(cheerful music) (cheerful music concludes) - University of Utah's department of Art and Art History has opened a new exhibition, "Return," featuring alumni from the department who have gone on to thrive in their disciplines.

Department Chair Kim Martinez is here with more details.

Hi, Kim.

Welcome.

- Well, thank you for having me.

- I'm so excited, first of all, about your new Alvin Gittins Gallery which is where the exhibit is.

So talk a little about that great new gallery.

- Okay, well, the new gallery's located in the Film and Media Arts building and it is part of the arts corridor, throughout, starting with the Utah Museum of Fine Arts going down the quad area there past the Department of Art and Art history and then ending up in the Film and Media Arts building.

So it's a new, a retrofitted facility, really, so- So, it's about 2,360 square feet so it's much larger than our previous space.

We have a kitchen adjacent for catering and sound rooms, two new video installation spaces, you know, a mini gallery in the foyer and floor-to-ceiling windows and, you know, new lighting systems.

It's quite an exciting addition to our department and will allow for more opportunities for our students and also professional artists that may show there in the future.

- That is so great.

- Yeah.

- And I know you're like, showcasing a lot of your alums.

- Mm-hm.

- They're probably from all over.

- Correct.

So, for instance, we have, you know, Brad Taylor who is from Hawaii, teaching in Hawaii, Connie Borup, who's a local artist here, Ben Duke, one of our recent alumni, Justin Watson.

So there's, you know, several, every discipline within our department has two artists both locally, and that they brought in from out of state.

- Ah, it's so great.

I'm really excited about it.

And Alvin Gittins, for people who don't know.

- Oh, Alvin Gittins.

- Yeah.

- So he was appointed to the faculty in 1947.

He was the Chair of the department, I think from 1958 to '62 and he painted over 89 portraits of people on campus.

So he was the artist in residence here at the University of Utah.

- Oh yeah.

I've seen them in the Park building.

Anyway, thank you so much for being here and I can't wait to see that gallery.

- Great.

Thank you.

- Yeah.

And if you would like to know more about that new gallery, the Alvin Gittins Gallery and also the "Return" Inaugural Exhibition is up through April 4th, Monday through Friday until 5:00 PM, April 14th.

Gittins Gallery, Film and Media Arts Building just go to art.utah.edu art.utah.edu.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching "Contact."

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