Ogden, UT - The Monarch creative studios will open to the public for the first time during October’s First Friday Art Stroll with over 20 artists and makers including painters, photographers, sculptors, letterpress printers and more. Artists will host demonstrations, interact with visitors and showcase work for sale from 6-10pm, while The Banyan Collective’s live performance podcast, Van Sessions, takes place from 7-10pm. As a future tenant of The Monarch building, O1ARTS will present an impressive art installation in the lobby by Visiting Artist-in-Residence Wade Kavanaugh with Stephen Nguyen, both of Maine. The large-scale paper sculpture, which calls for community volunteers to install, will take its cue from the unique geology of southern Utah’s iconic landforms and will give the community a preview of O1ARTS’ programming for their future Monarch exhibition space, O1|XIBIT.
“Scale is fundamental to our work, both physically and conceptually,” says Kavanaugh and Nguyen in a statement about the work. “Given the opportunity, our work often stretches from the floor to ceiling and from wall to wall. Conceptually, our work generally plays with a sense of time, merging our sense of human time with deeper time scales, like the amount of time it might take for an old growth forest to flourish and uproot, a glacier to advance, or sedimentary layers of earth to amass. Our goal is to activate the space by employing imagery familiar to residents of Utah. The act of making the work for O1ARTS will be largely improvisational, the result of process, and informed by visits to Utah’s iconic geology and land art installations.”
In cultivating these immersive art experiences, The Monarch aims to drive Ogden’s First Friday Art Stoll participants beyond Washington Boulevard and into the Nine Rails Creative District. The Monarch’s inaugural First Friday event sets the stage for future strolls in the 9Rails with The Argo House and Eccles Community Arts Center, as the District establishes itself as the epicenter for Ogden arts. The October First Friday event also serves as a precursor to The Monarch’s Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on November 1st, where the community will celebrate the building’s completion including its restaurant and retail portion. Learn more about upcoming events at themonarchogden.com/events.
Developed by Fischer-Regan Enterprises LLC, The Monarch is a collaborative environment where artists, creative businesses and makers of all types can connect, inspire and create together in the heart of Ogden’s Nine Rails Creative District. The Monarch strives to provide the Wasatch region with uniquely artful experiences through artist engagement, creative dining and memorable events. The Monarch is also home to the Art Box, WBs Eatery, O1ARTS and The Monarch Venues.
Visit www.themonarchogden.com for more information.
