(St. George, UT) - The Sears Art Museum Gallery at the Dixie State College of Utah Dolores Dore’ Eccles Fine Arts Center will present a new summer exhibit, featuring the works of figurative artist J. Kirk Richards. The exhibit, free to the public, opens Friday, May 28, with a special reception at 7:00pm. The showing will run Monday - Thursday,9:00am - 5:00pm through August 12th.

Richards is known for his spiritual-themed paintings and sculptures. In 2005 he accepted a commission from noted documentary filmmaker Helen Whitney to create artwork for the PBS Frontline Documentary entitled "The Mormons: An American Experience", which aired in May 2007. Richards has created work for the BYU Museum of Art entitled "Beholding Salvation: The Life of Christ", and for Lee Groberg's collaborative project, "Sweetwater Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story".

His work has been included in numerous publications including Ensign and Liahona Magazines, the non-denominational publication The Upper Room, BYU Studies, Covenant Communications publications "Images and Testimonies of the Living Christ", "The Holy Bible: New Testament", and the "LDS Family Hymnbook". His painting "The Paralytic" was recently featured on the cover of Jeffrey R. Holland’s newest book, "Broken Things to Mend". Richards has also been featured in articles by Meridian Magazine, Deseret News, 15 Bytes, LDStoday.com, and Mormon Artist Magazine.

While he prefers to work in a variety of styles, most of Richards’ work exhibits a love for the human figure, general use of symbolism and metaphor, an emphasis on lyric composition, and a fusion of the old and the new.

“My current work is about combining the physical and the spiritual - two elements that, when put together, create both tensions and harmonies in surprising and beautiful ways,” Richards says.

“I have chosen archetypal symbols to represent the spiritual: wings and haloes, the sun, trees and vines, lights and lamps,” he added. “In contrast, the physical is represented with human figures, roads, and even animals.”

He is a native of Provo, Utah, and attributes much of his love for the arts to an early emphasis on musical training in the home. As a teen, his interests turned from music to visual arts. He took private lessons from artist Clayton Williams to supplement his public school studies. Upon graduation, Richards was accepted into Brigham Young University’s art program, where he studied with artists Bruce Smith, Hagen Haltern, Gary Barton, James Christensen, Wulf Barsch and Joe Ostraff, among others. While at BYU, Richards took a break from his studies to briefly apprentice with Swiss-born symbolist Patrick Devonas. Richards credits his learning of classical realist skills to the instruction he received from Devonas in Princeton, New Jersey.

“I have tried to make aesthetic and process choices to reinforce the tension between spiritual and physical: traditional materials versus mixed media, traditional glazing versus impasto paint application, representation versus textural surface, tight finish versus process marks,” Richards said. “I want all of these things to combine in a tension that echoes the sometimes difficult, sometimes triumphant spiritual journey of the human soul.”

In addition to fine art, Richards’ creative pursuits include writing and illustrating children’s books, songwriting, and music performance. He also teaches figure drawing classes at the Bridge Academy in Provo, and privately at his home and by correspondence. Richards divides his time between his home/studio in Provo and his studio in rural Redmond, Utah.

For more information on these exhibits, contact Sears Art Museum Gallery curator Kathy Cieslewicz at (435) 652-7909 or e-mail at Kathy Cieslewicz