Two Salt Lake artists who have made a big splash in the local art scene are now making waves in their first one-person shows in Utah County. Ursula Brodauf Craig's striking sculptures fill two rooms and one hallway in the Springville Museum of Art, while Allen C. Bishop's innovative paintings are adding excitement and color to BYU's Harris Fine Arts Center.
- Earlier this year, Broudauf Craig entered two of her sculptures in the museum's annual Spring Salon. One of them, "Duality," was purchased for the permanent collection.Museum director Vern Swanson was eager to hold a one-woman show for Broudauf Craig. However, there was a two-year waiting line for the downstairs area.
About four months ago, Swanson called the sculptress to tell her of space availability in the upstairs galleries in August.
She accepted the invitation. But with such short notice, it proved a challenge for Broudauf Craig to put together the show.
Her sculptures are spread through two rooms and an adjacent hallway. And each space focuses on one of three styles.
The sculptures in the hallway are part of her "Finding" series.
"This sculptural approach is something very new for me, and I'm quite excited about it" Broudauf Craig said. She added that this series was created in three weeks prior to the show.
To make these pieces, the sculptress rummaged through piles of scrap metal and machine parts to find just the right pieces.
"I had to be selective and choose pieces that have great interest."
Since Broudauf Craig doesn't own a welding torch, she had a friend who was familiar with metalwork cut and weld the pieces. But she was right there supervising.
She confessed that she had more fun creating these pieces than she's ever had during her artistic career.
Broudauf Craig considers these sculptures maquettes. "I want to make them much larger," she said.
Another distinctive style in the show can be seen in her free forms. They were first hand-built, starting with a steel armature and adding plaster of Paris and fiber putty. She then had them cast in bronze.
"Untitled," a bronze sandcasting with polished edges, is a highly impressive sculpture of two simple abstract shapes entwined. Careful attention has been given to positive and negative spaces.
Broudauf Craig's love for simple, clean lines is evident in two large, polished bronze works, as well as "Breeze" - a smaller, solid copper piece.
Sculptures done in still another style dot the second room. There are eight bronzes - seven of people and one of a horse.
Interested in simple, stylized forms, Broudauf Craig doesn't waste her time sculpting fingers, facial features, etc. The flute player in "Serenity" doesn't have eyes or mouth.
To create her figures, the sculptress uses oil-base clay. But she doesn't buy it; she mixes her own - combining clay, wax, oil and other ingredients.
She loves this clay because "it's very substantial. I have control over it."
Although three of her styles are spotlighted in this show, another popular one is noticeably missing - that found in her large paper pieces.
"There really wasn't enough room for them," she said. "Besides, they're much in demand and sell fast. So I didn't have enough of them to give a certain substance to the show."
Broudauf Craig's sculpture is both unpredictable and predictable.
It's unpredictable because, as the sculptress says, "I must try new things all the time." One never knows what to expect next.
But her superb design and craftsmanship are predictably present.
Broudauf Craig was born in Gruenhainichen, Germany, a small town renown for its woodcarvers. She apprenticed under master woodcarver Emil Helbig. In 1947 she entered the Master School of Art in West Berlin where she studied under some of the famous members of the Bauhaus School. After five years, she obtained a masters degree.
Since immigrating to the United States in 1955, she has continued to work as a sculptress and expand her artistic interests to include photography. She maintains a studio in ArtSpace on Pierpont Avenue.
Her show, "Forms, Shapes, Reflections," remains at the Springville Museum of Art through September. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, except Wednesday, when hours extend to 9 p.m. It is also open from 2-5 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, call 489-9434.
- Anyone looking for Allen Bishop's paintings in the Harris Fine Art Center might get discouraged. The show was to continue through August in the B.F. Larsen Gallery. But it was removed prematurely to make room for BYU's Education Week. However, the show will reopen in the center's Gallery 303 on Tuesday, Sept. 4.
What viewers saw in the B.F. Larsen Gallery will not be what they'll see in Gallery 303. Bishop's paintings are multiparted, which means that sections can be rearranged at the artist's, curator's or owner's discretion.
While hanging in the B.F. Larsen Gallery, the paintings wrapped around walls and corners. But according to gallery director Markus Vincent, when the show opens in Gallery 303, Bishop's works might also move across the floor and ceiling.
The artist's fluid approach allows the artist to introduce elements of time, change and choice.
"This way I hope to give the viewer or collector increased opportunity to participate in the process of visual communication," the artist said.
Bishop's works are filled with geometry, shape and color. He has taken his inspiration from chess, astronomy and the process of creation.
Although he has eliminated chess imagery in recent works, he retains the essential qualities - geometric complexity, opposition of forces and coordination of divergent elements. These help him achieve a unified purpose.
He explains, "Whereas my chess art involved an intensely personal statement, I now seek to project these elements into establishing, through geometric and color relationships, symbols which are more universal in expressing common attributes of matter, mind and spirit."
In 1975, Bishop received an associate of arts from Dixie College in 1975. He then went on to earn a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Utah and a masters of fine arts from the University of Denver School of Art.
Since 1977, he has exhibited in many juried shows. In 1987, he was a recipient of a visual arts fellowship through the Utah Arts Council. His work is represented by the Phillips and Pierpont galleries.
Bishop's show will continue through Sept. 29. Viewing hours for Gallery 303 are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. The gallery is not open on weekends.
Another one-man show spotlighting more recent works by Bishop will open at the Finch Lane Gallery on Oct. 7 and continue through Nov. 9. An artist's reception has been planned for opening night.