By Chad Neilson
BYU''s Museum of Art is now hosting the Pastoral Utah exhibit that shows Utah countryside from Box Elder County to Washington County.
The exhibit is comprised of Utah artists and is a compilation of paintings over more than one hundred years.
David Rosand, winner of the Core Curriculum Award and art critic, said, 'Perhaps few themes in the history of Western art are as seductive as pastoral landscape.'
The paintings of Utah''s pastures, barns and landscapes are meant to evoke the calm feelings of peace where mankind and Mother Nature live quietly together.
Too few who travel through Utah fail to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding landscape.
Susan S. Rugh, professor of history at BYU, said both residents and visitors should take time to smell the roses.
'If we notice the barns and farm houses, the fields and livestock, the Main Streets of the small towns, we can better appreciate a way of life that nurtures the values we cherish most,' Rugh said.
Pastoral paintings began in the Renaissance as a reflection of pastoral poetry dating back to first century B.C. and have been popular subjects for artists to this day, she said.
The Museum of Art is open to the public every day except Sundays.
For a complete listing of opening and closing times, call the museum at (801) 378-ARTS.