16 Jun The City Weekly’s City Guide 2025: Gallery Strolling
Gallery Strolling
An introduction to some of Salt Lake City’s visual arts galleries.
Salt Lake City has a vibrant visual arts scene that rivals other midsize and large metropolitan cities. It’s said that artists, needing to find affordable studios to make and sell art, find an industrial or under-developed building in an off-beat area … and create. Soon, the people notice, and artists unknowingly plant the seed for growth and development for communities like Art Space, Original Pierpont and the Granary District in downtown SLC.
This is where the magic happens, the confluence of creation and community. Show me an artist, and I’ll show you a story of expression embodied as life, love and community.
New to the local scene? Start your experience with the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll. Salt Lake City is home to one of the longest-running gallery strolls in the nation, held on the third Friday of every month. A network of more than 30 galleries and museums hosts monthly evening open houses to showcase new artists, their collections and creative spaces. Meet the artists, browse the art and bring the entire family.
For a complete list of participating galleries, go to gallerystroll.org. Here are some standouts that I like to frequent:
15th Street Gallery (15thstreetgallery.com/m/): A charming neighborhood gallery offering custom framing, representing popular local artists and a stunning retail collection of vases, frames and home goods.
A Gallery (agalleryonline.com): Full-service art gallery in an architecturally significant space blending contemporary and fine art. Acclaimed Utah artists are represented, like painter Brent Godrey, industrial sculptor Brian Christensen and weaver John Hess.
Alpine Art (alpineartinc.com): A supporter of emerging Utah artists in a friendly space. Standouts are magical realist painter Chris Miles and Paul Heath’s pop nostalgia of SLC iconic streets and signage.
Anthony’s Fine Art & Antiques (anthonysfineart.com): Like stepping into a museum of fine art and antiquities, with emphasis on Utah’s historic artists. A place to explore and leave you breathless.
Brushworks Gallery (brushworksgallery.com): Original contemporary paintings from local and national artists in its 49th year.
David Ericson Fine Art (davidericson-fineart.com): A consistently high quality gallery in the Avenues representing some of Utah’s best artists, past and present like Justin Wheatley, Greg Newbold, Brian Kershisnik and Waldo Midgley.
Fice Gallery + Boutique (ficegallery.com): Sneaker and apparel store that blends as community space to showcase art and culture. DJ sets, street art, limited editions, book clubs, global and local artists.
Modern West (modernwestfineart.com): A stunning building featuring modern and contemporary art with odes to the American West. Represented artists include Ben Steele’s pop depictions of Utah culture, modern landscape painter Billy Schenck, nicknamed “the Andy Warhol of the West”, Diane Tuft’s photographs of climate change, with a remarkable eye on Utah’s Great Salt Lake, and Modern West director and artist Shalee Cooper stuns with her large scale minimalist abstractions. The largest and most versatile coffee table art book selections I’ve come across.
Phillips Gallery (phillips-gallery.com): The oldest gallery in the Intermountain West, with three levels of meandering rooms and an impeccably curated selection of floor to ceiling art. Find yourself at home in this incredibly beautiful space with an outdoor sculpture garden and the last independent art supply store in SLC and custom framing. Utah artists like Lee Deffebach, Hadley Rampton, Connie Borup, Mark Knudson, Denis Phillips and industrial sculptor Cordell Taylor.
The Gala (thegalaslc.com): The Gala, located in the Granary District, is a space for working artists to create and also display prominent and emerging Utah artists. This community space hosts makers’ marts, workshops and film premieres. Check the calendar for a robust schedule of events. There’s also a retail shop open to the public.
Urban Arts Gallery (urbanartsgallery.org): A non-profit art gallery in the Gateway District representing more than 100 emerging and established Utah artists with diverse art backgrounds, making art accessible in a retail environment.
Utah Museum of Contemporary Art [UMOCA] (utahmoca.org): Since 1931, UMOCA has remained a hub for contemporary art with shows from global and local artists.
Utah Museum of Fine Arts (umfa.utah.edu): UMFA is your destination for global arts spanning across centuries with over 20,000 original works in their collection.
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