Great White Throne by Anton Rasmussen

 

I've had an awesome visual feast and a flood of student memories these last couple of days this week.   I helped my good friend and former professor Tony Rasmussen set up his show at Springville.  Well, not the entire set up, but take some paintings down and place them where he wanted :)

 

When I was 18yrs, I met Tony through my mom!  He was in the midst of painting the big Delicate Arch mural at the SLC International Airport and my mom asked if he taught classes.  It just so happened that he taught at the University of Utah.  I signed up for his  classes and that's where it started.  I decided to stay after class and ask him if he remembered my mother from the airport, and yes he did.  I expressed my interest in his work and told him about my artistic goals.  He then invited me to his studio to clean, wash brushes, mount canvases and eventually paint with him.  What an incredible experience.  I even glazed an area on one of his Capitol Reef National Park panels!  I went on to study further with him at Utah State University.  I learned glazing from the glaze master.  I employ that method when needed in my work today.  I also met my wife in his class at USU!!!  (A story for another day:)  All thanks to Tony.

 

You've got to see this show!!!  A MUST! 

 

Show info and image above from Springville Museum site:

 

Explorations: 50-Year Retrospective of Painting by Anton (Tony) Rasmussen

July 14 - August 29, 2012

Few artists have captured the Utah landscape in the way Anton ("Tony") Rasmussen have. A well-known presence in Utah painting for decades, Rasmussen is regarded for his abstract works and his masterful and powerful renderings of Utah's canyons and deserts.

http://smofa.org/exhibitions/exhibition_details.html?exhibition_id=114&name=Explorations:_50-Year_Retrospective_of_Painting_by_Anton_(Tony)_Rasmussen