My Visit to the Springville Museum of Art

My family loves to visit the Springville Museum of Art.  It is a free museum (they do take donations) that always has unique and interesting exhibits.  They have multiple exhibits showing at the same time.  My favorite thing to go and see is their annual quilt show.  I don't quilt, but the examples that they show always amaze me and make me want to learn.  Be warned that there are quite a few pictures on this post.  I wanted to show the beauty of the building itself, the current exhibits, and previous ones that I have viewed.

They have a fun activity for children too.  You can ask at the front desk for a box that hold little examples of something that is in the paintings or artwork displayed, that the children will have to search for.  It keeps the kids occupied and having fun while you look at the artwork.


The building itself is beautiful.  As you walk through the galleries, you can see into the other rooms and get a peek of what the art is in that other room.  The architecture of the building is unique.  The building has been added to over the years and it is fun to go from one are to the next in the building.  Here is a picture of the beautiful windows on the second floor.

The one thing I don't have a picture of is their permanent water feature on the first floor in the indoor "courtyard".  It is my girls favorite place to visit when we go.

I went to the museum a few weeks ago when I had a couple hours to spare.  On the first floor is their All State High School art exhibit.  There were samples of art in different mediums.  Paintings, sculpture, pen and in drawings, ceramics, stained glass, photographs, and one that had a video screen in a sculpture.  Each piece had a little about the artist and what inspired them to create their piece of art.  Following are a few pictures of pieces that caught my eye.

This stoneware bowl is by Caitlyn Lamber of Northridge High School and entitled "Turquoise Petals".  I loved the detail and color of this piece.

This stained glass piece by Serene Kergaye of Cottonwood High School is called "Maysa's Iris".  The colors are wonderful in this panel.

I dream of going to visit Italy one day, so I loved this ink on canvas drawing by Annie Hayward of Timpview High School.

Upstairs they have a few exhibits.  There is the hall of portraits and the Utah art that they always have on exhibit.  Then they generally have two or three smaller showings.

One that they had this time was Russian art.  They had quite a few military paintings and how the people were oppressed.  There was a beautiful painting that I didn't take a picture of that depicted a small group of young women walking carefree and it was painted in light colors.  The description said that it was to signify that they war had ended and the women were feeling free after so many years of hardship.  There was a small room that was cozy and was decorated as if it were a small home office or apartment in Russia.  They had a few beautiful sets of matryoshka dolls.

The museum has a wonderful sculpture garden and it is so peaceful out there.  It is open depending on the season.  I highly recommend visiting in late spring to early fall so you can see this.  These are pictures that I took on previous visits.

These next pictures are a few of the quilts that I really liked in the past 3 years that I have gone to the quilt show.

The next pictures are from two of my favorite collections that the museum has displayed.

 The first is art by Tim Little.  It was the first time that I had ever seen nuts, bolts, motorcycle parts, and chopped up cars as works of art.   I loved it though, and we bought a very small piece similarly made a few months ago.  There was a beautiful buffalo he made that you can see at his website that I linked to in his name up above.  It was amazing to see up close because the chains that hung down moved and it looked like the fur of a buffalo moving in the wind.

This next piece was in a show called: "Ex Corde Lux - A Retrospective of Wulf  Barsch".  I loved all the pieces they had on display.  He took elements that were familiar, then he changed them a bit and made it imaginative and a little out there.