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'''Luther Ellsworth Utterback''' (July 18 1947—May 28, 1997) was an [[United States|American]] artist,<ref>{{cite book|title=The ... ARTnews Directory of Corporate Art Collections|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qo9UAAAAMAAJ|year=1986|publisher=International Art Alliance|page=153}}</ref> primarily working in [[sculpture]] and [[painting]]. He was known for his large scale installations<ref>[https://books.google.ca/books?id=u_XfZROpk4cC&pg=PA243&lpg=PA243&dq=%22Luther+Utterback%22&source=bl&ots=xdSHE-2mKM&sig=Nfyke1Ek2yFT0JjXcWMk_qPoiEg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj4yNqJwNPNAhXBlxoKHeU7B6QQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=%22Luther%20Utterback%22&f=false "Myth of Menace?"]. ''Foreground: Fine Art for the Culturally Curious'', May 22, 2014. David Klein, page 27</ref> in public spaces<ref name="BeardsleyHarney1981">{{cite book|author1=John Beardsley|author2=Andy Leon Harney|title=Art in public places: a survey of community-sponsored projects supported by the National Endowment for the Arts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ec3AQAAIAAJ|date=June 1981|publisher=Partners for Livable Places|pages=24–27, 107}}</ref> and corporate buildings.<ref>{{cite book|title=Corporate Design|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHHsAAAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Whitney Communications Corporation}}</ref>
'''Luther Ellsworth Utterback''' (July 18 1947—May 28, 1997) was an [[United States|American]] artist,<ref>{{cite book|title=The ... ARTnews Directory of Corporate Art Collections|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qo9UAAAAMAAJ|year=1986|publisher=International Art Alliance|page=153}}</ref> primarily working in [[sculpture]] and [[painting]]. He was known for his large scale installations<ref>[https://books.google.ca/books?id=u_XfZROpk4cC&pg=PA243&lpg=PA243&dq=%22Luther+Utterback%22&source=bl&ots=xdSHE-2mKM&sig=Nfyke1Ek2yFT0JjXcWMk_qPoiEg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj4yNqJwNPNAhXBlxoKHeU7B6QQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=%22Luther%20Utterback%22&f=false "Myth of Menace?"]. ''Foreground: Fine Art for the Culturally Curious'', May 22, 2014. David Klein, page 27</ref> in public spaces<ref name="BeardsleyHarney1981">{{cite book|author1=John Beardsley|author2=Andy Leon Harney|title=Art in public places: a survey of community-sponsored projects supported by the National Endowment for the Arts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ec3AQAAIAAJ|date=June 1981|publisher=Partners for Livable Places|pages=24–27, 107}}</ref> and corporate buildings.<ref>{{cite book|title=Corporate Design|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHHsAAAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Whitney Communications Corporation}}</ref>


Revision as of 23:06, 13 July 2017

Luther Ellsworth Utterback (July 18 1947—May 28, 1997) was an American artist,[1] primarily working in sculpture and painting. He was known for his large scale installations[2] in public spaces[3] and corporate buildings.[4]

Personal Life and Work

Utterback was born in Texas, the only child of Rev. Glenn Lester Utterback and Ruth Henderickson Utterback.[5] Reverend Utterback soon moved his family to Nashua, Iowa[6] so he could pastor the Little Brown Church.

Luther studied sculpture and drawing at the University of Iowa, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1970, a Master of Arts in 1972, and a Master of Fine Arts in 1973. While attending graduate school, he also served as a teaching assistant for sculpture and 3D design classes.

Career

In 1974, Utterback began serving as an instructor for the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Iowa. In 1975-1976, he was a visiting artist at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. It was during this time, in early 1976, that the University of Iowa held a competition for a structural sculpture to be placed on the university’s campus, near the Hancher Auditorium.[7] Utterback was chosen, and, later in 1976, he completed the piece, which he entitled, “Untitled.”[8][9]

Utterback moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1976. There he created a series of drawings on mylar, linen, and paper. He returned to Des Moines in 1979, after receiving a commission to create an art installation in the state capitol grounds of the Hoover State Office Building in Des Moines.[10][11] That year he began construction on the piece he titled, “Five Stones, One Tree”.[12] The piece as completed in 1980.

Over the years, Utterback shifted his life back and forth between Iowa and New York. During the 1980's, he traveled around the United States, and also to Venezuela and Italy, producing two exhibitions in the latter’s port city of Bari.

In 1994, Utterback self-published—with the help of his friend and ex-roommate[13], Steven Vail—a volume of his writings, entitled, ‘’Seminary Of The Wild: “Why Not” For The Wobble In The Wave’’.

In 1996, Utterback returned to New York to begin designing a large project, a 1,000-acre piece was intended as a planting reserve, incorporating four limestone “pyramid” structures and land covenants.[14] Before he could begin construction of this project, and two weeks before his planned first exhibition in Brooklyn, Utterback was struck by a taxi, went into a coma, and died five weeks later at the age of 49 on May 28, 1997.

Posthumous events

In December, 1999, an exhibition of Utterback’s later drawings and paintings was held by his friend Steven Vail, at Vail's gallery. In November 2004, the Karolyn Sherwood Gallery ran an exhibition, “Private Collections Uncovered,” that featured Utterback’s massive, three-painting series, called “Man, Woman, Child.” In 2014, Utterback’s hometown, Nashua, Iowa, was given an $80,000 grant through Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning Program; the money has been designated for construction of Utterback’s unrealized design, titled “Dream Project”.[15]

Selected works

  • “Untitled” - a stone installation on the campus of the University of Iowa, near the Hancher Auditorium. It is comprised of four large, rectangular, limestone blocks; three blocks standing, one block laying on its side.[16] The blocks were cut at the Reed Quarries in Bloomington, Indiana, each block weighing approximately 40 tons. They were transported to Iowa City via train, where Utterback positioned them according to his design.
  • “Five Stones, One Tree” - An art installation in the green space of the Hoover State Office Building in Des Moines.[17] It is comprised of two rough-cut, limestone pillars, each containing two large stones, standing about 22 feet apart. The stones are oriented so that their smoothly textured sides face east and west, and their adjacent, naturally accreted sides face north and south. Between these pillars, the earth has settled in the form of a rectangle over a 16-ton block of limestone buried 6 feet below the surface. [18] A Japanese ginkgo tree completed the design, forming an isosceles triangle between it and the two pillars. The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation posted written an interpretation and review of the piece. [6]

References

  1. ^ The ... ARTnews Directory of Corporate Art Collections. International Art Alliance. 1986. p. 153.
  2. ^ "Myth of Menace?". Foreground: Fine Art for the Culturally Curious, May 22, 2014. David Klein, page 27
  3. ^ John Beardsley; Andy Leon Harney (June 1981). Art in public places: a survey of community-sponsored projects supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Partners for Livable Places. pp. 24–27, 107.
  4. ^ Corporate Design. Whitney Communications Corporation. 1982.
  5. ^ "It's Showcase on U of I Campus". Nashua Reporter, via Newspaper Archives, September 08, 1976 - Page 6
  6. ^ a b Five Stones, One Tree | Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation
  7. ^ The University of Iowa Guide to Campus Architecture - John Beldon Scott, Rodeny P. Lehnertz. page 243 - via Google Books
  8. ^ "Art on the Move". Iowa Now, February, 2013.
  9. ^ Iowa Alumni Magazine. Vol. Volume 54. UI Alumni Association. 2001. p. 25. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  10. ^ Five Stones, One Tree | Public Art Archive
  11. ^ United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on the Dept. of the Interior and Related Agencies (1979). Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1979: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, Second Session on H. R. 12932. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 833.
  12. ^ "Luther Utterback". The Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa, February 4, 1979. Page 156. via Newspapers.com (subscription required)
  13. ^ "20 Years of Fortitude". Cityview, 2013 06 19.
  14. ^ "Iowan's Life Dream". Cedar Rapids Gazette, via Newspaper Archives. October 27, 1996 - Page 47
  15. ^ "Group lands grant worth about $80k". New Hampton Tribune [dead link‍]
  16. ^ 'Untitled' by Luther Utterback in Iowa City - Virtual Globetrotting website
  17. ^ Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1979: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1979. p. 833.
  18. ^ Deborah A. Hoover (1989). Supporting Yourself as an Artist: A Practical Guide. Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-19-505971-7.
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