Artists Rebecca Klundt and Jeanette Lukens will be presenting Plaza +ART's next Evening of Art scheduled for Tuesday, May 12. All are invited, and the event is free.

Klundt and Lukens will speak about their work and love of art at 7 p.m. at the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, 2525 W. Taylorsville Blvd. Please email plazaart@taylorsvilleut.gov to reserve your spot.

Klundt works in wood collage and Lukens is a printmaker. Both artists have generously donated several of their own art pieces to raffle off to those attending. Raffle tickets are only $1 and you can purchase as many tickets as you'd like. Proceeds benefit the Plaza +ART program.

Following is a bit more about the artists presenting that night:

Rebecca Klundt is a native of Salt Lake City where she and her husband still live. In 2012, she returned to Brigham Young University to finish the degree she began 20 years earlier, graduating in August 2014. In her words:

"I believe that when you are driven to create, you begin to see things around you in a different light. ...  I love to work two-dimensionally because once I have compacted a pile, I can then hang it on a wall where the amount of space it requires is minimal and the space all around it is free and uncluttered. 

I see a pile or mess and I want to compact the pile, putting it into the tightest possible space and giving it gravity. ... I have a deep passion for beautiful lines and especially those that happen naturally. I love the cracks and fissures in the slick rock mountains of Utah and try to imitate them in my art."

Read more about her at rebeccaklundt.com

Jeanette Lukens was born and raised in Los Alamos, N.M., where she greatly benefitted from the state’s extensive arts community. Since leaving New Mexico, she has been active in community art organizations and displayed her art in juried exhibitions in Virginia, Alabama and Utah (where she now lives). In her words:

"While I have experience in oil, acrylic, watercolor and other mediums, in recent years I have focused on relief printmaking, specifically linoleum and wood cuts. Relief prints are produced by removing bits of wood or linoleum from a block, and then rolling ink onto the remaining block to create an image. White areas are removed or carved out of the block using specialized tools. Black or colored areas print from the bits of block that remain."

Lukens previously worked as a policy advisor to New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall. Visit her website to learn more, jeanettelukensart.com

These Evening of Art events, held periodically throughout the year, are planned as a way for the community to learn about and enjoy art. You can meet the artists presenting that night, see their work and hear about how they feel art benefits others.