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Courtney Davis, dean of the Utah Valley University School of the Arts, views a piece of artwork inside the UVU Museum of Art at Lakemount in Orem on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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The foyer of Utah Valley University's Museum of Art at Lakemount in Orem, pictured Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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"Corn Mandala: Belonging" by Jorge Rojas is photographed on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Utah Valley University's Museum of Art at Lakemount in Orem.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Utah Valley University's Museum of Art at Lakemount in Orem is photographed on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Courtney Davis, dean of the Utah Valley University School of the Arts, and Jim Godfrey, associate dean, stand in the foyer of UVU's Museum of Art at Lakemount in Orem on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Joanna Trujillo's "Yo y Un Domingo de Limpieza" is displayed in the second-floor gallery of Utah Valley University's Museum of Art at Lakemount in Orem on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. The piece is part of "The Art of Belonging" exhibit.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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European-style artwork in the hall of Utah Valley University's Museum of Art at Lakemount in Orem is photographed on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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In the center of Orem sits Lakemount Manor, the former home of philanthropist and community activist Melanie Bastian. When Bastian died, she donated the home to Utah Valley University with the hopes it would one day become the UVU Museum of Art.

On Saturday, Bastian’s dream is becoming a reality. UVU’s Museum of Art at Lakemount is opening with “The Art of Belonging,” an exhibit exploring themes of belonging in community and culture with an emphasis on minority artists.

It took years for the mansion to be transitioned from a home into a museum, to meet legal requirements for Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility, make parking available and more, but the university strived to maintain the feeling of the property. While some of the rooms, particularly the parlor and those on the second floor, are now galleries, others are nearly unchanged. An ornate chandelier that hangs over a dining room table on the first floor couldn’t be moved during renovations, being several hundred years old, so crews simply worked around it.

“There was such tremendous work being done to make sure that it was very subtle and the integrity of the home remains,” Courtney Davis, dean of the School of the Arts at UVU, told the Daily Herald during a tour Wednesday. “I think being within a community neighborhood environment and just having the opportunity to pause and move into a space that’s different, that provides that opportunity to learn and to be enlightened, maybe have questions posed, and then think about reversing that and going back out into the world. It’s very much that transformative museum experience.”

The museum contains what Davis calls a “rich juxtaposition” by using Bastian’s collection, mainly European styles from the 18th and 19th centuries, on the first floor and in the main hallway while the rotating exhibits adorn the second floor and individual rooms.

While part of the mansion is not available for the general public to use, different spaces will be used for different exhibits depending on functionality.

“The Art of Belonging” is a juried exhibition curated by Salt Lake City-based artist and educator Jorge Rojas and Fanny Guadalupe Blauer, executive director of Artes de México en Utah. It includes the work of 40 Utah artists who self-identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color, also known as BIPOC.

“We call it ‘The Art of Belonging’ because we’re bringing different cultures together, especially BIPOC or underrepresented cultures that are here in Utah,” said Jim Godfrey, associate dean of the School of the Arts.

The exhibit itself begins on the first floor with a physical piece by Rojas — “Corn Mandala: Belonging,” made with thousands of colorful kernels of corn arranged in a perfect circle, filled with intricate design work, alone in the center of the room. The kernels themselves are not “affixed,” Davis says, as Rojas placed each one individually knowing the piece will not be permanent.

“Thinking about that process of connecting body to work of art, and that the aspect of time and temporality as it is created, and we can view it, but then it will, at one point, be removed,” Davis said of the piece. “It is temporal, which makes it even more powerful and very, very significant.”

Due to its size, “Corn Mandala: Belonging” sits alone. While walking through the museum ahead of its public opening, Godfrey said he hopes the general quiet remains for the room, allowing guests a meditative space to connect emotionally with the piece.

The wider exhibit contains a variety of pieces, including pop art, photography, paintings, sketching and mixed-media installations. The variety was a goal of the exhibition, along with uplifting underrepresented voices in the art world.

“Historically, museums in the past, there’s very much a kind of hierarchical voice of, you know, ‘This is the art that should be shown and this is what you should learn from it.’ And it has been kind of one-sided in the past. And to be able to really expand in terms of who’s making decisions and who’s curating and what information is being presented is so incredibly significant in many ways,” Davis said.

While the museum is a part of the university, Davis hopes it becomes more of a community museum. Being near Posterity Park in the heart of the city’s residential area as opposed to a campus-adjacent location, she hopes, helps the wider community connect to the museum the way Bastian envisioned.

“You journey to a place and you’re transformed by it and all of those different elements have become part of the experience. It is coming up through the gardens, it’s walking in, it’s looking at the incredible space and then having that connection with individual works of art,” Davis said. “My hope is that people will come away with maybe a new sense of understanding, a sense of inspiration.”

The museum will host a series of community events Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of the museum. It will be open from noon until 5 p.m. for self-guided tours with art creation activities available from 1-5 p.m. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., there will be remarks from the curators, a dance performance from Remember Our Cultures and a dance party.

While the exhibition is free and open to the public, online registration will be required starting with the official opening on May 23. “The Art of Belonging” will remain on display until Sept. 16.

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