Explore Moab’s indoor beauty by taking a stroll on the Moab Art Walk, Saturday, April 12, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Participating venues will showcase local and regional fine arts and crafts in a fun and festive environment. Several locations will host artist receptions, and artists will be on hand to answer questions and discuss their work.
There are a few newcomers to the Moab Art Walk this season including Gallery Moab, Sandstone Gallery, and Moab Classic Bike. Along with Triassic, the Moab Arts and Recreation Center (MARC), the Edge Gallery, and the Museum of Moab, they add considerable diversity to the Moab art scene.
Gallery Moab, 87 N. Main St., is an artists’ cooperative that features 19 local artists. Their goal, artist Robin Straub said, “is to promote community through the arts.” This month, Gallery Moab will feature oil paintings by Straub, Phil Wagner, and Sandi Snead. Snead’s paintings “tell intensely human stories in a surrealistic style,” she said. Wagner will be showing what he calls “loose and luscious” plein-air landscapes and still-life paintings, and Straub will exhibit a series of brightly colored, animated musical bones.
Straub and Wagner’s work will also be on display at the MARC, located at 111 E. 100 North.
Triassic, Moab’s local tree service and creator of fine functional art, has opened a store at 7 N. Main Street. Triassic began “with the desire to create beautiful, conscious, simple products,” founder and artist Scott Anderson said. Wood harvested by their tree service, as well as salvaged lumber, stone, metal, and concrete are used to create artful products. Wooden spoons, bowls, cutting boards, furniture, sinks, and sculptural stone objects for the yard, or home, are some of the many functional art pieces on display.
In addition to showcasing their own wares, Triassic is also committed to showcasing other local artists, said co-owner Jenni Urbanczyk, who also serves as Moab Art Walk coordinator. This month, they are proud to feature fine ceramics by Jessica Dye. The forms, tones and tactile qualities of her work are inspired by the natural beauty of the red rock that surrounds Moab. Visitors are encouraged to touch, feel and engage with the pieces.
Also new to the Moab Art Walk is the Sandstone Gallery, located at 78 N. Main St. Artist Danny Brown is obsessed with the unique beauty of “picture sandstone.” To create his works, he “allows the stone to guide him through his sculptural expression” so that each piece, “combines Mother Nature and art in every creation.”
For fine art landscape photography, stop in at The Edge Gallery, 137 N. Main St. Photographer Bret Edge creates stunning images from his travels in wild places. Each photograph is presented as a canvas wrap, or archival plaque mount displayed in an open, contemporary gallery space.
Owners Chris Hill, Chris Jones, and Pierre Chastain of Moab Classic Bike, believe that bicycles are works of art. And their newly remodeled, full service bicycle shop is proof. They carry a full selection of bikes, from vintage, restored cruisers, to modern mountain bikes. Chastain is a custom frame builder whose artistic flourishes add a one-of-a-kind style to his work.
Classic Bike also has a coffee bar, seating area, and dedicated art space. This month, it will feature the work of commercial illustrator, and newcomer to the Moab art scene, MIK, (alter ego of Tim McAllister) who will display his “stereo-phonic dimensional graphic collages.”
And finally, stop in and visit the Museum of Moab, which seeks to “preserve, protect, and display information…which accurately reflects the natural and cultural history of the Moab area.”
Several newcomers add diversity
When: Saturday, April 12, 6 to 9 p.m.
Where: Downtown Moab
Cost: Free
