together with artists Adam Munoa (adammunoaart.com) and Salvador Medrano (http://cargocollective.com/thefacialhairco) at TAHSLC's upcoming Art in the Living Room show this Friday, August 10th from 7-10pm at 319 East 700 South in Salt Lake City. There will also be art work for sale including laminated prints for $10 and t-shirts. See you there! 

Apparently I love starting things off in reference to current TV shows or old movies.  I'm not actually certain what American Graffiti was about actually.  I just remember there is a blond women in it and a car, which means you could show me any movie made in a modern day setting and I would think it could possibly be American Graffiti.

Well here are some cars that I would know without a doubt have nothing to do with American Graffiti but are in fact the epitome of American Graffiti:

Let me take Art in the Neighborhood on an around the world journey.  Once again I am going to tell you tales of the magical land known as Amarillo, TX.  This picture shows Cadillac Ranch.  Google it and you'll read about an eccentric man who buried a number of Cadillac vehicles in his ranch and then invited people, anyone passing by who felt like it, to come and graffiti them however they pleased.  Some people might say this wasn't an act of creation.  The invitation didn't result in an ever changing work of art.  I wouldn't say they were wrong, I would only say they opened the door for an interesting, invigorating, and sometimes frustrating conversation.

Art is defined as: the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. The above photo is actually the work of an old friend of mine in Amarillo.  What you see there was the work of a group who came together to change these cars into something of more than ordinary significance.  Some people might merely leave the mark of their name on the cars, welcoming the opportunity to vandalize legally, while others will see the invitation and dream out a scenario that will change the way they look at the cars, maybe not forever, but at least it will have happened for any period of time at all. 

Living in New York you see Graffiti all the time.  There are entire buildings dedicated to housing artists and showcasing famous graffiti works on their walls.  I'm not intrigued by the artistry or by the Banksys that pop up around the town from time-to-time so much as  I'm more interested in the smaller works you might see when walking down a sidewalk or passing by a school. 

Something unsigned, unmarked, and totally fleeting-- maybe this is a sighting of art done purely for the sake of art?  In a previous post we asked about the relationship in art between the artist, the work, and the viewer.  No answers were given because who knows what the answer is for certain, but there is something (for me) nostalgic in seeing these little pieces of work pop up in your city.  You're seeing something with an unknowable short life-span and every time you pass you know it might be there or it might be changed.  The picture of Cadillac Ranch was taken in June but I am certain it is covered in something else, making it significant for a short time to someone else. 

Now here is where Art in the Neighborhood becomes interesting to me: it is all about the expression of individuals in the community (my obvious love in the arts).  It is about what the possibility you might see when you look at a row of cars, or an empty space on a sidewalk, or on a street corner.  I'm not saying go out and vandalize public property but I am saying if you can see how to put a bit of yourself into your neighborhood then go for it.  Take some sidewalk chalk and let a little bit of your mind loose on the pavement.  Take a picture you love and set it inside of a shop window.  Plant some cars in your front yard and invite the world to have at 'em. 

Engage with Art in the Neighborhood however you want, but try to engage with it for just a day and you might see all kinds of things you never did before or maybe those old things you've seen for years will look just a little bit different.  Or maybe not, you tell me. 

On a parting note, I leave you with this:

By Sara Moncivais
Co-Founder