This month, the Kayo Gallery, located at 177 East 300 South, presents Perspectives: Art in Autisum. Gallery owners Shilo Jackson and Davina Pallone, the “Queens of Hearts,” rearranged their calendar to provide space for a special one-night-only collaboration with Community Treatment Alternatives on Nov. 14 from 6-9 p.m. Community Treatment Alternatives utilizes the therapeutic effect art has on a person, including a means of communication.

Drawing and painting can offer a positive distraction from day-to-day life, even more so for people who have a tough time articulating themselves. By integrating art into the residents’ lives, they have uncovered passions many never knew existed. Each art piece unlocks a story that even those closest to the artists didn’t realize the residents had in them to tell.

Using the most elementary supplies and the purest of intentions results in inspiring pieces. It’s a testament to the idea that art is not about formal techniques, but the passion and motivation behind it.

On Nov. 21, Kayo will feature a collaborative show between Steven Larson and Sri Whipple. These “Mad Hatters” always put on a wild and imaginative show. Their names have become synonymous with exceptional and ethereal artwork. I asked them to describe their modus operandi.

True to form, they took me on a stroll through a beautiful field of metaphors where even their words become art. Larson explains his work in a run of poetic words ebbing and flowing like the rhythm and motion of his brush strokes. “The extension of dreams weave around the inbetweens of episodes exploding ghostly tales too tall to tell, but winding, they hide, unaware of structures that were always their system’s overloaded and concrete coated on top of Old Smokey,” said Larson

Sri Whipple says that his work is a “fruit-salady, no-malady, crowned… pound-for-pound… raw-shit, new-tit, bit-lip deities filled with bees knees and hair grease, more tools, avoid the fools, keep making jewels.” It’s hard to imagine it all makes it in there, but it does. Always expect unusual and mesmerizing characters and images with these guys.

And for you artists out there: The Utah Arts Alliance is pleased to announce the annual request for exhibit proposals for the 2009 year. Exhibit Proposals may be obtained by calling (801) 651-3937, or emailing utahartsalliance@yahoo.com. Proposals are due by Dec. 31, 2008.