Sept. 23, 2014 – One hundred years after the first art gallery on the University of Utah campus opened in the Park Building, art is again to be exhibited there. This new special gallery is devoted to the artistic works of current students, faculty and staff of the U.

“It is fitting to celebrate one hundred years of art collecting at the U by showing work created by a new generation of creative people—whatever their professional disciplines—on the campus of the University of Utah,” says Sandi Pershing, assistant vice president of engagement for the U.

The original Park Gallery grew over the years to the stand-alone Utah Museum of Fine Arts with a permanent collection of 20,000 objects – ranging from antiquities and European masterworks to art of the American West and global contemporary art.

The President’s Gallery opens today on the third floor of the Park Building and is free and open to the public during building hours.

“This exhibition was conceived as a way to recognize the wide range of talent across our campus and to bring the community together to celebrate its incredible creativity,” says Sandi Pershing. “We’re pleased that the inaugural event drew more than 144 submissions and will result in a stunning collection.”

The exhibition contains 28 works including photographs, oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings, mixed media and ceramics, all on the theme “Sense of Place,” which was designed to draw out diverse observations on the land, the people, the community, and campus life in Utah and at the U.

Artists include art students and faculty, but submissions also were made by a grants manager, attorney, research associate in cell imaging, executive secretary in athletics, and a web producer, among others.

The current exhibit will be open until Nov. 13. The selection committee is considering making the exhibition an annual event based on the response to this first show. A digital catalog of the works is being developed to curate a long-term archive of images, with biographies and artistic statements from the exhibitors.