Museums
The Springville Museum of Art is Utah’s first museum for the visual fine arts. As official State Wide Art Partnership (SWAP) headquarters, the Museum is home for visual art educational outreach programs to the schools of Utah. A variety of exhibitions, concerts, programs and special events are offered throughout the year. http://www.smofa.org/
The Museum of Natural Curiosity, located in Thanksgiving Pointe in Lehi, features more than 400 interactive experiences that teach science, arts, history, and culture through a unique interdisciplinary approach to family learning. This large glass-walled building houses more than 400 science- & nature-themed interactive exhibits. Children will uncover their innate sense of curiosity and use their imaginations freely throughout five interactive exhibit areas: Rainforest, Waterworks, Kidopolis, Children’s Discovery Garden, and Traveling Exhibits. www.museumofnaturalcuriosity.org
Thanksgiving Point houses the North American Museum of Ancient Life, one of the largest dinosaur museums of its kind, including a 150-million-year-old dinosaur egg. There’s also the Johnny Miller-designed Thanksgiving Point Golf Club and two gorgeous garden displays with activities for every season. www.thanksgivingpoint.org/
The Woodbury Art Museum, located on the southeast corner at the second floor of University Mall, provides free exhibitions and programs for our academic and local communities. Showcasing the museum’s Permanent Collection and rotating exhibitions, the museum has been presenting the visual arts since 2002. The Permanent Collection consists of over 200 works of art, including several named collections, generously donated to the museum. Recent acquisitions add to our primarily contemporary, American collections scope as we strive to obtain works of high interpretive potential. http://www.uvu.edu/museum/
The Living Planet, located in Draper, claims to provide living “classrooms” that immerse people in natural ecosystems, bridging the gaps between education, entertainment and conservation to help people understand and appreciate their connection to the global system of life. http://www.thelivingplanet.com/
Terra Nova (which is Latin, meaning “new ground”) was created to give local emerging and established artists an opportunity to exhibit their work in a fresh, new venue. The concept behind this Provo gallery is to provide exhibit space for original works from artists who are ‘ready to hang’ but are not tied to a particular gallery. http://terranovagallery.com/
The Clark Planetarium is situated within the Gateway District at the intersection of 400 West and 100 South in downtown Salt Lake City. Clark Planetarium Productions is one of the few informal science education institutions with the resources to create and distribute its own full-dome animation content. New exhibits are added on a regular basis, including a rocketry display by ATK Launch Systems of Utah, a Solar Energy exhibit, and “Weight on Other Worlds.” http://clarkplanetarium.org
Discovery Gateway, formerly The Children’s Museum of Utah (TCMU) in Salt Lake City, is an interactive, hands-on children’s museum located in downtown Salt Lake City. Discovery Gateway’s programs and exhibits are designed to address the many ways that children learn, as well as to help parents understand and support their children’s development. Our engaging and interactive activities inspire creative play and learning, and fun for the entire family. www.discoverygateway.org
The Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) is a museum located at the Rio Tinto Center on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The museum shows exhibits of natural history subjects, with an emphasis on Utah’s natural history. The mission of the museum is to illuminate the natural world and the place of humans within it. http://nhmu.utah.edu/
The Church History Museum is the premier museum operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is located in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is opposite the west gates of the church’s Temple Square. The museum contains collections of art, artifacts, documents, photographs, tools, clothing and furniture from the almost two-century history of the LDS Church. The Church History Museum is open six days a week. Admission is free. The Museum Store is closed Sundays. https://history.lds.org/section/museum
The Leonardo opened on October 8, 2011 is located in the heart of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Leonardo is a first-of-a-kind museum to fuse science, technology and art in experiences that inspire creativity and innovation in young people and adults. This program is aimed to attract those individuals, families and businesses who can help to create and build on Utah’s and the city’s brand as an innovation economy. http://www.theleonardo.org/
The Urban Arts Gallery is a non-profit art venue of the Utah Arts Alliance, located at The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City since February 2013. The gallery showcases contemporary works by over 50 emerging and established Utah artists in the broad spectrum of street art to fine modern art, encouraging the appreciation of city life, cultural diversity, and diverse art mediums. In the boutique you can find locally produced and handmade gifts. The space is also available to rent for private and community cultural events. http://urbanartsgallery.org/
Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City regularly exhibits artworks by local, national and international artists throughout its four gallery spaces. It hosts regular events, shows films, holds classes and gives presentations to encourage a wider variety of people to enjoy all the museum has to offer. On the second Saturday of the month the gallery hosts Family Art Saturdays with free hands-on art projects for children. http://www.utahmoca.org/
The Hive Gallery is an art gallery that also hosts regular photo contests, fashion shows and music events, as well as providing art classes for both youths and adults. Set in historic Trolley Square in downtown Salt Lake City, the gallery’s aim is to inspire and bring out the artist in all of us. Through their special events and rotating exhibitions The Hive Gallery wishes to raise awareness and appreciation for the arts in the local community. The 1600 square foot exhibition space is available for rental for budding artists to host their own shows. http://www.saltlakecity.com/places/the-hive-gallery
Another participant in Salt Lake City’s Gallery Stroll, the 15th Street Gallery exhibits work by award-winning local artists as well as acting as a platform for budding new artists. Situated in the boutique commercial district of 15th & 15th Sugarhouse, this is a stylish and modern fine art gallery worthy of an afternoon’s exploration. http://www.15thstreetgallery.com/
BYU MUSEUMS
BYU Museum of Art offers a dynamic exhibition schedule that includes world-class traveling shows and unique temporary exhibits. The museum displays paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, installations, video, and photography. The permanent collection contains works of art from many renowned artists including Carl Bloch, Maynard Dixon, Rembrandt, Norman Rockwell, and Minerva Teichert. The museum’s permanent collection is augmented by a number of partnerships with other organizations and traveling exhibits and other special exhibit. http://moa.byu.edu/
Formerly known as Earth Science Museum, BYU Museum of Paleontology was built in 1976 to prepare, display, and house the rock and dinosaur fossils collected by Dr. James A. Jensen and his crews. Over decades of field work, Dr. Jensen and crews gathered fossils from locations in Utah, Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming. The museum is currently directed by Rodney Scheetz, who was one of Jensen’s students at BYU. Its main purpose is to facilitate research, but it is open to the public. http://geology.byu.edu/museum/
The Bean Museum, located in BYU Provo Campus, was opened to the public in 1978, is accredited by the American Association of Museums and maintains membership in the Natural Science Collections Alliance. Research collections of vascular and non-vascular plants, invertebrate and vertebrate animals are maintained and made available to research scientists and educators. Public exhibits and educational programs are offered. http://mlbean.byu.edu/
PHOTO CREDITS: usbusutah.com | smofa.org | utahvalley.com | history.byu.edu