Press Release
K2 Gallery announces the 2nd Installment of Kate Kilpatrick-Miller’s “The Faces of Helper” (FOH) project. Started in 2017, Kilpatrick-Miller’s first installment of 18 portraits included a fire chief, a cancer survivor, a star athlete and a school principal. The second installment of “Faces of Helper” will include another 18 portraits, this time capturing, among others, a furniture store owner, a Julliard graduate, a miner’s daughter, a shop owner and a pharmacist to name just a few of the familiar faces in our community.
Kilpatrick-Miller’s four-year goal is to create oil portraits of 140+ of Helper, Utah’s current residents, along with recording their oral histories. At the completion of this project, Kilpatrick-Miller will assemble portraits and transcribed stories into a book entitled “The Faces of Helper.” In painting portraits of these residents, Kilpatrick-Miller is actually painting the portrait of a rural Utah town. A key objective is to capture the stories and essence of Helper before time slips away and the history is lost for future generations. The energy of this effort has created a new sense of pride in our community for both our past and the ongoing renaissance.
“These stories of struggle and hard work, along with great joy and pride are etched into the faces of our community and I strive to reflect that beauty in each of these portraits,” Kilpatrick-Miller said.
Capturing these priceless stories is a work of art of its’ own standing and certainly contribute to the ongoing efforts to honor our past while focusing on our future.
Formerly of Bountiful, Utah, Kate Kilpatrick-Miller is a fine-artist with the capacity to connect with people. A graduate of the Westminster College of Salt Lake Arts program, Kilpatrick-Miller studied with Don Doxey, Craig Glidden and most recently David Dornan, among others. She was recently featured in Fine Art Connoisseur as an “artist to watch.” Since moving to Helper in 2012, Kilpatrick-Miller has actively promoted the arts in Carbon County, teaching classes in the elementary schools and giving private art lessons. She is the current director of the Helper Arts, Music and Film Festival, which occurs the third week of August, and she is the co-owner of K2 Gallery in Helper with sculptor/painter Karen Jobe Templeton.
The 2nd Installment of “The Faces of Helper” opens Friday, June 15 at 7 p.m. at K2 Gallery, 102 South Main Street, in the northeast corner of the Historic Strand Theatre Building, Helper. You can follow Kate and K2 Gallery on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and at www.k2galleryutah.com
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- Lois Giordano
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- Netta Burton
