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Dixie State College to Host Art Talk Featuring Local Artist Heather Schwartz |
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 Dixie State College of Utah’s Sears Art Museum Gallery will host a special “Art Talk” forum, featuring artist and St. George native Heather May Schwartz, on Thursday, July 30, at 6:30 p.m., in the Gallery inside the Dolores Dore’ Eccles Fine Arts Center. Admission is free and open to the public.
Schwartz, who is a Dixie College alumnus, will discuss her exhibit entitled “Life at Guantanamo Bay,” which is currently on display in the lobby of the Eccles Fine Arts Center. Schwartz and her family recently returned from Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba, where they lived for the past six years.
After residing at GTMO for a short time, Schwartz found her niche and became a well-known local artist in the community. She has painted many commissioned-works and created a substantial amount of local-themed paintings to sell to the residents of the Naval Base as mementos. After a couple of years of residing at GTMO, Heather began teaching Elementary Art for the Department of Defense Education Activity at W.T. Sampson Elementary School. She also was the department head for the Gifted Education Program.
Over the years, Schwartz’s paintings have reflected much of the life, traditions, and landscape of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and its residents. The people of GTMO are as unique as the scenery. The atmosphere is leisurely and reminiscent of small town life. Everyone knows everyone and watch out for each other.
The “Life at Guantanamo Bay” exhibit will be on display Monday-through-Thursday through Sept. 10, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information the forum or the exhibit, please contact Kathy Cieslewicz, curator of the DSC Sears Art Museum Gallery, at 435-652-7909. |
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HEROIC FATHER DROWNS WHILE SAVING HIS SONS |
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32-year-old Scott Pederson of St. George drowned yesterday while saving his 5 and 7 year old sons from the same fate. Pederson and his family were at the Upper Barker Lake on Boulder Mountain in Garfield County at 11:00 a.m. yesterday morning, and he was in a 4-man peddle boat while his 5 and 7 year old sons were swimming in the middle of the lake. The two boys started having trouble staying above the water due to the temperature of the lake (immediately below the surface the lake's water temperature is estimated to be in the low 50s.)
Pederson, who had recently joined the St. George/Washington County Search and Rescue Dive Team, immediately jumped in and kept the boys' heads above water and tried to push them into the boat. Pederson realized he too was in trouble and yelled to the shore for help from his father-in-law (J.H. Frost) and brother-in-law, who swam out to the peddle boat. The father-in-law was able to pull the boys back into the peddle boat with help from the brother-in-law, but as soon as they had done so and turned around, Pederson had slipped below the surface. The lake is about 5 feet of murky water, and then another 2-3 feet of tangly weeds at the bottom. Repeated efforts by his family to find him were unsuccessful, again due to the extremely cold temperatures of the lake water and the tangled, mossy weeds at the bottom. The Garfield County Search and Rescue Team kept the location of where Pederson went down while divers were called to the scene. In a sad twist of irony, it was the St. George /Washington County Search and Rescue Dive Team, of which he became a recent member, that recovered his body (at about 6 p.m. yesterday evening.)
Garfield County Deputy Kevin Moore says that the lake water is deceiving: "The mountain lake water may not seem as cold on the surface, but the more you get into the water, the temperatures plummet rapidly. Tragically in this case the water temperature, along with the undergrowth vegetation, caused the drowning of a very strong and skilled swimmer. We strongly urge anyone that plans to swim in any mountain lake that they always wear a life preserver. There's no way to know on the surface just how cold, murky, and dangerous the water can get."
Garfield County Sheriff Danny Perkins commends Pederson for his heroic act: "It is an absolute miracle that no-one else drowned, and it was due to the heroic efforts of Mr. Pederson. We express our deep condolences to his family, and also want to recognize the additional heroic efforts of the Garfield County Search and Rescue, and Mr. Pederson's friends with the St. George/Washington County Search and Rescue Dive Team." |
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St. George Tabernacle Hosts Organist Carole Terry |
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 Performing at the Tabernacle on Saturday, August 1, will be Carole Terry on the organ. These weekly programs are free and the public is invited.
Carole began her musical studies on the piano at the tender age of nine years in Arlington, Virginia. She studied both piano and organ while in high school, where she accompanied both school and community choirs. She attended Brigham Young University on a scholarship, where she received her Bachelor of Arts, with a major in music. She served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Virginia and North Carolina. While there, she was afforded the opportunity to accompany the mission choir which toured both states.
After her marriage and while living in the Washington, D.C. area, she continued her musical study and played for services in her church, as well as Protestant and Catholic churches in northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Fortunately for us in the St. George area, she and her husband now reside here, where she continues to teach both organ and piano. We appreciate her sharing her time and talent so generously with us.
This program is sponsored by the St. George Temple Visitors’ Center and Historic Sites Missionaries. For further information, please contact the Visitors’ Center at 673-5181.
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“Pipes Plus” To Perform At Tabernacle |
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The public is invited to attend this free concert. This special program by “Pipes Plus” is based on enduring vocal and instrumental musical selections in the history of popular music. Compositions from Frank Loesser to Andrew Lloyd Webber make up the selections, which will include “Try to Remember”, “My Heart will go On” and Webber’s “Pie Jesu”.
The “Pipes Plus” ensemble, under the direction of Andy Christensen, will feature vocalists Melissa Hinton, her daughter McKenzie and Mary Christensen, tenor Andy Powell, violinist Alyce Gardner, cellist John Minor and organist Geoff Myers.
Andy Christensen is a transplant from California to St. George. He studied both piano and organ as a young man and later in life took up the organ again and studied both in Germany and California. He now works with Geoff Myers here in St. George. Andy was educated as a physicist and was director of the Space Science Laboratory at the Aerospace Corp.
Melissa Hinton was raised in Cedar City and has been involved in vocal, piano, theatre and symphony performances since childhood.
John Miner is a local resident who received his cello as a “gift” as a youngster and studied for several years. He is the lead singer in the RoxDox band.
Alyce Gardner is a 9-year resident of St. George. She began playing the violin at age 4 and continued to study throughout her youth. Her artistic talents extend to dance and she graduated and taught dance at BYU.
Andy Powell graduated from BYU in vocal performance. He now sings with Lieto Community Choir and is soloist for many local productions.
Geoff Myers is a regular organist at the Tabernacle who performs and teaches professionally in the area. He loves to improvise on the organ and is always willing to share his vast knowledge of all aspects of music.
This evening is sponsored by the St. George Temple Visitors’ Center and Historic Sites Missionaries. For further information, please contact the Visitors’ Center at 673-5181.
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 We move from pale in the Main Gallery to brilliant when we enter the Mezzanine Gallery with the work of Steve Mohlenkamp. He is a self taught commercial and fine art photographer based in Denver, Colorado. He also has experience in graphic design, advertising, and, as director of photography, in magazines. His passion lies in capturing a unique vision of the spirit of the American West. His fine art collection entitled Whispers of the West is an endeavor of over 25 years of exploring the West and 21 years of living in the West, creating images of mountains, canyons, oceans, and deserts.
“Even though I was born and raised on an Illinois farm, I remember going on a family vacation to the American West when I was six. It was mesmerizing for me, and the memory has never faded,…not even a little. I spent all of my allowance on photo post cards, never sending any of them to anyone, but rather keeping them for myself, to look at over and over…I still remember the glowing, blazing light on the canyons and mountains in those images, and how captivating it was to me. Looking back now, I realize just how much of an influence that trip and those postcards really were…It beckoned me west, and gave me the spirit.”
Steve has report cards from school with remarks about his constant hiding behind his books while drawing, so it really all represents a lifetime dedicated to one thing, art.
Mohlenkamp’s work has been used by countless commercial clients and hangs in many corporate and private collections. Some of his clients include Arizona Highways and Sunset Magazines, The Ford Motor Company, Chevrolet (division of GM in Detroit), Nikon World Magazine, Marlboro Europe, The State of Colorado, Cowboys & Indians Magazine, the National Park Service and Forest Service, No Fear Gear, Anheuser Busch, Car & Driver Magazine, Plateau Magazine, Mattel Toys, Polygram Records (John Mellencamp), Sheraton Hotels, The Shell Oil Company, NBC and ABC Television networks, Audi Motor Company, Fox Television, Sierra Press Publications, and Road & Track Magazine. His websites are www.stevemohlenkamp.com and www.whispersofthewest.com.
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