Editor’s Note: Day 2 of the Utah Arts Festival coverage is focused on the artists. Tomorrow, look for a preview of the Fear No Film Festival.

Seven out of every ten artists featured at this year’s Utah Arts Festival are first-time participants. Represented among the 133 artists are techniques and media that often blend traditional approaches with barrier-bending and convention-breaking touches that clearly distinguish the work as a fresh 21st Century conception. And, Matthew Jacobson, coordinator of the artists’ marketplace, says the intent was to put a fresh face on the art this year.

Also noteworthy are the eight Uintah Basin artists who are the first group of Art Partners Program participants. As Lisa Sewell, executive director of the festival, indicates, “we want to shine the spotlight on artists of all disciplines from the Uintah Basin.”

The list below is just a sampling of the many distinctly personal perspectives visitors will see at the festival, beginning this Thursday at Library Square. The artists’ marketplace will be open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. For more information, go here.

Amos Amit – Fiber

Born in Israel, Amit was raised on a moshav (farming community) in the Galilee and now resides in Los Angeles. He’s known for his work expressing modern themes in batik, an intricately layered art form incorporating fabric, wax, and dye to create prints. Amit has received numerous prestigious national and international awards and his works are a part of many prominent collections. He is a member of the Beverly Hills and Los Angeles Art Associations, the American Crafts Council, the North Shore Art League and The Michigan Guild.

Deborah Mae Broad – Graphics/Printmaking

A Virginia native who now lives in Hawley, Minnesota, she graduated from Hollins College and received a master of fine arts degree in printmaking from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. A printmaker and sculptor, she uses etching and wood engraving techniques. Examples of her work can be seen here.

Tanya Doskova – Oil and Mixed Media

Born in Bulgaria and living in Vancouver, Doskova’s versatility in techniques including stone lithography, etching, watercolor, oil, acrylic and digital painting has earned her numerous awards internationally. In 1995, she won London’s John Purcell Prize for best lithography, and, in 1996, her work was recognized in awards from the Cannon Canada Gold and the Cannon Canada Merit Awards from the Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators. Her work has been awarded numerous prized in Canada.

At the turn of the century, she produced computer animation and special effects for the film industry which includes credits for films such as Enemy of the State, Babe 2, and Pitch Black. Additional information and photos are available here.

Jerry Fuhriman – Oil

A resident of Providence, Utah, Fuhriman, whose academic and consulting career in environmental planning includes work at universities in three states and Canada, spends much of his painting time in the deep canyons of southern Utah amd the rural landscapes of western United States. He won awards at Utah State University for establishing the Native American Environmental Design Alliance, a program designed to promote educational opportunities for Native American students, and, as a consultant to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he was directly involved in the master planning for many national wildlife refuges.

His work has been featured in Southwest Art, Santa Fe-Taos Collectors guide and New Mexico Traveler magazine. Represented by many fine art galleries throughout the western states, he recently was among the artists featured in Osaka, London and New York as part of the One Heart-One World United Nations traveling art exhibit. Additional information can be found here.

J. D. Hillberry – Drawing/Pastels

A Westminster, Colorado resident who grew up in Wyoming, he began blending charcoal and graphite to give a photo realistic look to his drawings, enhancing this monochromatic medium’s capacity for the viewers to focus their attention on aspects of light, shadow, and texture without the added influence of color. With trompe l’oeil drawings, he has gone beyond the traditional expectations of this medium (normally done with oils) to render images so realistically to create the perceptions that real objects are displayed in a shadow box frame. Examples of his work can be found here.

Joe Hoynik – Digital

Hoynik, who lives in Los Angeles, considers himself first as a photographer who just happens to use manipulation – such as Adobe Photoshop – to create surreal images that emphasize aspects of mood and light. Hoynik worked for 20 years in black and white, using a darkroom to make gelatin silver prints. He has experimented with hand-tinting, color film and, more recently, digital and ink-jet to generate a new art form. He signs prints but does not number them, reinforcing his philosophy that limited editions defeat the purpose of photography, which is made for reproductions that ultimately reach as many people as possible. Examples of his work can be seen here.

John-Paul Jespersen – Photography

Readers of The Selective Echo already are quite familiar with Jespersen, a Salt Lake City photographer whose work is gaining attention not just locally but also in the world’s community of artists and professionals. Recently he was among the winners of the second annual World in Focus: The Ultimate Travel Photography Contest sponsored by PDN magazine and the National Geographic Traveler. As noted in a feature last summer on this blog, Jespersen said “I look for clean scenes with gentle low contrast lighting. I love shooting water and things with motion when I shoot at night. I love the idea of minutes or hours of time compressed in to one image.” Jespersen is also expanding the direction and range of his work, looking at new ways to mark his emerging artistic persona. Examples of his work can be seen here.

Joachim Knill – Photography

A Swiss national who now lives in Hannibal, Missouri, Knill’s most recent work consists of 20″x30′ Polaroid photographs created with the world’s largest portable instant film camera designed and built by himself. In depicting surreal landscapes and installations which he builds in his studio, he uses mostly natural objects such as fruits, flowers, vegetables, seedpods, sticks and stones, or dilapidated building parts. These objects are built up as an installation then captured in a single long exposure with light painting techniques. The effect is surreal and the high-resolution large format renders fine detail in amazingly realistic form. Examples of his work can be seen here.

Tessa Lindsey – 2-D Mixed Media

A recognized expert in fresco painting technique and a dedicated craft-person who works confidently in a variety of mediums and genres, she’s exceptionally versatile in her work. She also was one of the artists in the city’s 337 Project. She lives in a light-filled, art deco apartment in the Avenues, and paints in her Tres Flores studio in Salt Lake City. For more information, go here.

Angus Macaulay – 2-D Mixed Media

A self-taught artist from Springfield, Oregon, Macaulay works in two-dimensional mixed media composed of an etched textured compound, gesso, acrylic/fabric paint, fabric, paper, found objects, and varnish on wood and/or canvas. Reproductions of his artworks are available on handmade wood blocks and many images are now available as clocks and recycled paper greeting cards. His artistic statement: “Though the first impression of my work is colorful, decorative, humorous and whimsical, my most recent work expresses universal themes about love, human nature; personal philosophies on addiction, fulfillment, diversity, enlightenment and more, which become apparent/felt upon further examination.” Examples of his work can be seen here.

Rick Preston – Photography

This self-taught Miramonte, California photographer prefers black-and-white large-format images. Inspired by the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe, he seeks not to manipulate but to translate his site perceptions gleaned from all the senses into a visual image. He sees photography as “reverse painting, explaining that a painter starts with a blank canvas and adds images to it. According to Preston, a photographer begins with a crowded visual environment and must eliminate things in order to isolate his or her image.

Susan Seymour – Fiber

This Heber, Utah artist creates mosaics with handmade and handpainted paper that give the impression that the more traditional ceramic, glass, and linoleum materials were used to create her artwork. In painting a “palate” of papers, she focuses on color harmony and textures and she often chooses to include exotic handmade papers such as cork, banana bark, mango leaf and chiri bark. A strip quilting process is used to transform the papers into mosaic tiles. The money quote from her artistic statement: “Over the past few years, my work has become more architectural and abstract. I am inspired by the geometry of Frank Lloyd Wright’s stain glass windows and the unique color combinations and “stacked” designs of Gustav Klimt’s paintings. I want my work to be visually engaging while at the same time be comfortable to live with. Whether I am creating art as a large focal point or small accent piece, I hope my work is uplifting, a conversation starter and a statement of each owners individuality.” Examples of her work can be seen here.

Julie Shipman – Photography

An award-winning Salt Lake City photographer, she works with a wide range of subjects along with her work in photojournalism, sports photography, and travel shoots. Through many photo projects, she donates time and images to groups such as The Children’s Center, 100% for Kids, Immokalee Child Care Center, Rape Recovery Center, Childrens’ Theatre, Ronald McDonald House, and Rowland Hall - St. Mark’s School. Collections from southwest Wyoming, Mexico, and rocks and trees will be shown at the festival. Examples of her work can be seen here.

Brett Varney – Oil Pastel and Gold Leaf

A resident of British Columbia who has been working 18 years as a full-time artist, Varney moved from serigraphs to oil pastels which highlight his natural drawing style. Inspired by the likes of Matisse, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Kandinsky, he has been working throughout his career on using line colors and textures to draw out welcoming emotional expressions from those who see his arm. Varney’s work is characterized by his particular, deliberate use of black outlines around the shapes intended to define and intensify the emotion of his work. Varney does not work from photos preferring instead to rely on imagery taken from a memory, an impression, or creative thought – the mind’s eye as opposed to the camera lens. Examples of his work can be seen here.

Uintah Basin Artists

Barbara Benson (Roosevelt) – A University of Utah alumna of the studio arts program, she focuses on eastern Utah’s signature landscapes.

Larry Cesspooch (Roosevelt) – A Ute spiritual storyteller, he uses puppets and cultural items as signifying props.

Wilford Conetah (Myton) – A member of the Ute Tribe and a teacher in the Duchesne County schools, Conetah works in mixed media following a Native American theme.

Dennis Jensen (Roosevelt) – A builder of drums, he uses as many as 200 pieces of ancestral and recycled woods in a single instrument, each of which is signed and numbered.

Hazel Jensen (Roosevelt) – A well-merited wildlife and landscape artist, she works particularly in plain air painting soothing oils in the emerging intensity of early morning light.

Lynn Mecham (Roosevelt) – A retired contractor who devotes his schedule full time to artwork, he enjoys working in oil and sculpture.

Linda Curtis Stover (Lapoint) – Celebrating the state’s unique scenery and wildlife, she works in oil, emphasizing pristine colors and pastels.

Cheryl Livingston-Young (Roosevelt) – With wildlife and western themes, she spends many hours in the field on wildlife photo shoots and works from her own photos.