Once a month, Logan City businesses host local artists for a community walkabout. The downtown Gallery Walk features visual arts and the occasional guitar soloists. Recently, organizers joined with Logan City Limits, a yearly music festival, to combine visual and audio arts. UPR’s Alyssa Robinson was there and began her gallery tour by visiting the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Arts museum on wheels.
I’m entering the art truck. The first thing I see are some stereos and some sound equipment. There’s some car engine sounds and some breathing.
“Names MikeyKettinger, I’m the artist of the piece here. The piece is called Idle Sounds and it’s an interactive sound project where people can stimulate the effects of air pollution on breathing and health.
“I have asthma, because my parents smoked my whole life," Kettinger said. "Not necessarily because of air pollution caused by idling but bad air quality. We have a terrible problem with air pollution here in Utah, especially in Logan and Cache Valley. I like to do projects that spread awareness about important issues like that. I like to do playful and interactive and fun projects. That’s a really good way to get people to learn and to engage with things. So I created this interactive project so that people could come in here and play with the effects pedals - just like a guitarist would, like Jimi Hendrix or something, but instead of making music you’re learning something - a little science and health.”
A block or so from the truck, Oasis book store has been cleared for a performance by the local Indie band, Kitfox. A brick wall and white string lights span the length of the ceiling toward the back of the store, where fans gather near a platform stage.
In the back of the shop The Spirit Goat, I’m seeing some ceramics. There’s different cups and vases. A lot of them have bricks on them and sketch drawings. There’s one that says ‘I love you potato’ and has a cat holding a potato.
“My name is Evalee Campbell. This body of work is inspired by city landscapes. So you see this brick pattern with just the different color on buildings and kind of trees and nature as well.”
The next Logan City Gallery Walk is scheduled for July.
