Gallery Stroll – July 2008

Good Things Come in Threes

People say that good things come in threes; this month the statement couldn’t be more true. Here are my top three picks for the July 18th’s Gallery Stroll. Leia Bell–you’ve loved her concert posters, postcards, ads, T-shirts and magnets. Now you can love and find all of it in one place!

Signed and Numbered, located at 221 E. Broadway (300 S.) right below Slowtrain, is Bell’s latest creation and, as with all her work, it’s simply divine. All the years of creating and collecting prints have left Bell with a lot of inventory. Bell’s store is like opening a vault of past concerts and art functions.

Patrons get to peruse through the most sought after, limited edition and hard-to-find prints around. The featured prints on the walls rotate for the monthly Gallery Stroll. Bell has truly made this place a home for her art.

There is a small studio in the back and framing is offered on the spot. It’s open daily from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. Monday thru Friday, and noon to 6 P.M. on Saturday and Sunday.

Autumn Garage is known as a “High Altitude Boutique”, referring to mountain gear, as they are not a head shop. They’ve also developed a reputation for throwing fab parties and showing high quality artwork.

They take both very seriously, which is refreshing for a place clear out on 7200 South and 2258 East. Not bad for the canyon kids, but hella far for the downtowners.

Carpool–it’s worth the journey this month to see artist P.J. Mannion and SLUG’s own Chris Swainston. Swainston’s photos and journal entries made for a beautiful spread in the June issue of SLUG, so I’m confident he’ll keep up the momentum and show us some love.

The Banger Night (opening night) is July 12th starting at 6 P.M. with food and good times (you know a party’s good when they don’t give an ending time). The show will remain up all month long, so stop by anytime you’re in the neighborhood.

Kayo Gallery owner Shilo Jackson is an artist first and a gallery owner second, which is why I applaud her for taking her latest work to the Art Access II Gallery. I find it tacky when gallery owners give themselves a solo show.

All that says to me is no one else would show your work. The latter is far from the truth for Ms. Jackson, fresh from winning “Best of Show” in the University of Utah’s 2008 Student Show. Her work is charming and captivating, something unique that you could stick in any home or office and it would be a wonderful conversation piece.

Upon first glance the paintings look like collages of post cards, clippings, souvenirs and post-it notes on corkboard. With a closer look, the viewer realizes the images are very detailed paintings matching the original image perfectly.

Shilo notes how she loves the trickery of it all and the responses when people realize the items are two-dimensional. “My work allows viewers to question what they are actually seeing. As in life, things are not always what they seem upon first inspection.

It’s important to take a closer look,” she says. Get a good look of her artwork at Art Access II Gallery, located at 230 S. 500 W., in the new Artspace studios. The show opens on July 18th and will hang until the second week of August.