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SALT LAKE CITY — After 25 years of highlighting local and international artists, the Central Utah Art Center (later known simply by its acronym) will close its doors.
The CUAC opened in Ephraim in 1992 and operated as a gallery for roughly 13 years, according to CUAC executive director and curator Adam Bateman. In the beginning, the art center mainly showcased local landscape paintings, but after it almost closed due to a lack of funding, Bateman took over and transitioned it to operate as a contemporary art space.
The CUAC remained in Ephraim until 2012 when they were evicted from their city-owned building in what Bateman says was the result of displaying an art exhibition that contained nudity. The eviction prompted a lawsuit against Ephraim City, resulting in a $60,000 settlement, and the CUAC relocated to Salt Lake City Dec. 21, 2012.
Now located at 175 E. 200 South, the CUAC has been utilized as a way to “connect Utah to a global conversation about art rather than a regional one,” Bateman said. With the focus of the center on contemporary art, Bateman would often try to pair local artists’ pieces with artwork from an international artist in the exhibits.
“My aim was to say that there were Utah artists who were just as good in dealing with ideas that were just as valid as people outside (Utah),” Bateman said. “They just didn’t have the exposure because within the art world there wasn’t a connection between Utah and the rest of the art community.”
In March, Bateman said he was given sudden notice of an “unexpected acute lack of funding,” and between that and several other factors, he and the CUAC board members decided it was best to close the doors of the CUAC. However, he said while the gallery will officially close Saturday, they hope to continue two community public education programs and that the CUAC will retain its nonprofit status.
During the last 13 years, the CUAC has exhibited the work of almost 1,000 artists, 80 percent of whom were from Utah, Bateman said. The center also awarded $10,000 to individual artists and reached more than 50,000 students through its education programs.
“I think one of the big legacies that CUAC has is that we’ve been very collaborative and I think instrumental in developing a more collaborative community around contemporary art in the state of Utah,” Bateman said. “That’s something that is really important to me.”
The CUAC is holding a final farewell reception and gallery stroll on Friday from 6-9 p.m. at 175 E. 200 South, Salt Lake City.
