Gallery and Exhibit Hours
Mondays-Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Fridays-Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sundays, CLOSED
For groups larger than 10, special tours, or after hours viewings, please contact Michael Christensen at michael.christensen@wvc-ut.gov, or by calling (801) 965-5108.
About this Show:
When you grow up seeing art everywhere, on the outsides and insides of public buildings and in homes, it will get into your subconscious and pop out unexpectedly. In Spain we are challenged by what we see and the light and color in landscapes. If you don’t find an outlet for those feelings, you are going to suffer because your life is incomplete. It is like being hungry with nothing to eat.
As a child I made art constantly. I sculpted figures with mud; I painted my bedroom furniture. I drew and painted on paper with supplies my father brought me. My beloved father’s assassination in the Spanish Civil War, when I was 9, devastated me. However, even after a war or a catastrophe, a memory remains of the good, along with the desire to restore it. So I continued to produce art to bring joy. My mother didn’t approve of my being an artist, so I rebelled. Art and reading, especially history, relationships and fun in Spain defined my world.
Then I met Walter Smith, from Salt Lake City. We married and moved to Utah and my world expanded into this new beautiful place and these welcoming people and different light. My world embraced three children who brought play and delight. My art became utilitarian: I designed and embroidered clothing for us; I painted second-hand furniture with images from my past and my present for our home; I built a fairyland garden; I filled our space with jeweled colors and brilliant stories.
Not until my forties, with my children in school, did I reach my dream of really working on my art. I have made up for the wait. I began by making sculptures. Wanting to work when traveling induced me to use watercolors. That led to painting in oils and expanding canvases into frames. Now I use acrylics because I have too much to accomplish and oil doesn’t dry fast enough. Art is the dominant, lasting, obsessive, unavoidable force of my life.
As I near 98 years, my art resides in museums and homes world-wide, in universities and public buildings. My book, My Kitchen Table, was a finalist for the State Book of the Year Award in non-fiction, 2007. I have hosted many events in my garden to celebrate diverse artists and communities, to give non-profit organizations a beautiful place to solicit help for vulnerable people and justice for everyone. I love having school children come to paint and discover new aspects of their own talents and their ethnic cultures.
Museums, art centers, mayors, the Hispanic community and governors have formally honored me. I have been recognized as one of Utah’s 15 most influential artists. And in 2016 the King of Spain knighted me for promoting and contributing to Spanish culture. I am amazed at these honors. Above all, I hope people find images in my art that provoke thought about human values and behavior. I hope they think deeply about how we can make our world safer and healthier and more joyful for everyone. Art brings out the best in our souls.
Art is a long road that never ends; there is always more to learn, more to discover, more to interpret, more to attain. May art fill your life.