Bonanza Art Park Paint Out // About the Artists
In August, The Arts Council of Park City & Summit County (‘Arts Council’) in partnership with Park City Municipal Corporation (‘Park City’) invited Summit County artists and/or artist teams to apply for the Bonanza Park Paint Out to create a series of temporary outdoor art projects for the temporary Bonanza Art Park site on the corner of Munchkin Rd. and Bonanza Dr. The project aimed to celebrate connection, art, culture, and community in Park City, UT.
We know that art transforms spaces and experiences. Our goal was to highlight our local creative talent and bring additive vibrancy to the temporary Bonanza Art Park site to engage, connect, and inspire the community through the celebration of local arts and culture. 11 local artists and artist teams were selected as their artwork conveyed the theme of “Art Connects Us”, reflecting values of kindness, connectedness, compassion, and togetherness. We wanted the artwork to create and celebrate a strong sense of place, recognizing the strong arts and cultural vibrancy of Park City, UT, and engage the viewer during the project’s installation and beyond.
Below are the artists/artist teams that were selected:
BONANZA ART PARK ARTISTS
Emily Quinn Loughlin
Emily Quinn Loughlin is a Park City, Utah native. Loughlin received her B.F.A., with honors, in Fibers from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2015. She is driven to digest the waste materials of her community, using reclaimed materials from local businesses in her fine art pieces. Through these as well as her installation and styling projects, Loughlin seeks to create healing within herself and in her community.
The goal of Loughlin’s practice is to create objects that spark courage, curiosity, and joy. She uses recycled materials and found objects to show how we can find magic in unexpected places—like the mundane and cast aside. Such visions build the foundation for a courageous, curious, and joyful life. Loughlin uses the theme of interconnectedness as a tool to illuminate seeds of joy and curiosity in those who engage with her work. Since she conceives of existence as a single body, and us as moving parts within it, her work encourages the viewer to internalize how we treat one another, as well as the environment in which we reside. If we can conceive of existence as a single living body, it helps us understand and apply the golden rule literally. Looking through this lens with courage, curiosity, and joy, it becomes natural to seek ways to build a better world together.
@emilyquinnloughlin
Marley Wright
Marley got bitten by the painting bug in 2004 and has never stopped. Since her artistic inception, she has continued to learn new skills and explore a variety of mediums and subjects. Passionate about nature, Marley strives to bring the soul of the natural world into everyone's daily lives, and to inspire the viewer's imagination with surrealism. When not painting, you can find her paddleboarding, snowboarding, skiing, hiking with her dog, and trying to figure out how to make him live forever.
This work connects and compares the man-made world with the natural one. The stars and the stag represent nature's soul; they are shown triumphing and thriving over the city skyline at the bottom of the piece. The orange 'smoke' is pollution—in recent times it reminds me more of the smoke from wildfires—you can see it cutting through the night sky, changing form, but it still has its place. Though it is easy to get caught up in our own lives, Wright believes it is important to keep in mind that we are only a small part of the bubble of life on this planet. Separation is a farce; we are all connected through art, nature, and community.
Rachel Devine // CONNECT Summit County
Rachel Devine is a dedicated, mission-driven nonprofit leader who is motivated to raise awareness about mental health and environmental challenges through art. Her favorite medium is acrylic paint, and she incorporates art projects into her professional life whenever possible. Rachel works full time as the Development Director with CONNECT Summit County, and she is on the board of REDO, the Recycling Education and Development Organization. Rachel enjoys collaborating on projects with volunteers and is grateful for the opportunity to raise awareness about CONNECT Summit County’s Part of Our Nature Campaign through Park City’s Bonanza Art Park Paint Out. Rachel is originally from Oregon and studied Environmental Ethics and Policy with a minor in Fine Arts at the University of Portland. You can see more of her artwork on Etsy at RiverHippieArt, as well as on social media (handles below).
This mural is based off of CONNECT Summit County’s Part of Our Nature campaign. The campaign demonstrates that changes in our mental health are just part of our nature, and that it’s ok to not be ok. The campaign works to normalize the conversation around depression, loneliness, stress, celebrating small victories, and much more. CONNECT Summit County is a nonprofit that offers free mental health resources and support. Visit partofournature.org and CONNECTSummitCounty.org to learn more and find resources.
@ray.ray.painting
The Figure Skating Club of Park City Junior Board
The Figure Skating Club of Park City is a sport organization that supports figure skaters of all levels and ages in association with Youth Sports Alliance. The Junior Board is a group of 12 elected members who are leaders in our club: Kate Pressgrove, Brynn Roberts, Hannah Baldwin, Chloe Taurel, Hadley Miles, Anna Gready, Andee Lyons, Amelie Stein, Scarlett Brinton, Awstyn Knight, Morgan Heavrin, and Scout Witt. The Club works together to contribute and serve on their team, in their community, and in their sport. Members exemplify the diversity, equality, and inclusion that they hope to see in the world one day, and they want to spread this positivity as far as possible. This artwork was designed by Amelie Stein and is painted by the junior board.
This mural cube was inspired by the resiliency and unity of our town. Park City has wild seasons, but the mountains always stay the same: strong and beautiful. It's similar to our city because even though things are ever-changing, we always overcome the storms, hot days, mud seasons, wildfires, and falling leaves to stand together, both literally and symbolically. It's a great metaphor for the sense of community and never-ending kindness, love, and support that comes from our town. The top panel is painted with the night sky, stars, and the moon because no matter what, we are all looking at the same stars and planets every night in our gorgeous Park City sky.
Bridgette Meinhold
Bridgette Meinhold is a full-time artist based in Park City, UT where she is known for her atmospheric, foggy encaustic landscape paintings. Meinhold shows her artwork in galleries across the Mountain West, including Gallery MAR in Park City. All of Meinhold’s work begins in nature and her inspiration comes from watching the weather, walking in forests, and through mindful observation of our environment. Besides encaustics, Meinhold has a regular sketchbook practice where she documents her travels with watercolor, pen, and ink. She also makes her own inks from foraged materials and paints “en plein air” while out on hikes, bike rides, and even while backcountry skiing.
The Parley’s Canyon Fire in August rattled us all. The fire left us feeling vulnerable, but we were lucky that it was contained quickly with no loss of property or life, unlike many other communities in the West, which were not so fortunate this summer. In response to the fire, Meinhold is asking for the community's help to create a work of art that speaks to our collective feelings about the fire, our ability to endure, and our capacity to work towards a better tomorrow.
Meinhold has collected charcoal from the remains of the fire that will be used to create a black paint. Participants will paint with the remains of that forest fire on pieces of paper to express themselves— their fears, hopes, dreams, feelings, ideas for a better tomorrow, and more. The individual art will be put together to create a larger work of art. Just as a forest is made up of thousands of individual trees, this work of art will be made with the help of many people from our community.
The result at the end would be a unique piece of art created by the Park City community and a cathartic response to the almost-tragedy we endured in August. The art work would speak to the resilience of our town while also recognizing our vulnerability at the hands of climate change. Hopefully, this mural would also spark discussion about improved fire management practices, ways to reduce our carbon footprint, and improve our stewardship of the land, water, air, and forests.
@bridgette_meinhold
Karen Kendall & Kelly Franklin
Karen Kendall resides in Park City, and is continually inspired by the beauty in nature around her. Karen’s love for nature drives her life and her passions, and is reflected in her art. Karen has commissioned paintings, sold at markets, and has donated work for fundraising events. In addition, Karen enjoys bringing art to the community as a volunteer at various arts organizations, and as a board member for the Downtown Artists Collective and the Park City Professional Artists Association. Sharing a love of art with people of all backgrounds, ages, and experience is a passion; seeing the spark of creativity and wonder come from a “blank canvas” is incredibly rewarding.
Kelly has lived in Summit County for 28 years, where she loves the outdoors and our abundant wildlife, which provide unending inspiration for her unique welded steel creations. She began welding in 2015, and recently became the artist/owner of Mountain Metal Arts, LLC. She enjoys taking inspiration from nature in her creations; even structural projects such as railings enjoy natural touches. Her art pieces include wall hangings and free-standing sculptures. Her sculptures begin by combining structural members to form a base. Kelly then fashions the petals, feathers, fur, or scales of her subjects using a plasma cutter, grinding and shaping each piece by hand. The actual welding is the reward after all the preparation, when the creations really take shape. She greatly enjoys seeing her pieces come together under her welding torch. Kelly is a recently retired program manager in the aerospace industry. Besides her artwork, she enjoys trail running, snowshoeing, and hiking with her dogs in our wonderful mountains, which provides continuous inspiration for new projects.
Kendall and Franklin’s installation represents the four seasons in Park City, each depicted on one side of the cube, connected with people as they travel along the same path through the seasons. The path symbolizes our collective journey through life, and in addition, this cube celebrates the beauty of all four seasons here in Park City.
The multi-media approach blends Karen Kendall’s painting background with Kelly Franklin’s steel art background. They have layered hand-cut steel pieces over painted objects to create interest and a 3D perspective, allowing for the play of shadows in the morning and afternoon across the cube’s surface. Each panel is graphic, bright, and welcoming, with the steel pieces providing additional focus and interest.
@mtnmetalart
Emily Miquelon
Emily is a self-taught artist originally from St. Louis who has a passion for capturing the endless beauty of nature in her work. She currently lives and paints in Park City, UT. As an interdisciplinary artist, Emily works mainly in acrylic, but enjoys creating a little bit of everything from handmade jewelry and other objects to digital illustrations. Her pieces are less about the subject itself and more about what it is to experience a moment in nature. She paints the world the way she sees it: full of color in unlikely places.
The general layout for Emily’s was based on the “Welcome to Utah” signs you see while driving over the Utah borders. Miquelon designed her own version for Park City, choosing the ski slopes and rainbow houses of Old Town for the main visual because they are so unique to Park City. She wanted the geometric shapes and colors in her design to align with the colorful pop art style of the other Utah signs.
Like many of the Utah billboards, Miquelon’s sign will also incorporate stickers to add a grander definition of what makes up Park City. The goal of this extra layer is to connect the art to the community and the community to the art. Some stickers represent tangible places like local restaurants, ski resorts, and stores, while others focus on relevant topics and issues our community is facing. Stop by the Bonanza Art Park and check it out for yourself!
@emilymiquelonart
Adrianna “AD” Allegretti
Adrianna Allegretti is an artist, illustrator, designer, photographer, and all-around adventurer from Los Angeles living in Park City. Adrianna graduated in 2011 from Loyola Marymount University, and received a BFA with an emphasis in Graphic Design. She is inspired by the mountains, the ocean, her family, music, and various other forms of expression.
In thinking about the concept "art connects us," Allegretti concluded that the natural setting of Park City is the art that connects us; our community is connected by our mutual passion for the artistic beauty of the outdoors, and we create art by drawing our ski lines in the snow, or in the way we admire the Summer wildflowers as we bike down the mountain. The world is so divisive in its current state, and Allegretti wants to focus on how this specific community is connected by the ways we interact with the natural beauty right here in our backyard.
@awwdehh
Anna Leigh Moore
Anna is a Park City painter who finds inspiration in the untamed lands of the West. Her work explores both the eternal and fleeting aspects of the landscape, and how our experience shapes them. Painting allows her to share the sublime joy and freedom only found in nature—and fuels her adventures in wilderness. When not skiing, climbing, biking, or hiking, Anna has a paintbrush in hand. She hopes to see you on the trails!
As the dry summer months come to an end, wild sunflowers adorn roadsides, bringing color and vibrancy to some of the most drab and cheerless urban sprawls. The tenacity of sunflowers to grow in such inhospitable places feels like a testament.It reminds Moore of the way a bright mural can reinvent a dilapidated building, spreading cheer to where it is needed most. When Moore thinks about the Bonanza Art Park, she imagines it will be like the wild sunflower—a little slice of unexpected color and joy that will uplift everyone who interacts with the space.
As the Bonanza Art Park and Arts District become reality, Moore wants to spread a message of staying rooted in who we are: a collection of people who are all trying to put down roots and grow into something bigger than ourselves.
@annaleighmoo
Caitlyn Barhorst
Caitlyn is an avid maker, crafter, and the creative behind Alabaster and Stone. By day they practice architecture and by night they spend their time dabbling in everything from making rugs and mugs to painting and printmaking. Caitlyn's work tends to incorporate a variety of textures and organic and geometric forms using reclaimed and thrifted material. Their work is also inspired by nature and the beautiful mountains that surround the West.
Barhorst’s work incorporates organic geometric shapes in various fiber surfaces and textures. Translating this into the Art Connects Us concept, they painted, with water-based concrete stains, a large-scale iteration of their process of interconnected colorful forms. This process as Barhorst creates their fiber work is not formally planned out and each shape is created as the previous one takes form, which is similar to the process for the concrete court. As the final layer, a handful of intersecting pathways are sketched on top, creating visual unity and interest from every side of the court, as well as creating a fun pathway to walk on as the user experiences the work.
@alabasterandstone
Blake Peterson
Blake Peterson is a graphic designer and photographer with a background in fine art and steep skiing. Based in Park City, Utah, she studied art administration at Westminster College and photography at California College of the Arts. She mixes design and photography into a cohesive package for projects that involve digital media, advertising, and branding. Her goal is to partner with good people and brands she admires. She has had the pleasure of working with companies such as Outside Magazine, Southwest Airlines, Billabong, and Backcountry.com.
Peterson’s go-to drawing/painting on every surface has long been a flowing, marble-like black and white design; it’s as much art as it is meditation. She has painted it on walls, filled school notes with it, and framed it as lithographic prints. Making a single line fill the entire space is a challenge, and lends the illusion of many paths covering the page when in truth it is a single path. For the geometric court design, the rectangle of the full court is drawn into separate triangles, and each triangle’s flowing design converges in the very middle. It’s like a maze that takes you right back to its first connection. Much like this park hopes to do, Peterson’s court design reminds you that the first connection is art. So while our community is playing games on the court or just wandering around this area, they are reminded that art is at the heart of this district.
@buhhlake
blakefpeterson.com
The Bonanza Art Park will have these artworks on display through the month of October. Check out the activities on Tuesday nights from 4-7pm that include live music, food trucks, games, and view the artwork in person!