Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: Anna Gieselman’s jewelry inspired by experiences as beekeeper

This year at the Utah Arts Festival’s Artists Marketplace, Anna Gieselman’s jewelry art (Booth 150) not only impresses visitors but also serves a large purpose as a percentage of sales proceeds is donated to nonprofit organizations dealing with the issues of vulnerability nature’s bee population endures. Bee Amour Jewelry showcases the work created by the … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: Opening day headliners highlight acoustic folk punk, electronic music, Sinatra, Celtic rock, Chapman Stick virtuosity

Opening night Utah Arts Festival headliners cover the gamut of musical influence — from acoustic folk punk rock to the versatile virtuosity of the Chapman Stick to the original arrangements of classic Frank Sinatra songs and a savvy electronic music duo. And, of course, The Young Dubliners (9:45 p.m., Amphitheater Stage), one of the best … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: Tyler Voorhees’ collage paintings pay tribute to history of manual labor

Tyler Voorhees, 32, remembers plenty of tree forts and fishing poles during his childhood days on the flatlands of eastern South Dakota, which would help formulate his later creative development on his current collaging technique for his paintings. Today, he and his wife, Ashley and son, Ivan, live in Fort Collins, Colorado, where Voorhees now … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: ‘Five Grand Micro-Adventures,’ ‘A Shift West,’ ‘Networked’ highlight music, dance commissions

Two musical works inspired by autobiographical transitions – one the news of an impending birth of a child and the other relocating from the Midwest to Salt Lake City – and a new dance composition about conformity and the age of social media mark this year’s newest Utah Arts Festival commissions for music and dance. … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: From Colombia, Cimarrón’s exhilarating Joropo, Llanera music

One of the festival’s most anticipated offerings, Cimarrón, a Grammy-nominated ensemble from Colombia, will perform Joropo and Llanera music (June 26, 8:15 p.m., Festival Stage) as well as Zapateado (Stomp Llanero dance), accompanied by percussive strings and maracas, dynamic vocals and bracing pace. The group also will offer music and dance workshops, including basic techniques … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: Literary Arts venue – relevant, human, powerful, voluminous

As a Ball State University student in Muncie, Matt Hart, then the frontman for a punk band, decided to take a poetry workshop, as he describes it, “on a lark.” The experience changed his life. “Up until then, my only experience with poetry was negative. I always had thought of poetry with its gaudy, flowery … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: A closer look at some of the nationally known Literary Arts performers, poets, songwriters

This year’s Literary Arts venue at the 40th annual Utah Arts Festival brings numerous literary figures from the country in a series of performances slated for The Big Mouth Stage. The Utah Review had the gracious honor of interviewing several who will be appearing as part of the largest program offering ever at the festival’s … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: 14th annual Fear No Film presents Transitions theme in record international slate

The conclusion of Autumn Testament, Pablo Neruda (as translated by Alastair Reid) from Extravagaria (1957-58): From having been born so often I have salty experience like creatures of the sea with a passion for stars and an earthly destination. And so I move without knowing to which world I’ll be returning or if I’ll go … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: Change is the only constant in Fear No Film screenings on Transitions theme

For the 14th annual Fear No Film portion of the Utah Arts Festival, curator Topher Horman has crafted seven sequences of presentations in the most intriguing interpretations of the various sources and origins of transitions that drive the making of and response to each film. Each program is described below. PERSONAL TRANSITIONS (June 23, 2 … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: Utah Short Film of The Year competition as intense as ever

The Utah Short Film of the Year competition at the Utah Arts Festival has become one of the most anticipated and closely watched events and the City Library auditorium is packed every time. It has become one of the most coveted honors in the independent film making community, which, in Utah, is quite large relative … Read more