The 39th annual Spiritual and Religious Art exhibit at the Springville Museum of Art is wrapping up this month.
The show this year received over 900 submissions, with about 200 featured.
Museum Director Emily Larsen spoke about her experiences with running the show in the past.
“It’s a really competitive show for living Utah artists, only about 25% of the works that are submitted get accepted for display, and then we also give cash awards to the top prizes,” Larsen said.
The Springville Museum of Art has hosted this exhibit since 1986, with people from all over Utah visiting from October to December to look at original art from artists across the state.
Rebecca Holt Stay has attended the exhibit for about 20 years.
“With this exhibit in particular ... it’s like attending a testimony meeting of people trying to express something there are no words for,” Stay said.
The Springville Museum of Art was originally founded by teachers and students at Springville High over 100 years ago. What began as a small collection of two local artists has now become one of the largest exhibitions of high school art in the country.
The Springville Museum of Art keeps the original mission in mind by continuing an outreach program to assist K-12 students with an understanding and appreciation of art and art history. Peyton Richards, an outreach instructor, spoke about the community that has sprung up around the museum.
“We go to elementary and middle schools all throughout the state, and we teach little lessons to the kids about art,” Richards said.
Pieces are made from various mediums including sculpture, knit, paint and photography. Professional artists, like J. Kirk Richards, are featured in the same gallery as a painting of a cat from a fourth grader.
“One of the things I really love about this show is that it fosters connections amongst different groups and different perspectives and ideas,” Larsen said. “When the artists are working in those themes, their artwork is really exploring those kinds of big questions of what it means to be human.”
This connection with community is one of the main focuses of the spiritual and religious exhibit. A Spotify playlist was created to accompany the walk through the gallery and features music from a variety of countries and cultures.
“Anytime you translate or print a piece of art in a magazine or a catalog, you lose the beauty of it. Seeing it in person, experiencing and taking that opportunity to find moments of holiness wherever you are … I think it’s a wonderful way to worship,” Stay said.
The museum is free to visit. The Spiritual and Religious Art Exhibit will remain open until Jan. 7.