Artists

This issue features the work of Andrew Whitlock, a photographer, adjunct professor for the Utah State University Art Department, and current associate curator for the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University. Whitlock says of the photographic essay presented here : “I’m a member of a unique brotherhood bonded by disillusion, despair, chance, exhaustion, shock, aftershock, wounds, and death. That brotherhood, abandoned and branded, came “home” from Vietnam to fight a second war – an inner war. “I both believe and epitomize the image of returned Vietnam veterans whose war continues. Now after almost two decades, I have found a means of facing that wrenching time of instant transformation from boy to man. These are my photographs born of implausible reality, nightmares, flashbacks, and sleepless nights. “Each photograph is an unearthing of some small corner of my past experi￾ences – combined with symbolic items and hand-colorized silver prints to help interpret a time and prolonged event incomprehensible to both the participants and those who avoided and/or, ignored that war. “I use red, violet, and purple, along with yellow, and the colors of the Vietnam Service Medal. “Consciously I am trying, to be aware of some things, but I think that I have a lot of subconscious pulling out, and I am dwelling on the past experiences that I’m not totally aware of, until that work is pretty well in the making. “The changes have not been easy. The years since have been difficult, and I’m still working on resolving the inner war. The photography is helping.”

DeWITT PALMER , a lifelong resident of northern Utah’s Cache Valley, developed a lasting interest in ranching during his youth. After retiring from a career in business, Palmer taught himself to braid rawhide, calling upon boyhood memories, determination, and the help of braiders throughout the West. Palmer’s finely constructed reins, headstalls, hobbles, and bossals are popular locally and outside of Utah. Palmer is affiliated with the national Rawhide Braiders’ Association and received the Utah Governor’s Folk Art Award in 1987.

SHAWN CLARK makes bentwood furniture from willow and other soft woods that grow near his home. His work represents a centuries-old craft tradition. In the last few years, Clark has improvised with this tradition by incorporating antlers, rawhide, and other natural materials into his furniture. He has demonstrated at numerous public festi￾vals and has sold his furniture to people from many parts of the country.

ADA JENSEN learned to make rag rugs at Relief Society during the Depression and since then has crafted more than 550 rugs for family and friends. Using donated rags, she likes to work with durable bright colors and bold patterns. She has demonstrated her rug￾making skills in her church and community, at the Festival of the American West, and at the Jensen Historical Farm in Cache Valley.

HENRIETTE MUNANUI was born in Tahiti, where she learned to make traditional textiles, tifaifai , from her mother. She has lived in Utah since 1969 and has continued her craft, often sending to Tahiti for the right type and color of cotton fabric for her appliqued textiles. Her work was featured in a traveling exhibit of Polynesian quilts, and she has frequently demonstrated her skills.

Sisters MELVA EMRAZIAN and ROSE PETERSON come from a family that endured fifty years of exile in Syria before immigrating in the mid-1960s to rejoin earlier Armenian-Mormon immigrants in Utah. During their exile, the family earned a living by weaving rugs. The girls learned to knit, crochet, make lace using only a needle and thread, and reproduce an item simply by looking at it. Both sisters create textiles, and Rose works as a professional tailor.

HAZEL and WALLACE ZUNDEL were born and raised in the small Shoshone settlement of Washakie, just south of the Utah-Idaho border. Both learned their crafts in their traditional community, which fostered age-old skills like basketmaking, hide tanning, and beadwork. The Zundels have displayed their bead and leather work in numerous galleries, art shows, and fairs and have taught their skills in both schools and festivals.

Sisters M ELVA EM RAZI AN and ROSE PETERSON come from a family that endured fifty years of exile in Syria before immigrating in the mid-1960s to rejoin earlier Armenian-Mormon immigrants in Utah. During their exile, the family earned a living by weaving rugs. The girls learned to knit, crochet, make lace using only a needle and thread, and reproduce an item simply by looking at it. Both sisters create textiles, and Rose works as a professional tailor.

GLEN THOMPSON of Huntsville has constructed more than five thousand saddles in Utah during his career. Known for their made-to-order, leather ground seats, artistic tooling, and overall quality construction, each requires between eighteen and thirty hours of labor. Thompson’s Beehive saddle has been displayed throughout Utah and at the Renwich Gallery in Washington, D.C. In 1984 he received the Utah Governor’s Folk Art Award.