‘We Are Not A Trend’: Utah Artists on Racial Equity

Masked protesters, proclaiming Black Lives Matter, became one of the dramatic images of summer 2020 across the country and also in Utah streets.  After the COVID-19 shutdown paused the state’s art performances and closed museums, MUSE magazine sponsored a cultural conversation with artists discussing systemic racism. The panel, hosted by Utah Poet Laureate Paisley Rekdal, featured actor and singer Dee-Dee …

Pandemic Bread

 It’s all about the dough for two Utah potters during quarantine By Ellen Fagg Weist In hindsight, two Utah potters seemed particularly well-positioned to take advantage of the quarantine bread-baking trend. During the pandemic, Joe Bennion, who owns Spring City’s Horseshoe Mountain Pottery,  has regularly sold out of his stock of sturdy bread baker pots. In July, one batch of …

Code Your Principles

Engineers help students puzzle out escape plans in a logic challenge inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. By Ellen Fagg Weist “We cannot walk alone.” That message from Martin Luther King Jr. was emblazoned on the 7th- and 8th-graders’ T-shirts, the same game-day T-shirts the Utah Jazz players would be wearing hours later. Introduce yourself, Emma E. Houston instructed some …

Makerspaces: A Tale of Two Libraries Systems

WASHINGTON COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM A new wing is being designed to house a maker space for the Washington City library, says Joel Turner, Washington County library director. That space will include audio-visual equipment to record podcasts and a green screen to film movies. The county has been building creative spaces over the past four years through a partnership with the …

Building Community Through Creative Spaces

Utah’s libraries and schools are investing in 21st-century technology to attract a new generation of problem solvers. By Ellen Fagg Weist In an old vault in a renovated bank building rests Minersville Library’s secret weapon: a new 3-D printer. “It gives our little library a little wow factor,” says librarian Shannon Terry. The rural Beaver County library (in a town …

The Art of Women, Voting

By Ellen Fagg Weist One hundred fifty years ago, Seraph Young, a 23-year-0ld Salt Lake City schoolteacher, amplified the voices of Utah women by casting her first vote in a municipal election. One hundred years ago, the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution extended voting rights to white women across the country. This year’s dual anniversaries inspired …

Poetry is accessible. Poetry is immediate. Poetry is healing.

Glenis Redmond, a road warrior poet from North Carolina, will offer creative fire at this year’s Mountain West Arts Conference. By Ellen Fagg Weist | Photo illustration by Todd Anderson Say what you want about poetry. Complain that it’s deceptively complicated. Complain about the teacher who made you think you couldn’t correctly interpret a poem’s themes, let alone write one. …

Utah’s Volunteer U

The state’s new youth council found service opportunities while enlisting peers in Utah’s volunteer army. By Ellen Fagg Weist Jace Draper was shocked when he observed a couple of his classmates secretly hiding food under bleachers or in their lockers. High school should be a time to think about having fun at the prom, not worrying about having enough food …

In three acts: Creating an opera by children

Crafting your own musical stories offers a little bit of everything, arts supporters say, but kids admit it’s a lot of work. By Ellen Fagg Weist | Photography by Todd Anderson Act 1 The first rule of the Opera by Children program is that students, not the adults, do the work. Over one school year, students work with teachers and …

Ceremonial Altar

Rediscovering cultural heritage, one seed at a time

By Ellen Fagg Weist | Photography by Todd Anderson First came the blessing of the seeds. On a dramatically overcast spring evening, Mayan artist Maria Elena Ku’lub Gomez offered a prayer in her native language, Tzeltzal. Her words were infused with the smoky scent of copal tree resin burning over a ceremonial corn-studded altar incorporating 13 seeds and flowers. Next …