Trent Thursby Alvey is a mixed-media artist who uses painting, sculpture, and light and sound technique in the creation of works that have been called both pop and contemporary. Thursby has exhibited in significant one-person and group shows including Out of the Land, which traveled to The National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Toaster Worship, Thursby’s sculptural piece included in this National exhibit, was recently acquired by the Museum of Fine Art at the University of Utah for their permanent collection.
Trent has been included in both editions of Artists of Utah written by Robert S. Olpin, William C. Seifrit, and Vern Swanson (last edition 1999, published by Gibbs Smith Publisher). Trent was chosen as one of twenty Utah artists to be part of the Women Beyond Borders exhibit at Art Access Gallery during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. The Utah exhibit became part of an international collection including work from women in 33 countries. Trent’s work is also included in Utah Artists Project/ J. Williard Marriott Library’s (University of Utah) digitized collections of selected Utah artists.
Dolores Chase, gallery owner and art collector, regarding Trent’s work, “She has done many brave and ambitious pieces over the years, one of which I own. She continues to grow and experiment—often combining disciplines in enigmatic ways, one of them being her wave theory/physics installations in steel and neon. She takes risks and always creates compelling and thought-provoking work.”
Trent earned BFA degrees in Fine Art and Communications at Westminster College of Salt Lake City in 1986, where she studied painting with Don Doxey.
Gallery Representation:
Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah - www.phillips-gallery.com
Solo Exhibition History: Salt Lake City, Utah unless otherwise stated:
2006 – October, Phillips Gallery,
2005 - Kimball Art Center, Park City, Utah
2003 – Patrick Moore Gallery, New Work from sub-Saharan Africa
2001 - Installation, Art Access, Blue Lotus Lake
2001 - Installation, Finch Lane Gallery - Frequency Manifests Form
1998 - Installation, Finch Lane Gallery - Encountering Energy
1994 - Installation, Finch Lane Gallery - Five Realities
Group Exhibition History: Salt Lake City, Utah unless otherwise stated:
2006 - Rio Gallery
2006 - Phillips Gallery
2005 - The Painting Center, Crossing the Line, New York City
2005 - Springville Art Museum’s Spring Gala, Springville Utah.
2004 - Women's Art Center
2004 - Kimball Art Center, Park City, Utah
2002 - Art Access, Women Across Borders artists from over 30 countries exhibited during the Utah Winter Olympics, SLC. UT
2002 - Bountiful Davis Art Center, Visions Olympic Exhibit, Bronze Award, Bountiful, UT
2002 - Bountiful Davis Art Center, The Nature of Abstraction three person exhibit, Bountiful, UT
1993 - National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.
Special Awards and Distinctions:
• One of 20 Utah Women Artists chosen for the international exhibit Women Beyond
Borders shown during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City at Art
Access Gallery. The Utah Boxes are part of an international collection now in California.
• Trent Thursby’ Alvey’s work and biography has been included in both editions of Robert S. Olpin’s Artists of Utah, published by Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999. (Found under Trent Alvey)
• Received the Bronze Award in the Olympic Exhibit Visions and Victories: Exploring the Triumphs of Pioneering and the Olympic Spirit through the Arts, at the Bountiful Davis Art Center.
• Trent Thursby Alvey is included in the Utah Artist Project/ J. Willard Marriott Library’s digitized collections of selected Utah artists http://www.lib.utah.edu/fa/UtahArtists/artists/alvey/index.html then click on Images.
• Museum of Fine Art, University of Utah has a acquired Toaster Worship, Thursby’s sculptural work featured in both publications of Artists of Utah and exhibited at the The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC in 1992.
Private Collections: Martha Kongsgaard, Kongsgaard Goldman Foundation;
Terry Tempest Williams, author;
Ruth Lubbers, Director of Art Access Gallery, SLC;
Pam Crowe Weissburg, director Kimball Art Center, Park City, UT.
Dolores Chase, art collector, SLC; Tom and Ann Hearn, London UK.
Elaine Harding, professor, Australia.
Art Access Gallery – Partners Exhibit – group - October 2006, SLC, UT
Phillips Gallery – Solo Exhibit - October 2006, SLC, UT
Salt Lake Library – Two-Person Exhibit - February. 24, 2007, SLC, UT
The work represents a slipping glimpse or a lateral perception that is brought to the surface of my senses and recorded on canvas. The painting or sculpture finds repetition or memory patterns that are familiar. This kind of exploration helps make sense of the literal world, revealing it to be a pattern of interdependence and dichotomy. Art brings seemingly isolated events into a larger pattern. Since my eighth grade teacher first introduced me to the language of art, I have found refuge, release and insight there. For me, art is the process of letting go.
My new series of work entitled Repetition is an exploration into the primal process of repeating movements. It is an encounter with the order (order in chaos) found in non-linear thermodynamic systems such as water, ocean, waves, wind, clouds, fire and flames. This work focuses on repetition as the source of ancient memory, as well as, the anchor of visual intrigue. Understanding the primordial satisfaction of finding reoccurrence in everything we see and experience is what has sustained humans since our beginning. The sun rising, the tide repeating, the seasons returning, the breathing of our bodies, have sustained our trust and given us comfort that we will prevail another day.