Well, last time I had told you guys about the opening of Tyler's Partners Show at the Bountiful Davis Art Center, and it went great! There was a great turn out, and Tyler got to talk to a lot of people about his art! If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, it's still up for quite a bit longer- you can check it out at the Bountiful Davis Art Center (90 N Main Street, Bountiful) through February 26th.

Our January art stroll was a little small, but must have been quality, because not only did we sell some stuff from our gift shop, 2 of our artists sold their artwork! Katie G. sold one of her mixed media pieces, and Chris sold an acrylic piece. He has been super pumped about selling his artwork. Congratulations guys!

Recently, we went to Trolley Square a few times. They have some cool shops there, and some really cool stuff to check out! We discovered the Trolley Museum which was a lot of fun to look around in. They also had an old trolley that we could get our picture taken in! One of the highlights of Trolley Square for Tyler is their gumball machines. They have quite the selection of gumballs- so much so, that Tyler had to run to a store to get change so that he had quarters to get some of their gumballs. We also discovered a really cool cafe/bar/coffee shop there that also serves as a paint night location and gallery. We had a lot of fun looking around at the artwork displayed there, and Darin found a small aquarium there so he could hang out with a few fish! Tyler also spoke to the employees there about displaying his own artwork there, and they said it was a possibility. Always looking for art opportunities! 

One of our newer staff, Sariah, started up a puppets and theater class, which has been very popular. They've been making a few different kinds of puppets, but Darin has been most excited about making sock puppets that he gets to take home to play with. Here are a few of his masterpieces :)

We've been having a lot of fun in our paper art classes lately, making some really colorful, textured pieces. Today, we made some textured flower pieces, and Linda and Darin were especially proud of theirs.

Hope you guys are all having a wonderful 2023 so far, and we'll check in again next month to share some of the fun stuff going on here- but as an early reminder/save the date, our next art stroll will be on Friday, February 17th, from 6-9 pm. 

Happy New Year! I hope you are all having a wonderful 2023 so far! I just wanted to pop on here and share a few fun things that we've been doing :)

First of all, we have an exciting event for one of our artists this Friday- Tyler is participating in the partners program with Art Access again, and the opening reception for his show is this Friday the 13th! This past year, he has been working with local artist Cat Palmer to work on incorporating photography into his artwork using some of her unique and interesting mixed media techniques. He's been having a blast and is really looking forward to sharing with the community what they've been working on. If you want to attend, the event is from 6-8 pm this Friday the 13th at the Bountiful Davis Art Center (90 N Main Street, Bountiful). Here's a link with some more info about the show: ​https://www.bdac.org/copy-of-art-access-partners

Now for some random samplings of what we've been up to :) Did you guys know that the Salt Lake City Library has a giant chess set that anyone can play with? Well, they do, and the last time we went to the library, it was a showdown between Tyler and Chris. It looked like it was heading Tyler's way, but we ultimately had to leave before he could finish Chris off, so it was a draw. But super fun!

We've been having a lot of fun in our paper art classes lately. We've especially been enjoying projects that collage with tissue paper. We've gotten some really neat projects using those types of techniques, and although they take awhile (usually our artists don't finish during class and have to continue working on it later in the day), they are a lot of fun and turn out great!

Next up, we are getting ready for our next art stroll! The opening reception for our new exhibit will be next Friday the 20th from 6-9 pm. The featured artist this month is Jessi, and she has a few great pieces to show off- we hope to see some of you there!

We have had a fun (but busy) December so far, and hope you have too! Here are just a few of the fun highlights:

At the beginning of the month, we put up our tree, and had such a fun time decorating it. The paper chain we've been putting on our trees for years has held up surprisingly well, and Jessica had a lot of fun helping me put it up! We had some ornaments we made last year left here, so we put those up, and then have had a few ornament making classes so we could add some more to the tree. 

Lately we've been trying to go to one the various library branches near us every few weeks, and recently we went to a branch that for some reason or other, we hadn't gone to yet- The Chapman Branch. It's a small little library, but we fell in love, because they have a game corner. Jessica and August immediately found this corner and got to playing. Jessica was looking through one of the card games they had, and August was having a lot of fun on the chess table they had. Katie found Candy Land and had fun playing that, and Darin had fun chilling in their fun, colorful chairs. 

This week, TURN had our annual Christmas Party! There was food, dancing, and best of all, Santa! Everyone had a blast, and thank you Santa for the presents we got, too! Also, a big thank you to all of the staff at the main office who helped make the party a success- I know a lot of work goes into those events!

We've had some really cool Christmas themed projects we've been working on, and unluckily, I'm usually so busy helping out in the class, that I totally forget to take any pictures (face palm). I'll try to be better about that! I do have some pictures of a few of the cute paper ornaments we made this year- the candle was made by Rose, and the black ornament Nina made.

Didn't they turn out great? I'm always amazed at how cute our tree's ornaments turn out each year!

​Well, we are enjoying the holiday season, and hope you all are too! Until next time, stay safe and healthy!

Hey all! After a few years on hiatus, we are finally opening up our doors again for the art stroll! We'll be open this Friday, the 18th from 6-9, and our address is 511 W 200 S suite 100. For those of you that haven't been here since our move last year, we are in the same building as before, but are now in suite 100, which is on the East side of the building. Also, we're starting a new thing this month that I think we'll be doing monthly, where we have a featured artist each month. This month, our featured artist is Nina! Hope to see you guys there!

Next announcement you already know about if you're on our email list- we're making calendars again! Below are thumbnails of the artwork for each calendar to help people decide which calendar they would like to order. Like last year, the calendars will be 11x17 when open, 8.5x11 when closed. They are wall calendars that are folded and stapled, and the calendars cost $10 each. 

Please email me at katiejohnson@turndreams.org to let me know your name, which calendar you want, and how many. Orders must be in by November 30th at the latest. The calendars will not be printed until the first week of December, after we receive all of the orders. 

We will not be delivering any orders this year (sorry), so you must have the ability to pick up your order from 511 W 200 S suite 100, SLC. We will let you know when your order is ready for pick up :) If you have an individual attending here, we can of course send it home with them if that is your preference. 

You don't need to worry about payment until the calendars are ready, and at that time you can pay by cash or check, or credit card over the phone. I will give more information about that closer to December. For now, just worry about picking which calendar you want, and deciding how many!

Halloween was a blast at our program this year! First off, my apologies- we were so busy doing all the fun stuff that I forgot to take pictures during any of the activities! That's the price of living in the moment, I guess! 

For our first period of Halloween festivities, we did some scary story writing and agamographs. What are agamographs you might ask? Well, they are pictures that make no sense when looking straight on, but when you fold them accordion style,  you see one picture when you look from one angle, and a different picture when you look from the opposite angle. Like, I said, I totally spaced on getting pictures while working on the activity, and most people took theirs home with them, so here's some pics of the demo I made:

We had a few harder options to pick from for those that wanted to really challenge themselves, but everyone had a great time! In the scary stories writing class, we had some great guidelines to help us establish the various elements of our stories, and a die to roll if we got stuck, which would give us some spooky lines to work into our story. 

For the second period of Halloween fun, we read some of the scary stories that we had written in the first class, and also read some other spooky stories to get us in the Halloween mood. The other option people had, was to make some Halloween themed strip collages. Again, I forgot to take any pictures (face palm), so here is my demo again.

We had lots of spooky templates people could work with on this collage project: pumpkin, haunted house, ghost, and bat. They all turned out great, and everyone had a great time!

Now, we're getting to the really fun part of the day- treats and games! Quite a few people brought treats to share- we tried to space them out a bit throughout the afternoon so we wouldn't be too overloaded with sugar, but we were still a bit hyped up. We had a fun fishing game for mystery prizes, and a game where they rolled a spooky die (a die with spooky pictures on it instead of numbers) to get a prize from the corresponding bag. There were a lot of small fidget toys, mini games, and art supplies to be won, and everyone had a ball! 

We took our annual Halloween picture for those that dressed up, not everyone dressed up, but of those that did, we had some pretty great costumes!

After that, we had some fun coloring sheets and Halloween movies going. Like last year, we decided to have a fun movie option going in one room, while a spookier option played in a different room. Our fun option this year was The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and the spooky option was Coraline. Well, we had loads up fun yesterday, and we hope you did too! Happy Halloween!

Like I said in my last post, Fall is our busy season with outside art show stuff, and we have some more stuff going on!

​First up, a few weeks ago, Tyler participated as a panelist in a discussion about disability in art with Art Access. It was held over zoom on October 6th. I know they recorded it, but can't find the recording on their site- if they end up posting it somewhere, I'll put the link on here. It was a really great discussion about barriers in the art community for artists with disabilities, and Tyler did a great job contributing to the conversation!

Next up is the October show at the Urban Arts Gallery, "A Dream Within a Dream." I mentioned briefly in my last post that Tyler and Matt N were both participating in this show, but now the show is upon us! We had a chance to pop over and see their work on display, and it all looks so great! The reception for the show is this Friday the 21st from 6-9. Check it out if you can!

We have another cool art opportunity happening this weekend that Tyler is participating in (that guy has been busy!). This weekend is the studio tour event through the Utah Arts Festival. It's an event where artists all over the state can open up their art studios so people can come look at their work and their process. As Tyler and Art Access have had a close working relationship as of late, they had invited him to make use of their studio space to participate. His work will be at Art Access (230 S 500 W suite 110) on Friday night from 6-9, Saturday 10-6, and Sunday 10-6. Tyler and myself (Katie) will only be there from 12-4 on Saturday, but you're welcome to drop by and see his work anytime that they are open this weekend. They also encourage people to use their app for the event, which should make it easier to find studios that are participating- you can sign up for this for free and find out more info about the event here:
https://uaf.org/studiotour

Well, Fall is definitely our busy season when it comes to participating in outside art shows, and this year is no exception, so I thought I'd give you all a quick rundown of the shows we've been in and what we've been up to!

First off, we have several artists who have been showing some pieces in the Skate Deck Art Show at the Urban Arts Gallery. This show is always really cool with a lot of inventive pieces, and there's only a few days left to check it out, as it only runs through this weekend (October 2nd, specifically). Nina, Chris, Matt N, Jonathan E, Tyler, and Darin participated in this particular show.

Next up, I know had already posted about the Library Art Show, and it just ended this last weekend, but I wanted to post about the reception. We had a great turn out at the opening reception on the 17th, and sold a total of 10 pieces!!! Everyone was so excited to show off their artwork, and we received really positive feedback from everyone who attended.

Next up, the State Fair! This year, we had 20 artists who entered artwork into the State Fair, and with that, we now have a ton of ribbons to show for it! Walter, Rosealita, Jessica D, Jessi W, Robin, Katie G, and Nikki all got Honorable Mention ribbons, Matt N got a 7th place ribbon, August and Nick P got 6th place ribbons, Cyd and Darin got 5th place ribbons, Kelly and Tyler P got 4th place ribbons, Shane got a 3rd place ribbon, Jonathan E, Linda, and Matt J got 2nd place ribbons, and Katie F and Chris got 1st place ribbons! So many ribbons! Great job guys!

Next up (yup, we're still going) is the Sandy Visual Art Show! Today is opening day of this show, and you can go check out the art any day the Sandy Senior Center is open during their regular operation hours. This one kind of snuck up on us, so we only had a few artists who were prepared in time to take part in this show. Last night was the opening reception, and Katie F was super stoked to see her artwork hung there!

Linda also has a piece in this show, and you can see all the artwork through October 7th at the Sandy Senior Center (9310 S 1300 E).

We have one more show coming up, which is the "Dream Within a Dream" exhibit at the Urban Arts Gallery. This show Tyler and Matt N are participating in, and it will open next week (October 4th, to be precise) and run through October 30th, with a reception on the evening of the 21st from 6-9 pm. Make sure you check this one out!

Hey all! We finally have a new date for the library art show reception- Saturday, September 17th from 4-5:30 pm. We hope to see you guys there!

Also, we have several artists participating in the State Fair art competition this year, so if you  plan on going to the State Fair, make sure you check out the back wall of the fine arts building! The State Fair is going on right now, and goes through September 18th :)

The opening reception on the 27th for the art show at the Main Library featuring Tyler, Matt N, Katie F, and Nic C's artwork has been postponed! There was a massive sewage/plumbing issue at the library that they are still working to fix, and the library will be closed until next week. We are working to reschedule the reception, and I will post on here once we have a firm date and time.

Hey all! Time got away from me (as usual), and I didn't realize how long it had been since our last post! So, here's the run down of the past month or so, and highlights of some fun stuff we've done. First off, we are very sorry to say goodbye to our staff members Jake and David. The both moved on to other opportunities, and we wish them the best in their new endeavors and thank them for all they brought to our program- we'll miss you guys! On a positive note, we already have a new staff to take Jake's position, Cappel, and so far we are loving having her! 

Last month, we went out to the UMOCA gallery by Temple Square, and as always, they had some really cool exhibits. But, as a part of this exhibit, they had an area for people to write down or draw their identity, so we took part! A few of us just wrote our names, but Darin drew some fish as well, because he loves fish so much, he feels they are a part of his identity.

​Earlier this month we finally made it out to the Gilgal Sculpture Garden because Tyler had mentioned that he'd like to go there. I know I had never been before, and it was new to most of the people in our group, too. We had heard it was a little strange, but good thing that we're pretty strange too, and we felt right at home! Now, photo dump!

Last, but certainly not least, we have an exciting art show coming up! Tyler, Katie F, Matt N, and Nic C all submitted some artwork for consideration to the City Library at the beginning of the year. The library had contacted us to see if our artists would be willing to do a group art show, to which we gladly said yes! So, the past few months, these four artists have been working hard creating enough pieces to display in the show. And boy do we have enough- I believe the final tally was 53 pieces! I took the pieces over there a little over a week ago, and they are now currently on display in the Lower Urban Gallery at the Main City Library. The opening reception for the show is this Saturday the 27th, from 4-5:30, and we'd love to see some friendly faces, so if you're interested, please swing on by! If you haven't been to the Lower Urban Gallery before, the way to get there is either using the elevator right inside the back door to the library, or use the stairs in the lobby area before going into the library itself. There is also a sign by those stairs pointing you in the right direction. Here's the link for the event for more info:
​​https://events.slcpl.org/event/6989873

A few of us had a chance to swing by there last week, and it all looks great!

​If you can't make it to the reception, try to swing by before the show ends on September 24th- you won't want to miss this one!