Gallery Stroll “Utah’s West Desert, In a Different Light”

September Gallery Stroll
“Utah’s West Desert, In a Different Light”

Join HEAL Utah at the Utah Art and Environment Collaborative for September's Gallery Stroll!

Eat some tasty bites, drink some libations, view some incredible art, and catch-up with a few of your favorite non-profit organizations in Artspace Commons at HEAL Utah's shared gallery.

In this exhibit, the desert mountains are austere, the valleys parched, trees sparse, and colors more than occasionally monochromatic, offering a visual playground for this collection of black and white images.

Man-made threats to this vast area include drought and desertification brought about by climate change and depleted aquifers, increased mineral extraction, excessive ORV use, and expanded hazardous waste storage. The wilderness quality of Utah’s West Desert is by no means guaranteed.

September Gallery Stroll
Friday, September 21st
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Utah Art and Environment Collaborative
800 South 400 West, #B113 (West side of Artspace Commons)
801-355-5055


“Utah’s West Desert, In a Different Light.”

Jeff Clay In this second exhibit from Clayhaus Photography at the UAEC, artist Jeff Clay will offer up his collection, “Utah’s West Desert, In a Different Light.”

The black and white photographs presented in this study represent a sampling of images taken in Utah’s desert regions. To the west and south of Salt Lake City is the beginning of the expanse known as the Great Basin. Utah's part of this Basin and Range landscape is known as The West Desert. In this region the desert mountains are austere, the valleys parched, trees sparse, and colors more than occasionally monochromatic. However, the often dramatic play of light and shadow, clouds and sky, water and rocks are perfectly suited to black & white imagery.


Though comprised of numerous high mountains, many herds of pronghorn and thousands of square miles of wild lands, there are only about 125,000 acres protected in two Wilderness Areas: Cedar Mountains and Deseret Peak. Another dozen sections of the West Desert were set aside by Congress and the BLM as Wilderness Study Areas. Their status remains in flux as does the future of many other Inventory Unit Acres studied under the 1999 Utah Wilderness Study. Man-made threats to this vast area include drought and desertification brought about by climate change and depleted aquifers, increased mineral extraction, excessive ORV use, and expanded hazardous waste storage. The wilderness quality of Utah’s West Desert is by no means guaranteed.

All of these photos were captured with a variety of infrared-sensitive cameras and converted to B&W. With infrared B&W photography, skies and water can take on an inky blackness, clouds ‘pop’ in dramatic fashion, foliage becomes milky white and grass is often mistaken for snow. Depending upon atmospheric conditions, images can be topographically sharp or soft and gauzy with a ghostly dreaminess. Whether it is a calm autumn day on some unnamed peak, a wintry morning in a forgotten desert valley, or a tempestuous spring storm afternoon on the Great Salt Lake, Utah’s West Desert can be a fascinating study for one willing to see things in a different light.

Jeff Clay

About the artist: Jeff Clay, of Clayhaus Photography, is a photographer of gothic cathedrals and mediaeval villages, modern architecture and cityscapes, abstract patterns of light and shadow, remote desert mountains and the vast Colorado Plateau. He employs different photographic techniques and tools including infrared photography, black and white conversion, bracketed exposure blending, and the panorama format. He has had solo shows as well as group gallery exhibits and won a number of professionally-judged competitions. He is currently exhibiting his work at the Local Colors of Utah Gallery and the Utah Art and Environment Collaborative.


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