Water. It’s flexible, tangible, and yielding. It changes course or shape effortlessly and continues on its journey through adaptability. It can be quiet and still, loud and raging, cold and hard, or warm and soothing. It’s reflective yet it can be a dark abyss into which light is absorbed. It provides flexibility and resilience to the living things it nourishes, and through persistence it has shaped our landscape over time. In this exhibit, our artists explore what it means to be Like Water.
H2O Today is organized by the Smithsonian Institution and brought to you by Utah Humanities. H2O Today is part of Think Water Utah, a statewide collaboration and conversation on the critical topic of water presented by Utah Humanities and it partners.
Joy Brisighella
Our “Like Water” exhibit inspired me to search and gather water-related elements from my decades of collecting and travel. In doing so I have enjoyed marrying compatible elements, creating unique one of a kind pieces that embody our theme in traditional and non-traditional ways. Most of the elements I have used are one of a kind or extremely limited, not able to be duplicated. Wearable Artifacts
Christine Garr Everything Glass
"reflecting water and the iridescence, swirling water...lots of movement and reflective like the waves in the ocean."
Lucy Peterson Watkins Fiber Expressions
“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”
lucypetersonwatkins.com
lucypetersonwatkins.com
Our open waterways are priceless. Cache Valley is blessed to have these unique vibrant arteries throughout our neighborhoods. This canal runs through the Island area and winds its way to the west fields. One artwork depicts a very special place- Merlin Olson Park. Where so many of us spent our summers and ice-skated there in winter time. The other artworks are of the middle canal before it was piped....It wound its way from Logan to Smithfield. A peaceful pathway full of vegetation, huge poplar trees, birds, ducks -- only the calls of Red Wing blackbirds broke the silence. Open waterways should be cherished and not just become memories of the past.
“No water, no life. No blue, no green.”
“No water, no life. No blue, no green.”
Kristy South Studio South
Like water we ebb and flow in an unending wave of perfection
Blue Bowls 11.5 inches https://www.kristisouth.com/
Blue Bowls 11.5 inches https://www.kristisouth.com/
Scott Bushman
John Westenskow
" The pieces in this series are inspired by the life sustaining stone potholes of the southwest. Created from the same elemental materials. They echo the enduring cycles of life, freezing in time the movements and forces of nature that create both bowls and ethereal pools." https://jwestclay.weebly.com/
Dana Worley Jesters Baubles
A lot of my creativity is inspired by water. It's odd, perhaps, given that I live in a high mountain desert that receives most of its annual precipitation in snowfall. But water – however scarce it may be where I live – is one of the places I find solace and rejuvenation, and yes, inspiration. Some of my happiest memories are sitting by a mountain stream or standing on the shore of a vast ocean. Conversely, some of my most poignant memories are like tides that simultaneously pull me toward great joy and immense sadness. My art for this exhibit expresses these past memories and the memories yet to be made, and ultimately, what it means to me to be Like Water. https://www.utahglassartist.com/
Sharon Ohlhorst Polymer Clay
Water: The Grubhub of Aquatic Worlds Marine Fantasy Garden
Water is nurturing and in so many different ways. Water transports animal and plant embryos to empty spaces where they settle. Once established, water provides a continuous source of microscopic food; a unique and ancient Grubhub food service provider.
I have been helping take care of a toddler recently, so perhaps not surprising that one of the many tunes playing over and over in my head is “Dirt Made my Lunch” (Banana Slug Band). It occurred to me that water is way more involved, not only in “making” food but in food delivery in aquatic systems. This small fantasy garden contains organisms with different means of food procurement.
$200. 8x5x3
Water is nurturing and in so many different ways. Water transports animal and plant embryos to empty spaces where they settle. Once established, water provides a continuous source of microscopic food; a unique and ancient Grubhub food service provider.
I have been helping take care of a toddler recently, so perhaps not surprising that one of the many tunes playing over and over in my head is “Dirt Made my Lunch” (Banana Slug Band). It occurred to me that water is way more involved, not only in “making” food but in food delivery in aquatic systems. This small fantasy garden contains organisms with different means of food procurement.
$200. 8x5x3
Cindy Stettler
Life Flows Like Water.
Life and water flow together as they combine, providing life, powerful inspiration, and moments of tranquility and peace.
Water flows; the rhythm of the rain beating away the minutes, a small brook giggling as it wanders to a pond with frogs, insects, and fish for companions; a river that roars announcing it’s power as it moves and carves the landscape, the frozen snowfall that gives moments of peace while blanketing the ground.
Life Flows: Each day provides minutes of opportunity beating away; We laugh and cry with others as they touch our lives; we work to make a difference and to be heard; our life slows to reflection and peaceful sleep.
$150 9 X 12 oil
Life and water flow together as they combine, providing life, powerful inspiration, and moments of tranquility and peace.
Water flows; the rhythm of the rain beating away the minutes, a small brook giggling as it wanders to a pond with frogs, insects, and fish for companions; a river that roars announcing it’s power as it moves and carves the landscape, the frozen snowfall that gives moments of peace while blanketing the ground.
Life Flows: Each day provides minutes of opportunity beating away; We laugh and cry with others as they touch our lives; we work to make a difference and to be heard; our life slows to reflection and peaceful sleep.
$150 9 X 12 oil
