Have you noticed the cool artwork and historical maps that have been strategically placed throughout the Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building?
That doesn’t happen by accident. In fact, the school has some expert help in setting up the new building to showcase great artwork, which is curated by a school-appointed art committee whose first display features a historical Utah map exhibit on loan from alumnus Stephen Boulay.
“With the advent of these fine art exhibits, the David Eccles School of Business is offering a unique level of culture and sophistication to our business students,” said Taylor Randall, dean of the business school. “We are very excited to have an arts committee curating these exhibits, as they will not only cultivate an appreciation for art and beauty in our students, but will provide the perfect adornment to our beautiful new business building.”
The business school’s appointed arts committee is focused on elevating an atmosphere at the business school that fosters intellectual and cultural study and enrichment. In addition to determining the types of artwork to be accepted for inclusion in the school’s permanent collection, the committee will also cover art donations made to the David Eccles School of Business, and where to place artwork on short and long-term loans across the David Eccles School of Business campus.
“As an art committee, our mission is to create an aesthetically pleasing environment for students, faculty, and visitors that is conducive to the pursuit of business,” said Anne Palmer Peterson, an arts writer and critic who curates with the committee. “We are thrilled to help bring this added element of refinement and culture to the business school.”
The David Eccles School of Business is also collaborating with the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) to make the arts exhibitions successful and meaningful. UMFA curator Donna Poulton and director Gretchen Dietrich have arranged for the donations of paintings by Waldo Migley and one by Gary Earnest Smith, as well as curating other opening exhibits. The curated artwork will be placed throughout the new business building in locations close to student study areas to enable them to participate in a well-rounded education and view the art as they continue in their regular schedules.
One of the first exhibitions at the business school is entitled “Imagining Utah: Terra Incognita to Commercial Crossroads,” and features historical maps of Utah dated from 1500-1896. On loan from Stephen Boulay, a Salt Lake City businessman who earned his MBA from the David Eccles School of Business, the exhibition includes some of his most prized cartographical renditions showing the territory from its sixteenth century imaginings to statehood in 1896. As a whole, the maps shed light on how the acquisition of wealth in the early Age of Discovery was a powerful motivator for commercial expansion, and in shaping Utah as the commercial crossroads of the American West.
“As a businessman, I was excited to be able to share my long-held passion for maps and Utah’s history with the students and faculty at the business school,” Boulay said. “Every student should be able to appreciate the level of culture and refinement that comes through art—regardless of their academic discipline—and this is an endeavor I am pleased to take part in.”
Other artworks on display include the building’s newest exhibition, “Bookstore paintings by Gibbs Smith,” along with a collection of silkscreens on loan from University of Utah fine art professor Raymond Morales. Smith’s series of paintings, created over a period of 35 years, represents the artist’s desire to capture the spirit of beloved bookstores Smith has visited throughout the country. The silkscreen exhibition, entitled “OJ I, II, III,” is a three-series display derived from the essence, color, and form on the original packaging of frozen orange juice cans. These exhibitions, as well as others curated by the arts committee, have been on display since Sept. 26, 2013.