Zion Art Podcast

Autumnal Journey by Rose Datoc Dall. Oil on Canvas. Collection of Leslie Graff. 

Leslie Graff is much more than an artist, but her work has been featured at BYU, in Church exhibitions and in museums across the country. Her professional life reflects on child development, but her passion for art, especially for a work by her friend and artist Rose Datoc Dall.

Breath of Life by Walter Rane. Oil on Canvas. 48 x 28 in. From the Zion Art Invitational.

A special opportunity sit down, live podcast and Q&A with the renowned artist Walter Rane. One of the most recognizable LDS artists of our day, Walter Rane has inspired countless artists and has dozens of works featured in Church collections. This was recorded at the Historic Immanuel Church in Salt Lake City on September 16, 2016 in front of a live audience. 

A discussion with Temple Architect Paul Monson and Temple Art Manager Arch Williams, who currently work designing LDS temples and commissioning art for their interiors. Paul & Arch will discuss the role of arts in the architectural designs and how creating contemplative continuity within temples is essential to each individual building.

We sit down with Colby Sanford to discuss a very, aesthetically different piece by Bruce Hixson Smith titled Jacob & Leah, now on view at the BYU Museum of Art in the Interpretation Thereof Exhibition. Sanford also discusses his background, training in ceramics, life in China, and the only four colors that matter. 

Jacob & Leah by Bruce Hixson Smith. On View at BYU Museum of Art. Courtesy of the Artist. 

4th Annual Backyard Show featuring works from Colby A. Sanford

Saturday, September 16, 6-8 pm

1675 Oak Lane, Provo

For the first time, we sit down with a collector to get a new perspective on the state of LDS art and what it means to those who come to own those works. Cris owns several works, most notably a work by Brian Kershisnik on display at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Learn more of what it means to be a collector and how to get started buying LDS art. 

She Will Find What Is Lost by Brian Kershisnik. Collection of Cris Baird. 

Lazaros, (α 8.5h 22.5m 20.02045s / δ -14.5° 0′ 14.059″), 2015, airbrushed acrylic on canvas, 74 x 111 in. Collection of Cris Baird. 

This week, we talk with the renowned artist Casey Childs to discuss one of his favorite religious works of art, Agony in the Garden by Frans Schwartz. Virtually unknown until the work came to BYU with the Sacred Gifts Exhibition, this work has become a favorite of artists and enthusiasts alike. Casey discusses Schwartz use of color and light and the ultimate effect of the emotion of the painting. 

Agony in the Garden (1898) by Franz Schwartz. Oil on Canvas. Courtesy of Norresundby Kirke, Denmark. 

Agony in the Garden at the BYU Museum of Art. 

Take These Broken Wings by Casey Childs. Oil on Canvas. 48 x 24 in. Collection of the artist. 

Greater Love Hath No Man by Casey Childs. Oil on Canvas. 60 × 96 in. Courtesy of the Church History Museum. 

In this special episode, Micah and Eric announce the first Zion Art Invitational taking place in Salt Lake City from Sep 12-Oct 1 presented by the Zion Art Society. Learn more about the Invitational, the artists involved, and the events surrounding it in this special episode. 

Featuring original works of art from:

Paige Crosland Anderson

Michael Hall

Tyson Snow

Justin Wheatley

Colby Sanford

Jethro Gillespie

Niki Covington

Jenedy Paige

Justin Kunz

Tim Boyle

Katie Ricks

Emily Fuller

Bryan Mark Taylor

Clinton Whiting

Ben Hammond

Tom Holdman

Ryan Brown

Caitlin Connolly

Arnold Friberg

Minerva Teichert 

Gary Ernest Smith

Dennis Smith

Trevor Southey

Tom Lovell 

Del Parson

Robert Barrett

William Whitaker

Wulf Barsch

James C. Christensen

Michael Malm

Walter Rane

Joseph Brickey

Linda Curley Christensen

Jeff Hein

Mary Sauer

J. Kirk Richards

Howard Lyon

Artist Jenedy Paige discusses the devotional art of LDS painter Ron Richmond and how the ambiguity in his work helps her to better understand how her art can be revelatory to herself and others. Talking through Richmond's portrayal of the Resurrection helps inform the issues that she faces in portrayals of sacred imagery in her own work. 

Exultare (no. 1) by Ron Richmond. 50 x 31 in. Oil on Canvas. Private Collection.

Let Go by Jenedy Paige. 36 x 12 in. Oil on Canvas. Collection of the Artist

Holding Back by Jenedy Paige. 12 x 20 in. Oil.

Learn about the process of Jenedy's work Let Go on her blog.

In this special episode, we speak with up-and-coming artist Gustavo Ramos who moved from Brazil, to Arizona, to Southern Virginia University and finally Salt Lake City to study painting. His studies have led him to the Hein Academy of Art where Ramos hopes to develop his talents in the vein of a personal inspiration, Walter Rane. 

He is not here by Walter Rane. 

Ramos' Master Copy from Cornelis Kruseman's Christ in the Home of Mary & Martha

In 1890, President George Q. Cannon sent 5 young artists from Salt Lake City to Paris to study painting in preparation of the completion of the Salt Lake Temple. After convincing the Church to sponsor John Hafen, Lorus Pratt, JB Fairbanks, Edwin Evans, and Herman Haag left for the Academie Julian to study painting under the great French Impressionists of the Belle Epoque. In this special episode, we discuss their background training, and impact on Utah Art in the 20th Century. 

Grain Fields (1890) by Edwin Evans. Oil on Canvas. Brigham Young University.

Haystacks (1891) by Lorus Pratt. LDS Church Collection. 

Haystacks (1937) by JB Fairbanks. Private Collection. 

The Threshing Machine (1893) by Albert Rigolot (French, 1862-1932). Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen

The Death of Laban (1894) by Herman Haag. LDS Church. 

The Tree of Life (1891) by John Hafen. Oil on Canvas. Private Collection. 

The Garden Room. Salt Lake City Temple, c. 1970.

Photograph of the Garden Room in the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1909). Source: The House of the Lord by James E. Talmage (1912).