Gallery Walk offers a taste of local art
Local musicians and artists gathered to showcase their work along Main Street and down Federal Avenue at the Logan Gallery Walk Friday.
Several local businesses featured exhibits ranging from oil paintings to hand-spun potpourri from local emerging artists. The list of businesses included Citrus and Sage, Global Village Gifts, Cafe Ibis, The Italian Place, S.E. Needham Jewelers, the AMC Gallery, Winborg Masterpieces and AVA Gallery.
“It’s nice for the students and for the community,” said George Bradshaw, one artist whose work was featured in the AMC Gallery.
Bradshaw said he is featuring a series of Halloween paintings especially for the Gallery Walk since it fell near Halloween this year. The AMC Gallery also displayed work from former USU professor Marion Hyde.
The AMC Gallery, like many other shops on the Gallery Walk, had candy set out for people to enjoy.
“I like the free food part of it because I am a starving college student,” said Billy Wheeler, a junior majoring in business marketing.
The chocolate fountain with bowls of strawberries, marshmallows and cookies at S.E. Needham Jewelers was an especially popular attraction, and there was a constant crowd gathered around it for most of the evening.
“We came across the idea three years ago,” said Gene Needham, owner of S.E. Needham Jewelers. “The fountain is always here, but we set out strawberries especially for the Gallery Walk.”
Needham said he considers both the paintings displayed in the store for the Gallery Walk and the jewelry itself works of art. Needham said the store has been hosting exhibits for the Gallery Walk for several years.
“We really enjoy supporting the arts and downtown activities,” Needham said. “We’ve done it for years.”
This year, S.E. Needham Jewelers featured “Western Wildlife,” a series of nature paintings by artist Kathy Ashcroft.
The Logan Gallery Walk is organized by the Alliance for the Varied Arts, which restored the Thatcher Young Mansion and now uses it as an art gallery. The AVA gallery featured an exhibit called “Weavings of War,” which is made up of traditional textiles made by women in developing countries around the world. The exhibit was opened for the Gallery Walk but will be going on until Nov. 27, according to the Web site www.variedarts.org.
Local coffee shop Cafe Ibis displayed pages from “Small Scenes,” a series of 20 poems by late Utah Poet Laureate Kenneth W. Brewer, along the walls. Brewer, a former USU professor, collaborated with Utah artist Royden Card to make woodcuts to accompany the poems.
From folk to jazz, the Gallery Walk also featured a sampling of local music. At Citrus and Sage, the Outwards Jazz Quartet played to small crowds gathered around, enjoying coffee and “The Dirty Series” by local artist Megan Anderson.
-amanda.m@aggiemail.usu.edu