Zion Art Podcast

Caitlin Connolly is on the cutting edge of LDS art both in style and subject matter. Her work is seen across the country and has become increasingly recognizable among Church membership. Her unique style comes from years of honing a technique began in high school. The interview delves into her background, her current work and her thoughts on the future of LDS art. 

Detangling My Mind by Caitlin Connolly, 30 x 24 in., Oil on Panel. 

On the closing evening of the Certain Women exhibition at Anthony's Fine Art in Salt Lake, we were fortunate to host Dr. Rita Wright, Neylan McBaine, and Dr. Heather Belnap for a discussion on women in art in the LDS Church. It was recorded in front of a live audience and streamed live on Facebook. The video of the discussion can be seen here. 

The podcast hits the road where we were able to tour the studio of Linda Curley Christensen, perhaps the most prolific of any Church-commissioned artist. She has painted the murals for nearly every temple since 2000 and her landscape works can be found in the Conference Center and in Church publications across the world. Her enormous mural studio in Wallsburg, UT was the site for our interview where we got to witness her team prepping, painting, and restoring murals for at least three LDS temples. 

Though we couldn't photograph the murals being worked on in Christensen's studio, it was inspiring to see the menage of photos and reference materials being used by artists to paint accurate depictions of gardens in the Holy Land for the Vernal Temple. 

Before beginning a mural, Christensen produces scale models, affixed to foam core to present to the relevant authorities to help mock up a version of each room for the proposed temple.

This week we interview the artist Howard Lyon. For years, Howard has worked as a fine artist in mediums from digital, to fantasy, to competitive figural painting. Howard is currently working on a set of 12 figural works, diverging from his path as a well-known religious painter featured in Church publications and as a fantasy artist designing Magic cards. 

Learn more about Howard's work at howardlyon.com

Howard Lyon, After the Dance (2017) Oil on Canvas

Howard Lyon, From Fear to Faith Oil on Canvas

Howard Lyon, Angel of Flight Alabaster, Oil on Canvas

Howard Lyon, The Fell Court (For dungeon and dragons), inspired by Caravaggio

On Friday March 2, 2018, we are proud to open an exhibition title Certain Women. The show features art created by and curated by LDS women and will show for two months, first in Salt Lake City, and then in Provo. In this interview, we sit down with the four women who conceptualized the show, Angela Reichman, Emily Carruth Fuller, Katherine Ricks, and Nicole Woodbury. We discuss their inspiration for the show and what it would have meant to them to see a similar one when they were studying their craft. 

Certain Women runs from March 2 - April 2 at Anthony's Fine Art in Salt Lake City (401 E 200 S). It then moves to Heirloom Art & Co. in Provo from April 6 to May 5. 

• Angela Reichman
• Annastasha Larsen
• Cassandra Barney
• Elise Whele
• Leslie Graff
• Courtney Vander Veur Matz
• Elizabeth Thayer
• Katie Liddiard
• Katherine Ricks
• Shushana Rucker
• Emily Carruth Fuller
• Allie Zeyer
• Brittany Scott
• Amy Tolk Richards
• Jenna Fraizer
• Laura Erekson Atkinson
• Paige Anderson
• Caitlin Connolly
• Nicole Woodbury
• Emily King
• Janis Mars Wunderlich
• Ellen Baker
• Jen Tolman
• Elizabeth Crowe
• Valerie Atkisson
• Jenedy Paige
• Sandy Freckleton Gagon
• Rose Datoc Dall
• Cristall Harper
• Aerin Collett
• Heather Teran
• Dahrl Thomson
• Kathleen Peterson
• Sunny B. Taylor
• Morgan Foshee
• Annie Henrie Nader
• Laurie Lisonbee
• Emily McPhie
• Ashley Mae Hoiland
• Annette Everett  

In this first interview of our newest series, we speak with Laura Hurtado, Global Acquisitions Curator of the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City. We discuss the recent call for entries to the 11th International LDS Art Competition, to be exhibited next year. We also touch on some of the details behind the jurying process, the acquisitions process, and what goes into a curated exhibit in the Museum. 

For more information on the 11th International Art Competition, Click Here.

In our new series, we hope to speak with those artists, collectors, scholars and curators at the center of Mormon Visual Culture, both today and in the future. If there is someone you think we should interview, in this series. Please reach out to us by commenting below. 

A conversation with sculptor and painter Dennis Smith, Co-Founder of the Mormon Art & Belief Movement, whose monumental works depicting children, families, and historical figures can be found throughout Europe, the US and at significant Church site.

Learn more about Dennis Smith at SmithSculpture.com

Late Christmas Eve (2017) by Dennis Smith. 16 x 20 in. Oil on Panel. 

In Her Mother's Footsteps by Dennis Smith. Bronze. 

Ensign Magazine (Nov. 2017) featuring In Her Mother's Footsteps by Dennis Smith

This episode marks a new chapter in Mormon Visual Culture. As we close 2017 and our celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Gospel Vision of the Arts, we turn our focus to other critical aspects of the LDS art community and culture. In this extended episode we sit down with Richard Oman, longtime curator at the Church Museum of History and Art. This discussion is wide ranging and dives into the question of the role of art in the Church and the role of the Church in art. 

I this special episode, Micah Christensen sits down with the renowned artist Gary Ernest Smith to discuss the Art & Belief movement that Smith was instrumental in organizing in the 1960s. Held as a live interview and Q&A during the final night of the 2017 Zion Art Invitational, the interview dives into Smith's work and where LDS art has come in the last half-century. 

The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith by Gary Ernest Smith. Oil on Linen. 20 x 30 in. Collection of the Artist.

Note: Please excuse the audio quality on this particular podcast, it was recorded remotely in front of a live audience. 

A long-anticipated masterclass from Dr. Vern Swanson, author, museum director, educator, etc. sits down with us to discuss the trajectory of LDS art from his personal experience dating from 1965 until now. He discusses several important paintings in the history or LDS art up until work that is being done today and he shares several insightful stories of where we have come from as an arts community. 

Nativity (2010) by Brian Kershisnik. 89 x 204 in.Collection of BYU Museum of Art.

Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs by J. Kirk Richards. 

Unto Us by Walter Rane. 35 x 35 in. Oil on Canvas.