Every month, the JCC features an artist in our gallery located on the second floor. The art is on display and for sale for the entire month. We hold receptions that are free and open to the public. Support our local artists!
The next Artist Reception is for Alex Jacobson on Wednesday, April 15 at 5:00 p.m. Learn about Alex and our other talented artists below.
January 2-30, 2026
Reception Thursday, January 8 | 5-7 PM
2nd Floor Art Gallery | Free and Open to the Public
I interpret the natural world — especially Utah — through relief printmaking. My artwork is not a literal depiction of a place or object, but an expressive interpretation shaped by color, line, and the distinctive marks carved into the blocks by my tools.
With a degree in graphic design and illustration from the University of Utah, I spent many years working as a graphic designer before shifting my focus in 2017 to the art form I love most: relief printmaking. My process begins with a sketch in my sketchbook. I transfer that sketch to linoleum, wood or another substrate, and then the image is carved to create a relief. After inking the block, I hand-burnish each print with a wooden spoon to transfer the image to paper — no press involved. While carving is my favorite step, I find satisfaction in every stage of this hands-on, multi-layered process.
February 2-27, 2026
Reception Wednesday, February 4 | 5-7 PM
2nd Floor Art Gallery | Free and Open to the Public
Annette Campbell is an artist who works across many mediums—charcoal, watercolor, ink, oils, and photography — allowing each to express emotion and meaning in its own way. Her artistic journey has carried her from the shores of Jamaica to Hawaii, Utah, and Italy, where her love for both creating and observing beauty continued to grow.
In this exhibition, Annette invites you to explore the quiet poetry of nature and the expressive spirit of Europe. Her work reflects peaceful moments, rich textures, and the soulful beauty found in the world around us. Through the lens of her camera and the movement of her brush, she offers a journey meant to soothe, inspire, and renew your love for nature and humanity.
Annette has been accepted into master’s art programs in Italy, including a three-year classical online study. She hopes to return to Italy to continue learning the techniques of the Renaissance masters she admires — artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Her dedication to study reflects her belief that art is both a lifelong pursuit and a sacred calling.
March 2-31, 2026
2nd Floor Art Gallery | Free and Open to the Public
Artist Statement
I am a natural observer—someone who looks closely, has a deep passion for beauty, and who feels the poetics of shapes, forms, compositions, much of which I find in nature. My family often talks about how my eyes must be filled with above-average finely sharpened rods and cones that, where others see red, yellow, blue, I see an array of prismatic colors, shades, and hues. Brown is never just brown, but rather ochre, mustard, burnt sienna, caramel, molasses. There are some people, who through genetic variation, can smell colors, but I feel colors and feel them deeply.
This exhibition explores the depth of colors I see both in flowers and in water reflections. Some of the compositions of flowers are inspired by my love of Georgia O’Keefe. However, her work often uses paint in smooth and flat ways. I am interested in the texture and form that comes from a thick impasto application, layering the forms that, for me, replicates the richness I see in nature. Many of the flowers here were paintings from photographs I took outside the gardens at the Grand America.
I am also fascinated by the way color bends, twists, adjusts, and grows more complex within the shadows, reflections, and movement of water. I love to paint water—it’s my passion, because each time, there is more richness in the blue, more depth in the color creation. I swim a lot and what I noticed as I was watching other swimmers is how much the light reflects off shoulders, how the light bounds off the wall and the surface, and how it is constantly changing. Rivers and other natural bodies of water seem to act like a chameleon gathering and pooling into itself all the colors around.
Artist Biography
I’m a happily married retired elementary school teacher, I’ve lived in South America, Europe and throughout the United States. My husband and I moved to Utah about 11 years ago. We love living near our children and grandchildren and especially love the beauty of Utah. I’ve studied art through community college and various workshops and especially enjoy the Plein air community.
April 1-30, 2026
Reception Wednesday, April 15 | 5-7 PM
2nd Floor Art Gallery | Free and Open to the Public
Who is Alex Jacobson?
Since graduating high school in Columbia, Missouri in 2010, I have gone by the nickname “Pepper Jack,” a name that originated from a Halloween costume I wore in 2008. Pepper Jack became something of an alter ego during a period of exploration and adventure in my life. It was the name people knew while I worked in restaurants in Gunnison, Colorado, guided rafts through Dinosaur National Monument, and worked music festivals throughout Colorado and California. When people close to me hear my real name today, the reaction is often the same: “Who the hell is Alex Jacobson?”
Over the years, that question has taken on a different meaning as my life and work have evolved. After completing my undergraduate studies in art and outdoor recreation education, I eventually returned to school and earned my Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Utah. I am now a Certified Social Worker (CSW) working at a residential treatment center for adults struggling with mental health challenges. My work in the clinical field centers on helping individuals navigate complex emotional experiences, trauma, and recovery—work that often parallels the introspective process that has always existed in my art.
The Work
Creating art has always been a constant in my life. As a child, my mother would place markers and paper in front of me and my sister as a way to fill time and encourage creativity. As I grew older, art classes became a welcome relief from the pressures of other academic work. Eventually, I pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with an emphasis in watercolor, further developing my craft and artistic voice.
After completing my undergraduate degree, my practice shifted toward mixed media painting. I began experimenting with latex house paint, wood stain, spray paint, oil paint, solvents, and resin to build layered compositions. Much of my work is created alla prima, allowing materials to interact spontaneously and produce the textures and visual complexity present in the finished pieces.
My creative process often begins without a predetermined plan. I start by building abstract backgrounds and allowing the paint itself to guide the direction of the work through pareidolia—the tendency for perception to impose meaning onto ambiguous stimuli. In this way, figures, forms, and narratives emerge from the chaos of color and texture. Once the subject reveals itself, I move forward by rendering it more deliberately with oil paint.
Some pieces are created on stretched canvas, while others are painted on masonite panels and finished beneath layers of resin. The resin works are experimental and may not be fully archival, though the resin I use is yellowing-resistant and designed to withstand the passage of time. My hope is that incorporating resin will extend the lifespan of these paintings—preserving them much like a creature suspended in amber.
This body of work was created while I was struggling with alcoholism and substance abuse and portrays the undercurrents of depression and aimlessness I felt during the years. I use creatures and objects that hold a significance in my life to tell a story of the viewer's interpretation. After five years in recovery, my work has begun to take on a new and lighter color pallet as I continue to work towards knowing myself and reflecting on my life's purpose.
May 1-31, 2026
2nd Floor Art Gallery | Free and Open to the Public
Shelly Coleman’s artistic vision is rooted in a deep reverence for the natural world and its balance between intention and spontaneity. Her paintings often juxtapose stability with the fluid, ever-changing qualities of water. By layering transparent paint, Shelly creates atmospheric depth that shifts between what is seen and unseen, near and distant, allowing subtle symbolism to emerge.
Inspired by her love of nature, family, and storytelling, Shelly’s work invites viewers to reflect on personal memories and the quiet beauty of fleeting moments. Many of her paintings capture a suspended point in time, using the imagery of travel as a metaphor for life’s journey and the meaningful moments found along the way.
As a mother of four, she draws continual inspiration from her children’s imaginative worlds. Their doodles, stories, and spontaneous creativity influence her Foggy Window paintings—dreamlike works that evoke the nostalgia of road trips, the freedom of uninhibited creativity, and the tenderness of moments that pass too quickly.
June 1-30, 2026
Reception Thursday, June 4 | 5-7 PM
2nd Floor Art Gallery | Free and Open to the Public
Artist Statement
I have been drawing, painting, and building since childhood. Can’t stop.
I’ve often struggled to communicate why I make art. It feels good. I enjoy the challenge of trying to make pencils and paint do what I want them to do. I’m not always successful. In the same way that fishing is satisfying because you don’t always catch fish, art is satisfying because you don’t always create what you intended. The satisfaction comes through the difficulty.
I want others to feel free to create art. From a very young age, I was labeled as “talented” or as “a good artist.” I’m confident that is a big reason why I still create. I believe all children are artists but somewhere along the line, their excitement gets squashed out of them by fear. I hope to rekindle that joyful spark in as many people as possible. I want for people to swipe the fear aside and just make stuff. Let them feel the joy and satisfaction of creation. I feel it makes a connection with the Divine.
“One of life’s quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful…”
-Norman Maclean
Artist Biography
A Utah native, Thomas is a professional artist working mostly in watercolor, acrylic, and ink. His formal education is in landscape architecture, having earned that degree from Utah State University. Thomas creates his art mostly at night after his four boys are in bed. He can speak enthusiastically about fly fishing, bonsai cultivation, birding, outdoor cooking, and recreational prospecting.
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