UMFA rolling out the red carpet with return to in-person events
Jan 3, 2022, 4:46 PM | Updated: Jan 4, 2022, 5:25 am
SALT LAKE CITY — In-person exhibits and events are back at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA).
“The UMFA is full of beautiful, one-of-a-kind objects, but what it’s really about is people,” said executive director Gretchen Dietrich. “Whatever your hopes are for 2022, come see how art can help make your life happier.”
This season’s exhibitions offer fresh takes on ancient artwork and objects rooted in the everyday. One also seeks real-time collaboration from the community. UMFA officials are hopeful they’ll show how visual art can find connections across cultural, emotional and physical distances — helping to make sense of what’s happening in our lives.
— SALT 15: HORACIO RODRIGUEZ (Jan. 22-June 26) — A Salt Lake City artist, informed by his Mexican and Puerto Rican ancestry and cultural traditions, Rodriguez “considers the ancient ceramics in the Museum’s collection of Mesoamerican objects as he investigates the immigration of people and things—past and present—across the U.S.–Mexico border.” A free preview event will be Jan. 21 at 6 p.m,
— HANDSTITCHED WORLDS: THE CARTOGRAPHY OF QUILTS (Feb. 19-May 15) — A traveling exhibit from the American Folk Art Museum in New York “presents quilts as maps of human stories and experiences.” A “Sew Saturday” event kicks off opening day — offering free admission and hands-on participation.
— DAVID RIOS FERREIRA: TRANSCENDING TIME AND SPACE (March 19-Dec. 4) — Exhibit features art and writing by Dense Shanidiin. Guests are invited to “contemplate those they’ve lost, others they miss across distances, or even people they have yet to meet.”
In addition to the new exhibits, the UMFA has an ongoing display of community created murals: “2020: From here on out” in the G. W. Anderson Family Great Hall. In-house programming also resumes in January with a variety of events, still offered virtually as well.
Advance reservations are encouraged with visitors asked to check the UMFA website in case of changing COVID concerns.
