Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum
Mesa, Arizona
May 10, 2024 - August 4, 2024
Materializing Mormonism: Trajectories in Contemporary Latter-day Saint Art showcased a broad spectrum of contemporary art created by artists affiliated with and adjacent to the faith. These objects explore ideas such as community and belonging; natural and built environments; worldmaking; peculiar “Mormon” iconography; and the body as a privileged and yet contested site. Together, these artworks demonstrate the vibrancy and complexity of artistic dialogues in recent Latter-day Saint visual culture and seek to expand visitors’ expectations of fine art inspired by this increasingly worldwide faith.
Materializing Mormonism: Trajectories in Contemporary Latter-day Saint Art was organized by Heather Belnap, Ashlee Whitaker Evans, and Brontë Hebdon. It was produced by the Center for Latter-day Saint and made possible by donors to the Center.
We invited visitors to share their thoughts, experiences, and personal reflections on how Materializing Mormonism resonated with them.
Read Visitor Essays
Take a virtual stroll through the gallery. Explore the exhibition layout, read detailed wall text, and get an up-close look at each artwork.
Take a Virtual Tour
Exhibition Images
Materializing Mormonism: Trajectories in Contemporary Latter-day Saint Art. Heather Belnap, Ashlee Whitaker Evans, and Bronte Hebdon, curators and Cameron King, graphic designer
Kent Christensen
Kwani Povi Winder, Susana Isabel Silva
Brian Kershisnik, Madyson Ysagaga, Stephanie Kelly Clark, Mary Sauer, Eduardo Alvarez
Brian Kershisnik, Ryan Moffet, Stephanie Kelly Clark, Mary Sauer
Mary Sauer, Eduardo Alvarez, Madyson Ysagaga, J. Kirk Richards
Ron Lin, Madeline Rupard
Collin Bradford
Emily Hawkins, Fidalis Buehler, Corrine Geertsen, Casey Jex Smith
Maddison Tenney, Gregg Deal, Emily Fox King, Michael Whiting, Gi (Ginny) Huo, Megan Knobloch Geilman, Rachel Stallings Thomander, Emily Hawkins, Jared Lindsay Clark, Fidalis Buehler, Corrine Geertsen, Casey Jex Smith
Jared Lindsay Clark, Kelly Brook, Emilia Wiing, Danielle Hatch, Whitney Johnson
Kelly Brooks, Emilia Wiing, Danielle Hatch, Whitney Johnson
Stephanie Leitch, Michael Whiting, Susan Krueger-Barber, ARCH-HIVE Collective, Brittany Long Olsen, Matt Page, Amber Lee Ramos, Lane Twitchell, Edward Bateman, Corrine Geertsen, Madeline Rupard, Jared Lindsay Clark
Daniel George, Page Turner, Susan Krueger-Barber, ARCH-HIVE Collective, Matt Page, Brittany Long Olsen, Amber Lee Ramos, Lane Twitchell, Edward Bateman, Michael Whiting
Aïsha Lehmann, Maddison Tenney, Gregg Deal, Michael Whiting, Emily Fox King, Gi (Ginny) Huo
Michael Whiting, Gregg Deal, Emily Fox King, Gi (Ginny) Huo, Megan Knobloch Geilman, Rachel Stallings Thomander, Daniel George, Susan Krueger-Barber, ARCH-HIVE Collective
Maddison Tenney, Gregg Deal, Emily Fox King, Gi (Ginny) Huo, Megan Knobloch Geilman
Emily Fox King, Gi (Ginny) Huo, Megan Knobloch Geilman, Rachel Stallings Thomander, Daniel George, Page Turner, Susan Krueger-Barber, ARCH-HIVE Collective
Page Turner, Megan Knobloch Geilman, Rachel Stallings Thomander, Daniel George
Page Turner, Mary Sauer, Madyson Ysagaga, Eduardo Alvarez, Kwani Povi Winder, Susana Isabel Silva, , Michael Whiting, Danielle Hatch, Stephanie Leitch
Acknowledgments
This exhibition took years to develop and was accomplished with the sustained efforts of many people. We gratefully acknowledge the following:
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Heather Belnap is Professor of Art History & Curatorial Studies and the newly-appointed Global Women's Studies Coordinator at Brigham Young University. She has presented and published widely in feminist art history, and particularly on women in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art and society. Recently, she has turned her attention to the fields of Utah and Mormon studies. Professor Belnap is the author, with Corry Cropper and Daryl Lee, of Marianne Meets the Mormons: Representations of Mormonism in Nineteenth-century France (University of Illinois Press, 2022), winner of the John Whitmer Historical Association's 2023 Best Book Award. She has co-edited two books, Interior Portraiture and Masculine Identity in France, 1789-1914 (Ashgate, 2011) and Women, Femininity, and Public Space in European Visual Culture, 1789-1914 (Routledge, 2014) and published numerous articles and essays in feminist art history and cultural studies.
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Ashlee Whitaker Evans is the former Head Curator and the Roy & Carol Christensen Curator of Religious Art at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art. Her research interests span religious art and visual culture, as well as western regional American art. She has curated numerous exhibitions, including: Rend the Heavens: Intersections of the Human and Divine, In the Arena: The Art of Mahonri Young, The Interpretation Thereof: Contemporary LDS Art and Scripture, Capturing the Canyons: Artists in the National Parks, Loving Devotion: Visions of Vishnu, and Moving Pictures: C.C.A Christensen’s Mormon Panorama.
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Brontë Hebdon is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and an adjunct instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, The State University of New York. Her research has been supported by the Veronika Gervers Research Fellowship in Textile and Fashion History at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, as well as New York University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship. She is the curator of two exhibitions for the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts that focus on the art, visual culture, and belief systems of the Latter-day Saint tradition.
Curatorial Team:
Design Team:
Cameron King, exhibition graphic designer
Allan Lucas, SketchUp gallery layout
Tim Boyle, virtual tour design
Lenders of artworks, including artists, collectors, and public institutions
Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum personnel:
Mandy Tripoli, deputy director
Mary-Beth Buesgen, interim Museum Contemporary Arts curator
Frank Gonzales, exhibits designer/preparator
Judy Dahms-Brouillard, registrar
Laura Jacobson, curatorial office assistant
The City of Mesa, Arizona
Mesa Committee for the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts:
Candice Copple
Scott Higginson
Chris and Toria Trendler
Gerrit and Judy Steenblik
Christy Worsley
Donors to this exhibition:
Chris and Toria Trendler
Atmosphere Architects, Mesa Arizona
Donors to the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts
For the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts:
Mykal Urbina, executive director
Richard L. Bushman, chairman of the board
Stanley Hainsworth, chairman of the board-elect
Glen Nelson, director of special projects
Emily Larsen Doxford, director of marketing & communications
Emily Spung, administrative assistant
Ron Schneider, finances
Erin Eastmond, special projects intern
Hannah Keime, social media intern
Thatcher + Co., public relations
Angela Mason Houston Photography, installation photography