“The Lost Treasures of Utah State University” exhibition — one of many ongoing art displays on campus — held its opening reception in the Tippetts Exhibit Hall of the Chase Fine Arts Center on Friday from 5 to 7 p.m.
“There is no immediate theme with the all of the subject matter,” said James Ito, a senior majoring in art history. “Everything in here has just one thing in common, and that’s that they were lost and not being seen by the public.”
Ito was one of four volunteer student curators who assisted with compiling the show and greeted the evening’s visitors at the entrance.
Under direction of Christopher Terry, associate dean for the Caine College of the Arts, the students unearthed and researched generations of what they call “forgotten” art from basements of the music, printmaking, drawing, painting and ceramics departments, among others on campus.
“It’s important to have this type of show so that we can recognize and appreciate the art that’s all around us,” Ito said. “These pieces were in offices, vaults and storage. There’s art all around us. This is kind of like an eye opener for people to recognize and see art wherever they are.”
Ito found six prints by alumni artist Frankie Morris in a portfolio in the basement of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. The six pieces were among the approximately 30 he requested and the 10 he was able to acquire for the show — a limitation resulting from high appraisal prices.
“It’s about insurance,” Ito said. “Anything that’s above a certain price in appraisal, I couldn’t get. One piece I requested was appraised at about $50,000, so I wasn’t that surprised I couldn’t get it.”
Inspiration for the exhibit came when Terry saw a large felt and fabric collage in an office and after some digging, discovered it was commissioned for the 1968 inauguration of the USU Chase Fine Arts Center.
In a later conversation with Chris Sheer, an assistant professor in the music department, Terry learned about a piece of artwork that Sheer found in a barn in Mendon, Utah — a piece, Terry said, that had been commissioned by the university and forgotten about over the years.
He wondered how many other pieces like it were out there.
“Turns out, this is a tiny, tiny percentage of what’s available,” Terry said. “There’s all kinds of stuff we could have included if we had more time and a little more energy. We could fill this gallery every year if we wanted.”
Visitors to the exhibit were approached by Terry, Ito and other student curators and given a brief history of the organization of the show and the pieces within it. Ito said that most visitors came in pairs and stayed for 10 to 15 minutes.
“We’re art lovers and we wanted to see some old art because it’s cool,” said Alex Stoddard, who attended the reception with his wife Laura. “It’s refreshing from the art of today. It’s changed over the years and it’s cool to see. Even though I was expecting it to be a lot larger, it’s nice to see alumni art and the art of old teachers.”
The Stoddards were two of what Terry estimated to be 60 attendees at the opening event — a number he said was only “one third” of what the previous exhibit, a collection of works by former USU student and professor Marion R. Hyde, attracted on its opening night.
“It’s not as big or diverse as I wanted it to be,” Terry said. “I keep thinking about all those things we didn’t include that I wanted to include. And as I talked to people at the reception, they kept telling me about other new stuff. So I’ve got a mental list now about what will be in the next show. The next show will be bigger, more diverse, and even more exciting.”
Betsy Blanchard, Jason Borba, Taldon Bressel, Maggie Euller, Alicia Facer, Curtis Lundstrom and Amanda Taylor contributed to this report.
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