ST. GEORGE — Utah Tech University student artist Maddison Smith calls the actions of city officials removing her artwork on women’s vulnerability and empowerment “an attack on the arts and women.”

The art show “Exposed” was hung in the Electric Theater Extension Gallery on Oct. 10 after planning the show with approval from specific city representatives. The show was a collection of eight pieces of art.

“My goal in creating ‘Exposed’ was to showcase the vulnerable and divine characteristics of femininity,” Smith said.

Within a day, Smith said, five of her exhibit pieces were banned and removed, with an eventual cancellation of her show after two days.

There was minimal communication about what was happening.

On Oct. 10, the art museum manager, Natalie Gula, was fired, and an internal investigation of community arts director Emily Reed was launched.

Gula said Reed has since been cleared. She said she had other “questionable reasons” by the city for being fired. Even though she didn’t specifically say those reasons, she said it all related to what happened in June and the local LGBTQ+ community.

“I was shocked and confused. I just didn’t know what was happening,” Smith said in reference to the actions taken by the city officials concerning her art.

The aftereffects of the removal of art, which contained nudity, resulted in a rift between residents within the community and St. George City management. On one side, the arts and feminist communities expressed frustrations with the city, while most city representatives have given almost identical responses to the accusations and frustrations.

The art pieces all were paintings or linocuts. Two pieces showed nudity. One linocut showed the nipple, while one painting showed two breasts. All other art pieces were suggestive of nudity, but no genitalia or breasts were shown.

Multiple local artists and small business owners have expressed frustrations at the city, naming actions taken by the government since June’s Pride Awareness Month, showing hatred toward supporters of women empowerment and the arts, especially from those artists who are grouped in the LGBTQ+ community.

City Councilwoman Danielle Larkin responded to the accusations.

“You are valued,” Larkin said. “You are wanted. All forms and expressions of art are important for our city. I cannot overstate how important artists are to our city.”

Larkin has been involved with local arts organizations for years, including being the past chair and board member of St. George Art Around the Corner. This is a nonprofit organization promoting local artists and art within the community. She also helped found the Meet the Masters Art Program for some local elementary schools.

The removal of nude art

Smith is a senior majoring in fine arts, and as part of the graduation requirements, she must produce an exhibition of her artwork off campus and within the local community.

On Oct. 10, she hung her art as planned but was approached by a woman in the Electric Theater Extension Gallery, who, she said, told her it was inappropriate and that many people would not support it and be offended.

The woman was part of a group of women and children who were using nearby rooms, which the city confirmed were rented out to different organizations, including home-school groups.

She double-checked with personnel on-site, and after receiving the OK, she hung it up and left the gallery.

Her friend returned to the gallery later the same day to find five of her pieces had been removed. After two days, all of her artwork was removed, and the city canceled her show after a “special meeting” by city officials and administration, as stated in a formal apology letter to Smith.

The city’s special meeting was held after emails were sent to several city officials from a woman complaining about the “nudity” in the exhibit. For safety reasons, city representatives would not release the identity of the woman who complained.

Smith and McGarren Flack, her Utah Tech faculty adviser for her show, received an apology email about the show’s cancellation on Oct. 12 from Michelle Graves, the city’s deputy director of arts and events.

According to the Apology Letter:

a City employee (who is no longer employed with the City as of Monday morning) had made informal arrangements with Maddison for the exhibition, contrary to City practices. These practices include a written agreement specifying the terms of use of City property, insurance requirements, and legal review. Further, the agreements must be signed by City personnel having the authority to enter into agreements on behalf of the City. None of these requirements were followed.

The email also stated the Electric Theater Extension Gallery “was not yet approved for public use.” The gallery was closed per the recommendation of the city’s legal team and remains closed.

David Cordero, who serves as the communications and marketing director for St. George, said the extension gallery had not been “vetted.” There were no formal agreements made with the artists.

“There just wasn’t communication within the city side of things to say we are now able to showcase other people’s art here,” Cordero said.

The response of the former city employee

The city employee the email mentioned as being terminated from her position was Gula, former art museum manager.

Gula had been working as the museum manager for two years before being terminated.

On Oct. 23, Gula gave her response about the canceled art show and events that followed. She had been working on the extension gallery as a place for first-time artists to show their work for temporary smaller shows.

“My superiors knew about the extension gallery,” Gula said. “It was a collaborative project between me and community arts director Emily Reed, and we reported it to Deputy Director Michelle Graves.”

Graves was contacted by St. George News but replied similarly to other city officials.

“That space was a small extension gallery in the Electric Theater,” Graves said. “The space had not yet officially opened and the show was not calendared, approved and was without contract or insurance.”

Gula said the show and plans for the extension were in the monthly reports for two months. It was discussed in staff meetings. It was on the website, and it had been promoted. There was continual talk about it and emails about it.

“They knew about it,” Gula said.

City officials later clarified to St. George News that superiors knew about the creation and progress of the extension gallery, for example the installation of the hanging system, but not the specific artwork or artists scheduled to exhibit in that space.

Gula said the exhibits for the extension gallery were run the same way as other shows. There was one loan form, Art Contract Agreement and Art Contract Agreement, which had a generalized waiver voiding liability of the artwork by the city.

The decisions on which art exhibits will be exhibited at city facilities are typically made by both the art museum manager and the art museum curator.

All art and shows were reportedly approved with the museum’s mission statement in mind, which reads:

“The St. George Art Museum collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits art and artifacts from Utah and the West and invites visitors to engage with art and creativity through quality exhibitions from a variety of periods and cultures.”

The gallery had been scheduled with shows throughout next year, including several senior exhibitions of Utah Tech students.

Employees within the museum were told they were allowed to show nudity, Gula said. And Cordero confirmed they have had nude art shown before.

The city said the following steps are the official procedure for showing art at the museum:

•  Artist reaches out to either the art museum manager or curator (or both) and sends a prospectus of what they would want to exhibit.
• Curator and manager determine if it meets the parameters of the museum’s mission statement.
• The manager and curator look at their timeline for exhibits and their budget and decide if such an exhibit is feasible. Considerations could include the space needed. Sometimes exhibit space is booked out years in advance.
• Once this is all ironed out, some paperwork is needed.

As for the content of art and the show, Cordero said there is no policy regarding content.

“There are no specific policies regarding content for the St. George Art Museum,” he said. “The decision on what is displayed is decided on a case-by-case basis and should be consistent with the Museum’s mission statement.”

Gula said they had a show years ago with nudity, and a woman complained about the content. However, the show was allowed as it contained nothing sexually graphic or explicit. She said Smith’s show was the same, with nothing sexually graphic or explicit, so Gula decided to move forward with the show.

“We really didn’t think much of it,” Gula said. “We did not expect it to turn into this big thing. In no way was I trying to incite some kind of outrage.”

Gula supported Smith’s statement of the city’s action as an attack on women. She mentioned the resignation of the former city manager, Adam Lenhard, as an expression of the city being reactive and attacking certain citizens within the community.

“Look at what they are doing to women in the Middle East right now,” Gula said. “They are killing women because women are trying to stand up. Censoring this art, we are just perpetuating that issue of shaming women and their bodies.”

Two other fellow artists served as advisers to Smith on the show – Flack and Meaghan Gates.

Gates said the whole situation was handled wrong and unethically. Flack said he was very frustrated and upset at first, but after some time to cool down, he can relate to the situation with youth being around the gallery.

Both agreed that within their many years of art shows and events, they had never seen anything like this happening. It was simply unheard of within the professional art world.

The concept of censorship

City officials immediately canceled all scheduled shows for the extension gallery, which affected multiple senior artists from Utah Tech, who had to rush to meet graduation requirements of showing within the community.

“Because if they censor one artist and allow the other artists who are booked to show, then it’s direct censorship. But if they say no to everybody, then they think they are in the clear,” Gula said. “That is unfortunate.”

The removal of the art show and closure of the extension gallery has resulted in local artists and feminists speaking out about the city violating first amendment rights of speech and self-expression.

Larkin and Cordero said the area where the extension gallery is located is next to rooms that multiple groups and organizations rent. These include youth groups, homeschooled youth and similar groups. What is on display in the gallery can be seen from the nearby rooms.

“Does it mean we can’t have nude art in shows within the museum?” Larkin said. “No, it just means we need to advertise it more to the people who use that space.”

Flack, who also is part of the board of trustees for the St. George Museum of Art, said he could see both sides of the issue and that it makes sense why there needs to be more time for advertisements and announcements of controversial shows to the public before the show happens. Still, he said he viewed the city’s actions as being “very unprofessional.”

Larkin said there was “just a lot of miscommunication.”

“There was even internal miscommunication as sometimes unfortunately happens,” she said. “This was a major communication fail, and the city is committed to not letting that happen again.”

The show goes on

The canceled art show and the incident surrounding Smith’s senior exhibit reached Kat Puzey, an artist and local business owner. The show was picked up by her local business MoFACo (Modern Farm and Artisan Co-op) and shown for a month during October and parts of November.

The artist’s reception was held Oct. 23 and had over 60 attendees within one night. The attendees included men and women of all ages, including youth.

“It was a dream come true,” Puzey said. “This, to me, is really the pinnacle of what we wanted to do here at MoFACo – provide up-and-coming artists like Maddy with a chance to get their art out there. I couldn’t be happier to have this show.”

Puzey repetitively said how beautiful the show was.

At the end of November, Smith said the show was a success, and she continues to add more works of art to her portfolio. The response to her show has been overwhelmingly positive, she added, with the majority perceiving the nudity as acceptable.

She said she also received various emotional reactions to her art. Women and others come with tears, thanking her for it, while others have expressed anger and discomfort.

“Having individuals come to me with accounts of emotions and memories brought up in them by my work has been a priceless experience,” Smith said.

She thanked everyone who supported her.

“I don’t know if I was caught in the perfect storm or other stuff going on,” Smith said. “It’s been pretty wild.”

The city also issued an official statement.

“We care deeply about the art community in St. George and are proud of the dedication and devotion our museum employees display on a daily basis to collect and display thought-provoking art in a variety of forms.”

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