Pictured Above: Stephen Groo, Still From “Resident Evil, The Missing Chapter”, 2009, (c) Utah Wolf Productions

OVERVIEW

For the creative residents (and expatriates) of Utah and Salt Lake counties, Stephen Groo is an enigma – a highly prolific individual with a body of work that speaks to his force of will and creative vision while simultaneously exposing the surface shortcomings of blockbuster independent filmmaking. The spectrum of appreciation ranges from incredulity to intense admiration with much private discussion taking place as to the merits of his compelling oeuvre of short films, feature films, music videos, etc. In deference to the “hard work, dedication, and sweat put into these projects” (as quoted on Stephen’s website) and out of a sincere appreciation for his work- we propose a gathering of filmmakers, intellectuals, artists, creatives, educators, students and the general community to create a forum where appreciation and criticism can coexist. The free two-day symposium will feature a number of lectures, panels and film screenings along with an accompanying printed collection of selected papers and essays available for purchase.

CALL FOR PAPERS

CFP form must be completed by February 15^th, 2010, final papers are due March 15^th, 2010.

DOWNLOAD CFP HERE

Please email all submission forms to symposium@segoarts.org

Please email all correspondence to chris@seecoy.com or to jason@jasonmetcalf.com

Sego supporters- just a few updates on our recent developments.  The foundation’s board of directors and I have decided to withhold from obtaining a new space for the Sego Art Center until further notice. In conjunction with this, I have decided to continue at-large activities through curating exhibits and holding educational programming throughout the state in a variety of settings.

The Sego Arts Foundation is alive and fully functioning as an official 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, and it is our mandate to stay in-tact and organized so that we may take advantage of future opportunities, both in brick-and-mortar spaces, as well as in the programs I’ve just discussed.

I am excited about the potential of these ideas, and already have plans for several curatorial and academic projects that will continue to further the mission of Sego- to foster a dialogue which concerns contemporary art to Provo and Utah in general.  The projects that are in the planning stages will likely begin to happen at the begging of 2010 and will move forward from that point.

The closing of the art center has been difficult for us, and we have received many personal notes from supporters and colleagues expressing the need for what we have been doing to continue.  So stay tuned for our upcoming projects, but until (and after) then, we urge all of our members and supporters to frequent the other magnificent spaces throughout the state who exhibit contemporary art.

We are particularly interested in the Central Utah Art Center, as their mission fits most in line with what we did at Sego – promoting emerging to mid-career contemporary artists of national / international origin, while supporting local and regional artists that contribute to a local dialogue and artistic heritage.  So you’ll see us working with them in the future on a variety of projects.

Thank you for all of your support.  Anticipate interesting things to come from Sego.  You won’t be disappointed.

Jason Metcalf
Director

We would like to notify our supporters that the Board of Directors of the Sego Arts Foundation is excited to announce that the Sego Art Center will shortly be housed at a new space in Downtown Provo.  As of May 1st, 2009, the Art Center will no longer occupy it’s inaugural location at 169 N University Avenue in Provo.  The foundation has been approached by several building owners in Provo and Salt Lake City about donation of space for an art center and artist studios, and is negotiating the future occupancy of the spaces.  In accordance with the mission of the Arts Foundation, Sego will continue to maintain a presence in Provo and Utah Valley, even as we extend the Foundation’s reach to our State’s capitol.  The potential spaces the search committee is considering are better in quality and location than our previous residence, and will truly be a next step in enabling Sego to achieve its long term goals.

As these exciting events unfold, we want to remind you that we need your help more than ever in sustaining the Sego Arts Foundation.  A financial contribution of any size will greatly help the Foundation in furthering its mission of displaying and educating Utahans about contemporary visual art and music.  Please pledge your support today by visiting segoarts.org/support and becoming an annual member of the Foundation, or by joining our Facebook cause and donating through that network.

We will shortly be announcing even more positive changes in the Sego Arts Foundation as a whole, so look forward as these developments unfold. Again, thank you for your ongoing support of the Arts.

All the Best,

Maht Paulos
Chairman
Board of Directors
Sego Arts Foundation

Best Link Ever! Forms of Melancholy curated by Chris Coy at Sego Art Center

What would Marx make of the internet? The man who envisioned future communists hunting and fishing by day and writing criticism by night would probably appreciate blogs, but think less of groceries on demand. Marx also believed that alienation stems from the worker’s lack of control over the distribution and use of his product — a theory that informs the exhibition “Forms of Melancholy,” organized by Chris Coy at the Sego Art Center in Provo, Utah…. read more

Cafe Press, when viewed as a tool for artistic production is an interesting departure point for the exploration of object creation ‘after the internet’. Both the site and it’s user community celebrate the ease and immediacy of invisibly manufactured, ready-to-make items. Their contributions make for a staggering array of proposed t-shirts, teddybears and campaign signs all made in narrowly prescribed forms. As Nicolas Bourriaud writes in his exploration of relational aesthetics, “the advances of technology and ‘Reason’… blindly replace human labour by machines, and set up more and more sophisticated subjugation techniques…So the modern emancipation plan has been substituted by countless forms of melancholy.” This installation at Sego Art space aims to address forms of melancholy found on cafepress and allow the invited artists an opportunity to designate works for manufacture and purchase on the site and in the space.

Curated by C. Coy with a live lecture by artist and curator Marisa Olson on Thursday, April 2nd at 7pm

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Kari Altmann, Jeffrey Baij, Charles Broskoski, Ryan Browning, Chris Collins, Petra Cortright, Constant Dullaart, Patrick Dyer, Thomas Galloway, Quinn Gorbott, Bardhi Haliti, Charles Harlan, Chris Harris (lung), Joel Holmberg, Justin Kemp, Dennis Knopf, Andrew Kozlowski, Thomas Mailaeander, Eilis McDonald, Jon Rafman, Billy Rennekamp, Zach Shipko, Hayley Silverman, James Whipple, Jessica Williams, Bennett Williamson, Robert Wodzinski, Damon Zucconi and others

Forms of Melancholy ::: Marisa Olson from Sego Art Center on Vimeo.

I am sure many of you have already heard of what will be going on at Sego in March: a special project that local artist Chris Purdie has been cooking up for about a year now. Chris has created a website Chrispurdie.com where you can track his progress and see hints of what might be on March 6.  I will try to get him to post on this blog as well.  If the project at all seems narcissistic, solipsitic, and entirely self centered- your’e on the right track.  Chris is the last person I would describe with these personality traits- and thus the project suddenly becomes a critique of the contemporary artist herself- mimicing a number of obvious art world personas that need not be named.

I am most excited for this project as it is one of the few true performance art events that has recently been had in the state of Utah (Dance Theatre Coalition and its Proving Ground performance art series has helped performance significantly in the beehive state). Chris is publishing a full color catalogue with essays by performance rock scholar Wade Hollingshaus, and others yet to be announced. The project recieved major funding from the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration at BYU, a foundation that this author has benefited from with past project funding also.

This performative collaboration has indeed become an excercise in relational aesthetics: the artist and the project collaborators have all experienced something greater than individual artistic achievement- and the goal is to include viewers as participants in this dialogue.  So start getting excited for this project if you haven’t already.  And make sure you are there on March 6th.  I promise you’ll have a good time.

We at Sego are excited for this new website, and hope that it will enable our patrons greater access to the community we are all working to build- a community of contemporary art fans and artists, as well as those wishing to learn more about the wonderful state of art making today- and specifically how this relates to our own community. We are working hard to update and archive our past events and shows on the site, so that users will be able to reflect and remember their past experiences at the Art Center.  We hope this blog will become an active forum for discussion about contemporary art and relevant topics to artists and the arts (which awesomely becomes almost every topic: from social and political issues, the humanities, history- art and general, science, technology- among many others).

The Art Center, no doubt, has had a wildly successful inaugural year.  We really couldn’t have asked for a greater amount of success. The artists that have shown with us have created interesting and relevant work that has engaged and even entertained our audience.  Most importantly, these shows have begun to establish a local appreciation for contemporary art- an appreciation that is indeed much needed.  Sego is in no way solely responsible for this recent appreciation- Other institutions’ renewed and continued focus on contemporary art have created an overall statewide awareness of the significance of current artistic practices.  Jeff Lambson at the MOA, Jill Dawsey with the UMFA, Adam Price and 337 Project,  Heather Ferrel now heading up the SLAC, Jared Latimer and the CUAC’s continual stellar programming, and Adam Bateman and the Birch Creek Residency Program (and all the other things up his sleeve) have collectively fostered an environment for the appreciation of art which is now.

The Sego Arts Foundation, which is the parent organization for the annual Sego Music and Art Festival, as well as the Sego Art Center- received it’s 501(c)(3) tax exempt status from the IRS just two months ago.  This means that the Foundation can now receive tax deductible donations from individuals and foundations- something that is entirely necessary for our long term success.  Sego began and continues to be a pure grassroots movement in every definition- being run by an all volunteer staff and administration, with major events being driven by a large volunteer base.  If you are reading this blog, you likely have volunteered for Sego in the past- something that we are all extremely grateful for.  Everyone that helps literally owns a part of this organization. All those who put time and money into the foundation have ultimately influenced its direction. If you have given to sego of your time or money – THANK YOU – it is because of you that Sego has stayed afloat and succeeded on so many levels.

As we all know far too well, the economic downturn has affected so many facets of our lives- and Sego has certainly not dodged any of it.  The bright side however, for us, is that up until now (and still now) we have had very little financially.  We have been able to keep our doors open due to the generous support of artists and fans who have given what they could.  This means for us there are no budget cuts, no job losses, no program slashing- because we have worked with a non existent budget, a volunteer basis, and extremely cost efficient programming.  So this means that we don’t have to go down before going up- the upward growth is just slower and more methodical than we anticipated.

This all means that we need to all work a little harder, give what we can in time and money- and we will be able to establish a foundation upon which we can grow and succeed in the coming years.  We need your continual support- financially and in your time (online donations are now possible on our home page through Paypal- and if you would like to give of your time- let us know how you’d like to help out by using our contact tab at the top of this page).  This year we will see art from all over- geographically and conceptually.  We will continue to show local artists of significance (as we always will), as well as introduce artists from outside the valley, the state, and even the country.   I am excited for what 2009 will bring- and hope that you can participate with us in enjoying a wonderful year of art, music, and film.   (photos courtesy Justin Hackworth Photography)

Jason Metcalf

Roland Thompson
“For me, painting is an act of meditation. The artwork results from concentration on a single moment or event. A million or so single events presented next to each other, within a context, consitute the completed art object.

The painting is initiated by a production plan. Execution of the plan (the medium of meditation) is made through a series of decisions considering the boundaries of the production plan.

The meditation is double-minded. While a portion of my brain is kept active moving my body and making judgments, the rest is left to think freely–to imagine.

The painting might be influenced by the free thoughts of the meditation. Possibly the marks vaguely represent images of reverie, or maybe the reverie is simply a fantastic elaboration departing from the image of the marks. And yet, maybe my experience isn’t relevant to the enjoyment of the work. But to the those who are curious, my favorite themes to contemplate are: notions of beauty (ancient and modern), desert landscape, cartography, and technologies (real and imagined) that aid seeing across time and space.”

Roland Thompson studied painting at BYU and then received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has shown extensively across the united states including at White Columns, Pierogi, The Painting Center, The Museum of Contemporary Art Fort Collins, and many other places. He lives in Cedar Hills, UT with his wife and children.