Artist in residence expands fine arts program at Judge Memorial, Our Lady of Lourdes schools

Friday, Dec. 13, 2024
Artist in residence expands fine arts program at Judge Memorial, Our Lady of Lourdes schools + Enlarge
Nathan Florence, Judge Memorial Catholic High School artist in residence, recently unveiled one of his works at the Capitol Theater.
By Linda Petersen
Intermountain Catholic

SALT LAKE CITY — Students at Judge Memorial Catholic High School and Our Lady of Lourdes School in Salt Lake City now have an opportunity few young people enjoy: They get to be taught and work alongside an artist in residence.

The position, which is new this year, is part of the schools’ expanded fine arts offerings.

“We are looking to expand our middle-school offerings and also [at] how to support our high school arts program,” said Patrick Lambert, the high school principal. “We’ve got an incredible fine arts department, but our school continues to grow, and we wanted to be able to support our current teachers with another expert. We also wanted to really create a unique experience for our middle-school students, so that they’d have exposure to dance, to fine arts, to be able to experience, potentially, music, theater, all of those.”

Nathan Florence, a painter based in Salt Lake City, was named the inaugural artist in residence.

Florence grew up in Colorado; as a young teen, he moved to Utah, where he attended Cottonwood High School. He has been sketching since he was a small child. During his formative years he was inspired by several artists, including his high school art teacher and some of his college professors who shared their ongoing projects with him.

“I felt like that’s where I could kind of see that sort of magic happen; you know, that of turning this ordinary substance into something that took on such significance or took on this sort of depth of the ability to communicate, but watching someone actually make that so that it was not as abstract of a principle,” he said.

After high school graduation he enrolled in Swarthmore College in Philadelphia. He started out as an engineering and pre-med student but later switched to art. He went on to teach at the Waterford School and Weilenmann School of Discovery.

Florence has painted throughout his working life and recently was commissioned to do a 9 feet by 6 feet oil on canvas, “To Chase the Glowing Hours with Flying Feet,” which hangs in the Capitol Theater. His work can also be found in public and private collections around the world.

In addition, he produced and directed the critically acclaimed documentary “Bright Spark: the Reconciliation of Trevor Southey” (now streaming on PBS). With his wife, Marian, he is also in a band, The Third Class Relics. The name was inspired by a bench in the office of Judge Memorial CHS on which Mother Theresa of Calcutta is reputed to have sat when she visited the Trappist monastery in Huntsville. When the monastery was closed, the bench was donated to the school.

Florence’s son Paul graduated from JMCHS in 2022, and as a parent Florence loved the school’s culture, so when he learned about the new artist in residence program he thought it would be a perfect fit for him. At the high school, he teaches art foundations and conditioning and creative movement; he also teaches three art classes and a theater class at the middle school.

This multifaceted approach suits him well, he said. He also likes to work alongside his students, who are invited to his studio and the shows he’s participating in to see his work.

“I often play guitar while kids are drawing, and I’m walking around talking to them about their work, or I’ll just be working right there with them,” he said. “So, I’ll have a drawing that I’m working on; if they’re working on something, they can see what I’m doing.”

That engagement nurtures not only the students’ talents but reinvigorates his teaching, Florence said. “This is an essential part of who I am in the classroom, in the teaching studio, but also just my engagement in the community.”

Lambert has been pleased with Florence’s work.

“He’s, in a lot of ways, expanding into the different types of performing arts as well,” Lambert said. “So, to be able to do dance, to be able to do music, and then the fine arts is great. And he is a very talented artist, he’s a professional artist, and so he brings that professionalism to it every day.”

Florence also has already established a rapport with the students, Lambert said. “He’s a great influence; I think the kids love him and his co-workers love him. He’s just a real solid member of our faculty.”

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