Did you know that in addition to an art collection, the Orem Library has three art galleries? The small gallery is located in the north wing between the children’s reference desk and the circulation desk. The large gallery can be found in the vaulted area of the north wing main floor. The new Library Hall also has a gallery in the dōTERRA Lobby. All of these galleries have exhibits by artists and students that rotate every few months. Here is what you will find hanging at the library this fall.
Large Gallery: Visions of Blue Ridge by Susan J. Kroupa
As part of Orem Reads this year, we are featuring photography by Susan Kroupa in the large gallery. Susan’s work was all photographed in the region in which this year’s Orem Reads book The Ballad of Frankie Silver takes place—southwest Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. In her description of the exhibit, Susan writes, “In 2005, when my husband and I first drove a winding road up to the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwest Virginia, we entered a magical place of rolling hills, of woods and pastures that shimmered in shades of green splashed with colors from a vast variety of flowers. White clouds swelled on the horizons in front of clear blue skies. It was the beginning of a sixteen-year adventure in what was, to our desert-raised souls, an almost foreign country, one where moisture was not a rare and precious commodity but everyday currency. During the time we lived and traveled through the area, we were charmed by the warmth and hospitality of our neighbors, even as we delighted in the dramatic landscapes, mists and fogs, birds and bugs, and glorious colors found in the Blue Ridge.” Her images of the mountains, flora, and fauna of Appalachia are breathtaking. This exhibit will be in the large gallery until October 15.
Small Gallery: Life in Abstraction by K Dawn
In the small gallery, we are excited to exhibit K Dawn, an abstract artist who painted this show after surviving a massive stroke. K Dawn writes, “After surviving a near fatal stroke, I started to view the world in a different and unexpected way. Life in Abstraction is an attempt to portray the way that I see and experience life and the world around me.” The movement and unique color combinations found in these works is sure to delight! This exhibit will be in the small gallery until October 30.
Library Hall Gallery: Forever by Daniel Hughes
In Forever, artist Daniel Hughes captures landscapes and wildlife from his childhood near a wildlife refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and from his adulthood here in Utah. From red rock to grasslands to high mountain country, viewers will be awed by the beauty and majesty of Daniel’s work. Daniel writes, “Life is full of sorrow, pain, beauty, and joy. Even when we happen to live through the same event as another, we experience it in our own unique way. My paintings seek to express the heroic journey of being human—to honor the aloneness, the bravery, the defeats and commonplace triumphs that are an essential part of our sojourn. My hope is that my artwork will help me and others have a means to share what is so often inexplicable so that we can build bridges of love and connection. These antidotes do not wave the struggle away, but can dull the sting.” This exhibit will be in the Library Hall gallery until November 5 and may be viewed when the Library Hall is open for library events other than tween and teen events (doors to the Library Hall open 30 minutes before the library event starts).
Next time you visit the library or go to an event in the Library Hall, save a few minutes to tour the galleries and sample the wonderful artwork.
