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Reviewed by:
  • Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts
  • Jill Terry Rudy
Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts. Produced by the Utah Arts Council Folk Arts Program. Curated by Carol Edison. Exhibit Web site by George Schoemaker. Salt Lake City, UT. This is a permanent exhibit.

A perfect fit. This describes the location, presentation, and content of the Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts. The exhibit features dozens of intricate and interesting items, artfully arranged in four well-lighted, brightly painted galleries. Although the rooms are small, the careful placement of items creates a spacious sense of access. The galleries, two each on the main and upper floors of the Chase Home, highlight the creative abilities of folk artists in Utah. The Chase Home itself encapsulates the themes of everyday art, gathering, diversity, and usefulness that echo in the exhibit.

The folk art takes center stage at the museum, accompanied by detailed labels with pictures of the artists. In brief but informative paragraphs, the labels describe where the artist learned to make the item, what materials and methods were used, and how the art fits into the community or with the artist’s other skills. For example, the label describing paper cuts (a traditional art form that involves creating a design on paper by drawing on or folding paper and then cutting the design) made in Blanding, Utah, mentions that the art form is popular in the community, and the artist also “sews, makes quilts, and does other needlework.” The label for the Hawaiian quilt made by Moani Revoir explains the process by which the artist works: “Moani sews traditional whole cloth quilts . . . made from two pieces of fabric, one cut into a design and appliquéd upon the other.” The detailed information in the labels comes from fieldwork and the relationship of the artists with the Utah Folk Arts Program staff.

Most visitors will enter the Native Gallery first and will be immediately impressed by the large drum displayed in the center of the room and the cradleboards (decorated wooden frameworks covered with fabric or skin, used to carry or hold babies) on the walls. Items from the six Utah tribes—Goshute, Northern Ute, Paiute, Shoshone, Ute Mountain Ute, and Navajo— are represented along with artifacts created by Utah artists who come from tribes outside of the state, including Hopi and Seneca. Beadwork, baskets, and blankets are among the artistic materials on display. Carved sandstone toys shaped like trucks and horses, along with carved wood creatures with human bodies and animal heads, are some of the unexpected art forms in the room.

The Rural Gallery features braided and woven rugs on two of its walls; wood carvings and paper cuts appear on the other walls. Metal sculpture depicting aspects of rural farm life occupies a central spot in the middle of the room. Wooden furniture and a totem pole with well-known Utah symbols also catch the eye. The Occupational Gallery continues the western theme suggested by the rural objects, with saddles and tack prominently featured. A colorful quilt with all the brands of the Dry Gulch Cattle Association covers much of the west wall, away from the stone gargoyle that snarls behind Plexiglas in the southeast corner.

The gargoyle brings up another important Utah group that does not appear in the names of the galleries—families. The gargoyle represents several generations of a family whose occupation is stone carving. Many of the labels throughout the exhibit explain that the artist learned from a family member. Showing that Utah folk groups and art forms can be interchangeable, several items in the Occupational Gallery are made by Navajo artists, including horse cinches and saddle blankets. The Ethnic Gallery continues to display diversity with items representing emigrants from Japan, Mexico, [End Page 241] Peru, Armenia, Tonga, China, Austria, Tahiti, and Ukraine. Appliquéd quilts, lacework, paper cuts, paper flowers, painted eggs, origami cranes, woven crucifixes, and Day of the Dead figures are among the colorful and significant objects that fill the room. An understated subtheme of this gallery is another significant type of social group in Utah, one based in religion.

Several thoughtful techniques enhance the appearance of the...

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