BOUNTIFUL—The eminent artist and painter Vincent Van Gogh was once purported to have said, “All art is a gift…Art is life seeking itself.” If that is so, then the Bountiful Davis Art Center (BDAC) has been giving the community here in Davis County a gift for half a century. What’s more: they have no plans of slowing down now. 

Fifty years of service to the community isn’t all the BDAC has to celebrate: joining Holly Yocom, and Bren Larsen in speaking about the celebration, was the new Executive Director of the BDAC, Sarina Ehrgott. Ehrgott earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts before entering a career in design and marketing, but felt that something was missing, and decided to make a change, “It was always my intention to be closer to the arts.” She couldn’t have arrived at a better time, either.

2024 marks 50 years since the opening of the BDAC, and the staff has a lot in store, and all for the community. The celebration kicks off at the end of the month with “Chromatic,” a fine art show and auction featuring pieces from some of Davis County’s own artists, including LeConte Stewart, famous for his landscapes and depictions of Utah. “Chromatic” will also feature something wholly unique – five musical artists who will be composing pieces based on the art featured. The event promises to be something unlike any other and a great way to kick off the celebration.

Also featured at “Chromatic” will be a video presentation, chronicling the changes the BDAC has seen over 50 years of bringing art to the community, along with an exhibition that promises to show not only where the BDAC has come from, but where it will go in the future. As Ehrgott put it, “There’s just so much potential!” As outstanding as “Chromatic” promises to be, that, said Yocom, Larsen, and Ehrgott, is only the beginning.

2024 will also see the return of the three-day Summerfest, the further development of summer programs, and returning favorites like the Gingerbread Festival, along with expansions for school programs. “People forget,” said Ehrgott, “they have access to free experiences right here,” and that’s something that she and the team at the BDAC hope to remedy. Over the course of this year, and moving forward, they hope to remind the community of what a great spot the BDAC is.

Not only that, but they hope to make art less intimidating, and a little more approachable. “The smaller places are the really special ones,” Ehrgott said, and there’s plenty that has made the BDAC special over the years thanks both to the people that work there, as well as the sponsors. Yocom, Larsen, and Ehrgott particularly recognized the outstanding support both the city of Bountiful and Davis County as a whole have provided as they move into the next 50 years of bringing art closer to the community.

“Chromatic,” the first event celebrating 50 years of the BDAC, opens with an online auction from March 1 – 23, culminating with an in-person event Saturday, March 23, 2024, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. This, and the many other events planned this year promise to be an unforgettable way to celebrate and honor the five decades of service the Bountiful Davis Art Center has rendered to the entire area.