A Complex of Interlocking Forms: Campus Arts and Culture at the University of Utah

 Art and Architecture Center, University of Utah, 1971. University of Utah Facilities Planning and Construction Office records, Acc. 0416, Box 9, Building Files: Art and Architectur--Loose Material, 1968-73. University Archives and Records Management. J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.
 Art and Architecture Center, University of Utah, 1971. University of Utah Facilities Planning and Construction Office records, Acc. 0416, Box 9, Building Files: Art and Architecture--Loose Material, 1968-73. University Archives and Records Management. J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.

 


The [Art and Architecture] department’s two buildings are a complex of interlocking forms and spaces that create an intimate and human atmosphere which nurtures creativity. 

– Art and Architecture Center booklet, University of Utah, 1971. 


In a very, very definite way I wanted nothing to do with high school, and I had no intention of going to college.

– Robert Smithson, interview with Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art, 1972

Spiral Jetty’s fame spread rapidly through the international art world following its April 1970 completion, but for many coastal Artforum readers,  the idea of "Utah" rarely went beyond spartan desertscapes with a vaguely "pioneer" past. Yet those living in the state during the seventies knew Salt Lake City as a cosmopolitan metropolis percolating with creative energy.

In the fall of 1970 – and 290 days behind schedule – the University of Utah debuted a four million-dollar Art and Architecture Center to meet burgeoning student demand for arts education. Campus arts were interdisciplinary and innovative, as architecture and photography students and faculty collaborated with those in dance, film, and computer science. From the late 1960s, up-and-coming art students such as Paul McCarthy and Richard Taylor, whose work is shown below, were exposed to a rotating roster of internationally-regarded artist faculty at the University of Utah. Among the visiting professors were Alex Katz, James Turrell, Robert Irwin, Dale Eldred, Will Insley, and Robert Smithson.

CLICK IMAGES FOR A DETAILED VIEW. Art and Architecture Center, University of Utah, 1971. University of Utah Facilities Planning and Construction Office records, Acc. 0416, Box 9, Building Files: Art and Architecture—Loose Material, 1968-73. University Archives and Records Management. J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.

The elaborately illustrated brochure above introduced readers to the newly completed facilities for the University of Utah’s Departments of Art and Architecture. Fine arts faculty pled for expanded space for their department for many years. In 1970 – the same year that Smithson completed Spiral Jetty – and after many delays, those pleas were finally answered, as the new complex boasted technologically advanced equipment, spaces for photography, film, and computer graphics, as well as traditional techniques and studio spaces. The complex also provided a new space for the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

While the booklet offers an enticing view of the facilities, other archival documents demonstrate that the project had been riddled from the beginning with difficulties, ranging from glaziers initiating strikes and slow-drying concrete to acoustic problems that made some spaces virtually unusable after they were completed. The memos below are just a few examples from University Facilities records that chronicle difficulties with the new complex; click on them to learn about the collection from University Archives. 

CLICK IMAGES FOR DETAILED VIEW. Memos indicating issues with Art and Architecture Center construction 1970-71.

 


 

Richard Taylor, Untitled, ca. 1960-76, acrylic on canvas, 60 ¼ in. x 60 ¼ in. Gift of E. Frank Sanguinetti, UMFA1976.058.
Richard Taylor, Untitled, ca. 1960-76, acrylic on canvas, 60 ¼ in. x 60 ¼ in. Gift of E. Frank Sanguinetti, UMFA1976.058

Richard Taylor studied art at the University of Utah, graduating with a BFA in the late 1960s, acquiring skills in painting, sculpture, photography, and graphic design. The bright colors and sinuous curves in this untitled piece follow similar patterns to those appearing in the spectacular light shows Taylor designed to accompany musical performances in Salt Lake City and beyond. Taylor’s poster design and multi-media production were in demand following the artist’s schooling. He founded Rainbow Jam, a concert production and graphics company, alongside Kenvin Lyman, producing visual effects for bands like the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Santana, and Jethro Tull. Taylor continued to experiment with emerging technologies, working later in film as a director of special effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Looker, and Walt Disney’s Tron.

 


 

Paul McCarthy (1945 – ), Mountain Bowling series, 1969, gelatin silver print. Purchased with funds from the Phyllis Cannon Wattis Endowment Fund and the Paul L. and Phyllis C. Wattis Fund, UMFA2014.9
Paul McCarthy (1945 – ), Mountain Bowling series, 1969, gelatin silver print. Purchased with funds from the Phyllis Cannon Wattis Endowment Fund and the Paul L. and Phyllis C. Wattis Fund, UMFA2014.9.1

People were coming out of a pig’s mouth, romping about in plastic [with] a 30 x 60 foot balloon which contained the band. The balloon was kept up with an air pump, until persons started punching holes in it. Chicks from the Department of Dance were passing around incense and had their faces and bodies painted. They painted other persons whether they liked it or not.

– Jo-Ann Wong, “Up River trip,” Utah Daily Chronicle, May 1970

Best known for his video works, Salt Lake City-born Paul McCarthy studied art both at Weber State University and the University of Utah before furthering his education at the University of Southern California. While at the U, McCarthy was part of the Up River School, a loosely organized group of students from the Art and Architecture departments. Alternatively known as the Upriver Skool and Gum Gum Productions, the group’s most memorable event, The Big Gig, took place on April 29, 1970, in the Union Ballroom. The participatory, multi-media production featured a light show, dance performances, multiple bands, “toys,” and a 17-foot sculpture of a pig that allowed participants to emerge from its playground slide mouth, thus creating psychedelic, immersive environment well-suited for the youth counterculture movements on campus.
Patrick Maguire, “Too Kool for Skool: Paul McCarthy’s Upriver Education,” unpublished manuscript, University of Utah, 2013.

 


 

Architecture students working at computer; R: Early computer graphics rendering of architectural model; both 1972. University of Utah Archival Photograph Collection P0305, D-Architecture, Folder 2, Nos. 17 and 18. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.
Architecture students working at a computer; R: Early computer graphics rendering of an architectural model; both 1972. University of Utah Archival Photograph Collection P0305, D-Architecture, Folder 2, Nos. 17 and 18. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.

 


 

CLICK IMAGES FOR DETAILED VIEW. Art and Architecture students engage in projects across campus, circa 1970.

 


 

L and R: Department of Architecture student Susan Morris defends project before faculty jury, 1972. University of Utah Archival Photograph Collection P0305, D-Architecture, Folder 2, No. 9. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.
L and R: Department of Architecture student Susan Morris defends project before faculty jury, 1972. University of Utah Archival Photograph Collection P0305, D-Architecture, Folder 2, No. 9. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.

 


 

Robert Bliss, Dean, Department of Architecture at the University of Utah, in the recently completed Art and Architecture facilities, September 1971. University of Utah Archival Photograph Collection P0305, D-Architecture, Folder 2, No. 8. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.
Robert Bliss, Dean, Department of Architecture at the University of Utah, in the recently completed Art and Architecture facilities, September 1971. University of Utah Archival Photograph Collection P0305, D-Architecture, Folder 2, No. 8. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah.

Robert Smithson discussed the possibility of a professorship at the University of Utah with Robert Bliss, then Dean of the School of Architecture, when the two met at a gathering at Spiral Jetty in 1971. A few artifacts and Smithson’s now-legendary Hotel Palenque talk testify to the artist’s fleeting presence on campus the following year. Part lecture, part slide show, Smithson delivered Hotel Palenque in the Fine Arts Auditorium on January 24, 1972 to an audience of around 250 people, mostly U of U faculty and students from the Department of Architecture. 

 


 

CLICK IMAGES FOR DETAILED VIEW. L: Robert Smithson (1938 – 1973), Great Salt Lake, Utah: Movie Treatment for Spiral Jetty, 1970. Rare Books Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. C: Postcard for Spiral Jetty screening at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 1972. Utah Museum of Fine Arts records, Acc. 572, Box 2. University Archives and Records Management, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. R: Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ calendar of events, featuring Spiral Jetty screening, 1972. Utah Museum of Fine Arts records, Acc. 572, Box 2. University Archives and Records Management, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah.

 

By the time Smithson was appointed his visiting faculty position at the University of Utah,Spiral Jettyhad achieved international fame as an important example of Earth art, however, it was also the subject of an essay and a film by the artist. The documents shown above, dated to coincide with Smithson's professorship at the U, indicate that the artist was scheduled to deliver commentary on the film after a screening at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

Whether Smithson was present for the Spiral Jetty screening in the Museum's auditorium, however, remains something of an enigma. Researchers have yet to collect any eyewitness accounts confirming whether the lecture on May 14, 1972, took place as scheduled.Nevertheless, Bob Phillips, the foreman overseeing the construction ofSpiral Jetty, tells us that Smithson screened the film in a far less refined local venue: the Parson Construction Company, where Phillips was employed. Bob Phillips, “Building the Jetty,” in Lynne Cooke and Karen Kelly, eds. Robert Smithson: Spiral Jetty (New York, Dia Art Foundation: 2005), 196.

It is easy to imagine that the art-loving audience at the UMFA would have been more receptive to the nonlinear, experimental film than the Ogden-based construction employees, most of whom left, loudly expressing their disdain and bewilderment, before it was over. Smithson, Phillips recounted, seemed wholly unbothered, stating simply, "My work isn't for everybody. Some people don't understand it." We can only speculate whether the audience at the UMFA screening would have asked Smithson some of the same questions as the few Parson employees who managed to finish sitting through the film.

 


 

Documents from Robert Smithson faculty file. University of Utah historical faculty files, Acc. 526, Box 57, Folder 21. University Archives and Records Management, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah.
Documents from Robert Smithson faculty file. University of Utah historical faculty files, Acc. 526, Box 57, Folder 21. University Archives and Records Management, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah.

 


 

Gianfranco Gorgoni (1941 – 2019), Spiral Jetty, 1970, gelatin silver print, 13 ½ x 16 ½ in., Gift of the John Weber Gallery, UMFA1996.22.1.
Gianfranco Gorgoni (1941 – 2019), Spiral Jetty, 1970, gelatin silver print, 13 ½ x 16 ½ in., Gift of the John Weber Gallery, UMFA1996.22.1

 


 

Robert Smithson announces his intent to produce Spiral Jetty on the shore of the Great Salt Lake, March 1970.
Robert Smithson announces his intent to produce Spiral Jetty on the shore of the Great Salt Lake, March 1970. 

 


 

Questions for Closer Looking

What do you notice when you look at pictures of the University buildings that were new in the 1970s? Do they still look modern to you? Do you know of any places in your neighborhood that look similar? Imagine you're time-traveling fifty years into the future: What do you think of architecture that was built in the 2020s?

Both Richard Taylor and Paul McCarthy were art students at the University of Utah around the same time. Can you find any similarities in their artworks shown here?

What do you think it would have been like to have Robert Smithson as your teacher or professor? What kinds of assignments do you think he would give?