Layne Meacham

About

Portrait of Layne Meacham beside one of his paintings at a gallery opening
Layne Meacham, 2011

Layne Richard Meacham is a mixed-media abstract painter. He was born in Murray, Utah, in 1948, and lives and works in Salt Lake City.

He began studying art in junior high school with David Chaplin, an artist and former university professor who also gave him private lessons, and took classes at the Salt Lake Art Barn, now Finch Lane Gallery. He left public school to paint full time.

In 1967 he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star. Back in Utah he studied still life and figure drawing under Don Doxey at Westminster College, with further classes at the University of Utah and the Salt Lake Art Center. While working toward a master’s degree in social work at Columbia University he took classes at the Art Students League in New York. He finished his MSW at the University of Utah and is a licensed psychotherapist.

Travel feeds new work. After a trip to Bogotá, he showed a group of colorful paintings at Finch Lane drawn from the Andes and from the city’s politically charged walls. His paintings are large and strong enough to set the mood of a room, with an innocence that sits against the hard experiences of his life.

On the work

Layne describes making art as his lasting refuge from boredom and a release from stress. He began by imitating the older masters; now he aims for work that is less derivative, more spontaneous and immediate. In his words: “If the viewer is bored with my work, I was not bored making it!”

Curriculum vitae

Selected

Solo & group exhibitions

  1. 1988Diskin Art, Los Angeles
  2. 1989Queen of Arts Gallery, Park City
  3. 1991New Automatism, University of Utah Union Building
  4. 1991Moabital Experiences, Dolores Chase Fine Art
  5. 1995Recent Abstractions, Dolores Chase Fine Art
  6. 2000Passages Through the Middle Way, Dolores Chase Fine Art
  7. 2000New Murals, Left Bank Gallery
  8. 2000Three Utah Phase Space Artists, SoHo Gallery
  9. 2001New Direction, Dolores Chase Fine Art
  10. 2001Alumni Show, Westminster College
  11. 2003You Like What You Know, The Artspace Forum

Invitationals

  1. 1993Union Pacific Depot, curated by David Sucec
  2. 1993Friends of Lee Deffebach, Phillips Gallery
  3. 1996This Place Utah, Museum of Church History and Art
  4. 1997The Reality of Abstraction: Painting in Utah 1946–1996, Salt Lake Art Center
  5. 2001Utah Artists, Utah Arts Festival Grand Hall, curated by Ursula Pimentel and Robert S. Olpin
  6. 2002150 Years of Painting, 2002 Cultural Olympiad, Springville Museum of Art, curated by Vern Swanson
  7. 2002Juxtapositions: The Artist and the Environment, Art Barn, curated by Hikmet Loe

Juried competitions & awards

  1. 1990–2003Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art: selected twelve timesThird place, 1996 · Merit awards, 2001 and 2003
  2. 1999–2001Utah Arts Council juried competitionsCash awards at the Union Pacific Depot show (2000) and Bountiful Art Center (2001)
  3. —Named one of the hundred Most Honored Artists of Utah

Art education

  1. 1963–67Salt Lake Art Barn (now Finch Lane Gallery)
  2. 1969–77Courses with David Sucec, Earl Jones and local art institutions
  3. 1973–74Westminster College, Salt Lake City
  4. 1974–75Art Students League, New York City
  5. 1989University of Utah

Permanent collections

  1. Springville Museum of Art, Springville
  2. Marcia and John Price Museum of Art, University of Utah
  3. University of Utah
  4. Utah State University, Logan
  5. Eccles Collection, Logan
  6. Westminster College, Eccles Conservatory of Music
  7. Sweet Candy Company
  8. Belson Getty Inc. Investments, Salt Lake City