The Braithwaite Art Gallery will present the Southern Utah Art Invitational summer exhibit and sale July 19-Sept. 5 in collaboration with Cedar City Artisans and the Cedar City Arts Committee.

The show is an attempt to raise awareness about local artists. Reece Summers, Braithwaite Gallery art director, said he hoped the collaboration would be the first of many between these three groups in years to come.

“It would be great if we could draw attention to arts in the community and allow Cedar City to establish a name for itself in the world of art,” Summers said. “The only difference between the art community here and communities like Taos, N.M. is they have more galleries to showcase their local industry.”

Melissa Sullivan, Cedar City Artisans director, said the Artisans are working on changing that.

“We are still looking for a good space in historic downtown Cedar City to have a gallery so that people traveling through have a place, in addition to the Braithwaite Gallery, to see what this town has to offer in the arts,” Sullivan said. “We would like to have that done by next summer.”

Sullivan said Artisans are committed to showcasing local talent by encouraging and supporting the work and sale of local artists and artisans.

“The goal here is to raise the public profile of our artists and offer them the opportunity to be recognized for their talents,” Sullivan said.

The Cedar City Arts Committee has been doing that for more than 60 years Jennifer Rasmusson, CCAC president said.

“Cedar City Arts Committee originally started as a group of women who thought their children needed more exposure to art than they were receiving,” Rasmusson said.

Rasmusson said every year the local schools would gather the work of several artists from the community and display them in the school over the summer for people to come and enjoy or purchase.

“The school would purchase one piece of art every year, today they own 66 pieces,” Rasmusson said.

The Southern Utah Art Invitational Summer Exhibit and Sale has its roots in the sales originally organized by CCAC, but there was not a sale at this level until the three groups joined forces.

“None of this could have been done without the support of (Summers) and Southern Utah University,” Sullivan said. “They have helped so much with everything and we are very grateful.”

Summers said that the same is true of Cedar City Artisans and CCAC.

“SUU could never have showcased this many artists without this collaboration,” he said. “Melissa and Jennifer have done all the leg work by bringing in the artists, all we’ve done is provide a space for them to do that.”

Based on information provided by the gallery, 39 artists total mark the bill for this event, including J. Brad Holt, Spike Ress, Kate Starling, Arlene Braithwaite, Sue Cotter, Carrie Trenholm and Steve Yates.

The diverse mediums include ceramics, watercolors, stained and fused glass, photography, 3-D design, sculpture, and even woodcarving in styles ranging from traditional to contemporary, and surreal to landscapes.

Sullivan said all the art is for sale and most of the proceeds go to the artists.

“We are only keeping a nominal fee to cover overhead costs,” Sullivan said. “This isn’t about making money, it is about getting these artists out there and noticed.”

In addition to the gallery showing and sale of the art, some artists will be on site working on art and available for questions. A schedule will be available online at www.suu.edu/pva/artgallery.

The exhibit is open during the gallery’s extended summer hours, beginning Friday, which are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. There will be an opening reception June 26 at 7 p.m. For more information call (435) 586-5432.