Courtesy: The Compass Gallery
An undated photo shows a logo and rendering of The Compass Gallery in Downtown Provo.
Local art enthusiasts will soon have a new space in Downtown Provo where they can enjoy and support the work of Utah creatives.
The art gallery and bookstore known as Writ and Vision is now under new leadership and will operate as The Compass Gallery. Esther Candari, who had been director of programming at Writ and Vision, is taking the reins as director and owner of the new entity along with her husband.
“Thank you all for your patience and continued support over the last month as my team and I have worked through much turmoil and change,” Candari said in a press release.
This also means a relocation to a new and larger facility on the ground floor of Provo’s historic Taylor Brothers Building, 250 W. Center St., Suite 101, just a few doors east of the original gallery.
“We’re taking a lot of the functions, the artists list and everything that was going on at Writ and Vision and carrying it over and transforming it into the next iteration, something bigger and better for everyone,” Candari told the Daily Herald.
Aside from the upgrade in space, Candari said her goal is to provide a high-quality experience that rivals art galleries in larger cities while giving local top-notch artists the opportunity to display their talents.
“We have this weird dichotomy in Utah Valley where we’ve have a huge number of world-class artists, people that are consistently earning awards and recognition on a national/international level, but there’s not a lot of opportunities for them to show their work and there’s not a lot of spaces that are high enough caliber for that work either. Simultaneously, I want to provide opportunities for up-and-coming artists, especially those from marginalized communities, to be able to step into the professional scene.” Candari said.
Having earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Brigham Young University-Hawaii and continued her education at Liberty University in Virginia, Candari moved to Provo in 2020 where she says her career springboarded. Her artistry covers a variety of themes, from the struggles of marginalized communities to religion.
Candari’s faith-forward messaging through the arts led to her work with the Faith Matters organization as an art editor for their publication, Wayfare magazine. Candari and Faith Matters will partner in the new venture at The Compass and will be sharing the space.
Zachary Davis, executive director of Faith Matters, said the joint collaboration will involve a series of art galleries, workshops, book launches, poetry readings and faith-based community events.
“Basically anything that can help strengthen community friendships and spiritual, religious life,” Davis said.
He said the organization is excited for “the beautiful blank canvas that The Compass gallery will offer to host gatherings and community experiences for people who want to deepen their spiritual life with support from like-minded teachers and writers.”
Candari has a distinct vision for what she hopes to become a first-class space, but there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.
“We are doing a fundraiser over the course of the next month to fund some general renovations we need to do to the space and build some moveable walls so we have more wall space to hang art, get some furnishings and things like that,” Candari said.
An online crowdfunding campaign is underway to raise $25,000 to help achieve their goals. It can be accessed at gofundme.com/The Compass Gallery Launch.
“This is a moment for the community to come together and help us build this space together. And it’s something where, you know, we could patch it together over a couple years, but I really want it to be able to hit the ground running and be a very professional space from the start,” Candari said.
The community is also invited to the gallery’s official grand opening event on Aug. 16 from 4 to 9 p.m. This event will double as the opening for J. Kirk Richard’s annual exhibit, a continuation of the exhibition of Lisa De Long’s series “Horizon,” and a guest exhibition of select work by Young Sung Kim, the gallery’s press release stated.
“It’s a really amazing evening with a lot of excellent art. We’d hope to see people come out and just support that,” Candari said.
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