Featuring more than 70 works of art drawn from two foundational collections, “The Sears Legacy” will be the featured exhibition at The Sears Art Museum at Utah Tech University for the remainder of the summer.
Pulling from Utah Tech’s Bob and Peggy Sears Collection of Native American Art and the collection of past Invitational Purchase Prize winners, “The Sears Legacy” will open with a reception from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on June 16 in the museum. The exhibit will continue through Aug. 25, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is located in the Eccles Fine Arts Center on the Utah Tech campus, and admission is free.
“Bob and Peggy Sears’ passion for art helped build the museum that now bears their name,” James Peck, Sears Art Museum director and curator, said. “In 1988, at Bob’s urging, Dixie State College (now Utah Tech University) hosted the first annual Invitational Art Show and Sale. Each year since, the Sears Museum has selected one work of art from the Invitational for its highest honor, the Purchase Prize. By purchasing a work of art each year, the museum collected a rich cross section of some of the finest art created in the region over the past four decades.”
The purchase prize winners showcase realistic portrayals of the land and people of Utah and the West. Some Purchase Prize winners of note include Al Rounds’ “Brigham Young Home” (1990), Del Parson’s “Mary Magdalene at the Tomb” (2000), Roland Lee’s “In from the Fields” (2003), Julie Rogers’ “In the Potter’s Hands” (2004), David Koch’s “Moon Over Mt. Carmel” (2006), Jeremy Winborg’s “Shoshone Dolls” (2012) and Rick Kinateder’s “Winter on the Provo River Near Woodlands” (2023).
Equally important was the Sears’ passion for Native American art. Over the decades, they collected hundreds of works of Native art in Oklahoma and Santa Fe. When they retired to St. George, they shared their passion for Native art with Southern Utah. Upon Bob Sears’ passing in 1997, the family donated more than 150 works by dozens of important Native American artists to the college.
“Due to the Sears’ generosity, the museum has iconic examples by famous artists Fred Beaver, Harrison Begay, Lucy Lewis, Maria Martinez, Chief Terry Saul, Fritz Scholder, Margaret Tafoya, Pablita Velarde and many more,” Peck said. “This is a unique collection, the likes of which can’t be found anywhere else in Southern Utah.”
The two collections complement and strengthen each other, creating a balanced core that forms the identity of the Sears Art Museum. For more information about the Sears Art Museum at Utah Tech University, visit searsart.com.