On Nov. 14, the BYU Museum of Art hosted Jann Haworth — best known for her work on a famous Beatles album cover — to come and speak about her art.
This event marked the inauguration of a MoA lecture series backed by the new LaRae R. Gourley fund. Gourley was a longtime Provo resident who passed away last year, and she has left a lasting impact on her family. They shared that her love for the arts was a large part of her life.
“Endowing this lecture series in her name is our way of memorializing our matriarch and our friend, who left a legacy of love and compassion,” Gourley’s grandson Jason Andrew said.
Many of Gourley’s family members, including children and grandchildren, sat in the front row during the event.
Andrew introduced his grandmother and told fond stories of her life, including her graduation from Provo High, her attendance at BYU and her lifelong engagement with the arts.
“Even as she reached 90, she was fiercely independent — and believe you me, every New Yorker knew it,” Andrew said.
After Andrew’s introduction, Haworth took the stage to speak about her long and storied career as a pop artist. She told the stories behind many of her pieces of art through the years, including her work on the famous “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” album cover for the Beatles.
Haworth also spoke of her life as an artist and what it’s like to make a living off of creativity.
“It is a hard road, but it also is one where you continually have a place where you say to yourself, ‘I didn’t know I could do that. I didn’t think that would work, and it worked,’” Haworth said.
The lecture itself was organized in connection with one of the MoA’s exhibits titled “Counterpoint: Art from the 1960s and Beyond," which closes on Dec. 7. Haworth currently has a piece on display in the exhibition.
Liz Donakey is the lead educator responsible for the Counterpoint exhibit. It is her responsibility to “come up with the events and programs tied to the exhibition that will help people engage with the art,” Donakey said.
For Donakey, her whole goal behind the events she organizes is to “go a little bit beyond” and “dig deeper” into the art, providing “additional entry points” so the art becomes more accessible to more people.
Philipp Malzl, the Head of Education at the MoA, was also involved in the event.
“We have a working relationship with Jann and she’s (…) spoken here before, we just thought it would be a great opportunity for the public to hear from a living legend of pop art who lives here locally in Salt Lake City,” Malzl said. “What an opportunity to hear her contextualize her work.”
The event was attended by Jann Haworth fans, Beatles fans and art fans alike.