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New Summit County public art exhibit wants to see ‘A View from My Door’

Photo submissions due by March 17

Last summer, the Summit County Public Art Advisory Board opened a temporary photography exhibit called “Inside-Out Park City.” The art adorned the windows of empty commercial spaces in Newpark.

The project was part of a worldwide public art project called Inside Out, that told stories of local people through photographs.

Park City-based photographer Rebekah Stevens took black and white portraits of Summit County entrepreneurs and the photographs were made into door-sized posters.

The success of “Inside-Out Park City” spurred the Summit County Public Art Advisory Board to plan and create a new exhibit, “A View from My Door,” which will feature posters from scenic photographs taken by the general public.

The temporary art will be installed in under-used business windows located throughout Summit County, said Kristen Mitchell, chairwoman of the Summit County Public Art Advisory Board.

The project is made possible by the support of grants from Utah Division of Arts and Museums and Summit County RAP. The Arts Council is also a fiscal supporter.

“Since this exhibit will be countywide, we’re hoping people may get interested in taking a tour and visit places that they’ve never been to before,” Mitchell said during a joint Park Record interview with Hadley Dynak, executive director of the Park City Summit County Arts Council and liaison to the Summit County Public Art Advisory Board. “Since the posters are created from photographs that the public will take, it will give people more of an incentive to go see where their picture is shown.”

Since the theme is “A View from My Door,” Mitchell would like to emphasize that the submitted photos represent how local residents see the surrounding areas.

“That means people can literally take a photo from the threshold of their front door, or they can go for a hike or a drive and take a photo from wherever they end up,” she said.

Dynak added that a critical part of the project is people don’t have think of themselves as artists to participate.

“In this digital age, we’re all taking photos and capturing moments with our phones and cameras all the time,” she said. “So, we want this to empower our larger community to share their perspective on this theme of what the world looks like from their perspective.”

While this is a community-generated art exhibit, the posters, which will be printed in black and white, will be curated by two Kimball Art Center staff: Education Director Amy MacDonald and Exhibitions Director Nancy Stoaks.

The public can visit darkstorefronts.org to fill out entry forms and upload and submit their photographs. Submission deadline is Friday, March 17.

The locations have yet to be determined.

“We’re still working on securing all the properties we want to use, and we also want to encourage property owners who are interested in participating to get in touch with us through the website,” Dynak said. “We want to promote participatory public art projects and test the model in engaging people in the creation of public art and get people out to these spaces.

“The mission of the Summit County Public Art Board is to unite and celebrate our county through public art. So, I think this project is a great way to execute this mission.”

Mitchell was happy by the response from those who saw and those who participated in last summer’s exhibit.

“The idea of collaborative artwork formed connections with people who created the work, but also celebrated who we are as a community,” she said. “There were conversations between like-minded people who would not have otherwise connected when the subjects came to get their portraits photographed. [And that] helped everyone realize how connected we are in the community.”

Dynak is grateful to Newpark business owners for their support.

“We were fortunate to receive permission from Newpark Retail to use the Center Drive properties and use the first exhibit to demonstrate the creative energies that was coming from our local entrepreneurs,” she said.

Deadline to submit photographs for the new Summit County Public Arts Advisory Board’s new exhibit “A View from My Door” is Friday, March 17. For submission information, visit http://www.darkstorefronts.org.

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