Hikmet Sidney Loe

Elemental Ways of Seeing: The Art of Great Salt Lake
The fundamental elements of Great Salt Lake have inspired artists to interpret the Lake’s essence for centuries. Visual depictions of the Lake’s water, earth, air, and even fire form the building blocks of this unique talk. From nineteenth century maps, drawings, and paintings to present day interpretations that include photography, video art, and online images, “Elemental Ways of Seeing” juxtaposes our visual interest in Great Salt Lake’s environs with a consideration of the changing cultural perceptions we “see” as we view our lake.
Hikmet Sidney Loe teaches art history at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. Her research on Robert Smithson’s earthwork the Spiral Jetty has led to her cumulative work, The Spiral Jetty Encyclo: Exploring Robert Smithson’s Earthwork through Time and Place (forthcoming, as are several book chapters on the earthwork). She contributes regularly to the online magazine 15 Bytes (artistsofutah.org) and has essays included in the online sitemappingslc.org. Exhibition catalog essays were commissioned of Loe in 2013 for Utah Biennial: Mondo Utah (Utah Museum of Contemporary Art) and Plurality: Frank McEntire in Retrospect (Snow College University), and in 2014 for No One Site (The Leonardo and the School of Architecture, University of Utah). She has curated exhibitions at Westminster College, Finch Lane Gallery (Art Barn), and The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York; lectures frequently; and exhibits photographs related to the land.
Image of Hikmet Sidney Loe by Tom Martinelli.