Gerald Griffin, a faculty member of the Art Department, has a new art exhibit in the Spori Art Gallery.
Entitled Shadows Across the Land, the display contains 40 oil paintings of still life works, landscapes and scenes from the Mormon Trail.
“My inspiration comes from the beauty of our natural surroundings,” Griffin said. “There is something universal about the beauty of nature.”
The show was created during an academic leave of absence granted to Griffin in the fall of 2004.
He visited each place he painted, including the Mormon Trail.
“I visited places I had only heard about,” Griffin said. “I stood in holy places at times. A trek like that awakens and humbles you — even if you take it in a Toyota instead of a wagon.”
The rest of the sites in his paintings are from this area, Griffin said.
“There are great paintings all around us,” Griffin said. “You’d be surprised where you find the inspiration [to paint] — Sugar City, Salem Highway, Archer, Thornton, behind K-Mart, my backyard — lots of places.”
Griffin has had three previous one-man exhibits of his artwork.
One of the many things he says he enjoys about painting is the feeling of being in the zone — the times when everything comes together and “really works.”
“Time just goes away,” Griffin said. “You don’t realize that you’ve been in your studio holding your right arm straight out with a brush in your hand for the past six hours, and all of a sudden it is four in the morning. That’s what I like the best.”
The Spori Art Gallery is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the last chance to see Shadows Across the Land is Sept. 30, when the show closes.
HELPFUL LINKS