Exhibit of Everett Ruess Prints Now at USU's Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University Libraries presents Everett Ruess Block Prints, a Utah Arts & Museums’ Traveling Exhibition March 30 through April 29 at Merrill-Cazier Library on the Utah State University Logan campus. The exhibit includes a selection of block prints created by artist and writer Everett Ruess, depicting his travels throughout the western United States in the early 20th century. The prints are among those he created during the five-year period prior to his disappearance in the Escalante canyons in 1934.
A young artist and writer, Ruess roamed throughout the southwestern United States during the early 1930s. In order to pay tribute to and preserve his memory of the desert and mountains he respected and loved, Ruess recorded his travels in poems, essays, letters, watercolors, sketches and lino-cut block prints. As his wanderlust became an obsession, Ruess would sell or trade his artwork to help fund his travels. In 1934, at the age of 20, Ruess mysteriously disappeared in the Escalante Canyons and was never heard from again.
Today, Ruess is known as a folk hero and symbol of the wilderness conservation movement.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Utah Arts & Museums have combined efforts to restore the original lino-cuts in this collection. The images chronicle his travels along the California coast, high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and among the deserts and canyons of Utah and Arizona.
Everett Ruess Block Prints can be seen in the Merrill-Cazier Library atrium gallery.
The library is open Monday-Thursday from 7 a.m. to midnight; Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to midnight.
Related link:
USU Special Collections and Archives
About Utah Arts & Museums and the Traveling Exhibit Program
Utah Arts & Museums’ Traveling Exhibit Program is a statewide outreach program that provides schools, museums, libraries and community galleries the opportunity to bring curated exhibitions to their community. The program is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on participating in the program, contact Laura Durham, ldurham@utah.gov, or call (801) 533-3582. For media inquires, contact Alyssa Hickman Grove, agrove@utah.gov, or call (801) 236-7555.
Utah Arts & Museums is a division of the Utah Department of Community and Culture with a goal to promote innovation in and the growth of Utah’s arts and culture community. The division provides funding, education and technical services to individuals and organizations statewide so that all Utahns, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or economic status, can access, understand and receive the benefits of arts and culture. Additional information on the programs and services can be found online or call (801) 236-7555.
Source: Utah Arts & Museums, Alyssa Hickman Grove, (801) 236-7555, agrove@utah.gov
Contact: Rose M. Milovich, Utah State University Libraries, (435) 797-0983, rose.milovich@usu.edu
"Monument Valley" by Everett Ruess can be seen in a traveling exhibition hosted by Utah State University Libraries on the Logan campus in the artrium of Merrill-Cazier Library.
This untitled work by Everett Ruess is on display at USU's Merrill-Cazier Library March 30 through April 29. The exhibit is a Utah Arts & Museums’ Traveling Exhibition.
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