UMOCA and Frontrunner

My friend Jean had an art show in Salt Lake this past weekend so I went up there with some ward-friends and my little-cousin Kemarie. Once upon a time when you wanted to go to Salt Lake you had to drive your car, but thankfully we are not that barbaric anymore and now can take the pinnacle of transportation--a train.

Tables, WiFi, and Electricity. The only way to travel.

The opening itself had a lot of great peices and, while I tried to engage my eight-year-old cousin in the art, some of it was just weird. Jon McNaughton (Obama burning the constitution) had a few of his pieces there which were hard to explain and then there was some very modern art which is a bit more inaccessible. The two most memorable works were a collection of Jesus portraits done by a large variety of amateur artists and also a series of painted wasp nests (Jean's).

So many paintings of Jesus!

By chance Kemarie ran into one of her best friends from Provo and I had the pleasure of watching Kemarie go around and explain each artwork to her pal. She is still struggling to go beyond the narrative of the work but I can see a glimmer of understanding starting to unfold as she continues to partake in art.

Snacking and Observing

Flaunting the glasses and sticker.

One part of the exhibit had several tables of different activist pamphlets including such groups. One of the tables was offering free sunglasses which I gladly accepted and put a pair in my jacket pocket. It wasn't until we got on the train to leave when I took them out and noticed that they had a big sticker on them saying "DO NOT REMOVE, TABLE PAIR." I'm an anarchist at heart.

Since it was late when we headed back and the windows held no interest for us we decided to explore the rest of the train. We went head to tail and found the most beautifully vintage (train) car. The conductor informed us that it was built in 1976 and was named the "Comet Car." Luckily I had my blazer and glasses on for some real vintage shots.

Thanks to Mirielle Sanford for all the photos in this post. She was the only other person in our group who was wise enough to take the train up.