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Carole Mikita ReportingMany of us escape into nature from time to time to find peace in a quiet environment. A Utah artist captures that experience in a new exhibit that also asks what we can learn from nature.
The works are not shown in an art museum or gallery, but at the Utah Museum of Natural History. The artist's inspiration came from her experiences in Utah wilderness.
Arlene Braithwaite, Artist: "If you go outside to learn and your eyes are open and your mind is open, there is a very important connection between humans and the natural world."
Arlene Braithwaite believes art transcends a single concept. Her pastels capture Utah's wilderness and wildlife, but she wonders if we appreciate what we find there and our place in it.
With each work of art comes observation and a question. She writes, "30 snow geese gleaning grain in the winter field, spontaneously rise. What mechanism in nature causes the spontaneous order?"
Arlene Braithwaite: "That is what the artwork is based upon, what are the important questions? I didn't give you answers because I don't know the answers, but I do know some of the questions."
Even more questions will come from children who have a section of their own with animals to examine and, based on one of Braithwaite's paintings, what they leave behind. It is called the track wall where the students can come and point to something interesting that they don't quite understand. They move over to little boxes and discover which creature made the tracks.
Remember, the artist says, we are all part of the natural world.
Arlene Braithwaite: "Understanding something in the natural world gives me insight into human behavior and why people do what they do. And I don't find that disturbing, I find that comforting."
"Human Nature: Insights from the Natural World" opens at the Utah Museum of Natural History this Saturday, February 4th and runs through the end of April.
