The Art of Everett C. Thorpe Shown at USU
Detail from a work by Ev Thorpe, "Sun Worshipers," 1945, Everett C. Thorpe, oil on canvas, 1987.889, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Permanent Collection. (Photo by Andrew McAllister)
Artwork by an iconic artist and former Utah State University professor can be seen for a limited time in exhibit at Utah State University.
Utah State’s Department of Art and Design presents “Relational Expressions: The Art of Everett C. Thorpe” Feb. 6-28 at the Tippetts Exhibit Hall in the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s Logan campus. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
An opening reception is Friday, Feb. 6, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the exhibit site, and all are welcome.
Thorpe was a prolific painter with an adaptive style. The selection of works and ephemera is commemorative of his life and highlights the personal and community connections deeply intertwined with Thorpe’s career as both an artist and a professor.
The artist was born in Providence, Utah, in 1904 and experimented with drawing and painting in childhood and early adolescence until he was able to move to California to take art classes. Thorpe returned to Cache Valley to attend USU and went on to receive his master of fine arts from the University of Utah, with additional study completed at Syracuse University and the Hans Hoffman School of Art in Provincetown, Mass.
His lengthy career as a professor of art began in 1934 at USU, where he continued on until his retirement in 1972.
Thorpe’s varied artistic range includes illustration, portraiture, figurative murals and abstract expressionist landscapes. His work can be found in public establishments throughout the state of Utah, including many tabernacles and temples. Thorpe’s caricatures featuring members of the Royal Bakery coffee club currently circle the dining room of Herm’s Inn. The Bluebird Restaurant is home to his mural interpreting Logan’s history and imagining its future, and his mural for the Logan Country club reflects his deep appreciation of the sport and his role as an involved club member.
The collection of public works highlight familial and community relationships in the work of Everett C. Thorpe, demonstrating the aesthetic range of the artist as an individual, but also the mutual exchange between the artist and his community.
The USU exhibition is curated by Adraine Dalton, assistant curator for the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, with support from professor Christopher T. Terry. The exhibition is made possible through the support of the Tippetts Invitational Arts Endowment, the Caine College of the Arts and the Estate of Everett C. Thorpe.
Related links:
USU Department of Art and Design
Contact: Denise Albiston, 435-797-1500, denise.albiston@usu.edu
Writer: Whitney Schulte, 435-797-9203, whitney.schulte@usu.edu
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