The third annual V. Douglas Snow Memorial Collegiate Mentorship begins Aug. 4 in the Colorado Plateau, bringing three Utah college students to the landscape that served as the primary inspiration for the late artist V. Douglas Snow. Hosted by the Entrada Institute in Torrey, the five-day program runs through Aug. 8, 2026, and features mentor Jana Parkin, a former student of Snow.
Mentorship in the Colorado Plateau
The mentorship program, sponsored by the Entrada Institute, provides senior and graduate students from Utah colleges the opportunity to explore the geology and history of the region while developing a new body of work. Participants receive a $500 stipend to cover expenses such as travel, food, or art supplies. The students are housed at the new Entrada Institute arts facility located just off Main Street in Torrey.
This year's mentor, Jana Parkin, has taught art and design at the college level for 20 years. Parkin, who studied under Snow at the University of Utah, noted that the mentorship allows her to channel Snow's spirit in his favorite location. "I love being in Torrey, Teasdale and Capitol Reef, seeing and making art in the very landscape that was Doug's biggest inspiration," Parkin said. She plans to demonstrate mixed media techniques and offer career development advice to the participants.
A Legacy of Landscape
The program focuses on deep engagement with a specific location, a philosophy central to Snow's own artistic legacy. Snow, who died in a one-car collision in 2009 at the age of 82, spent much of his life painting the rugged terrain of southern Utah. He famously built a studio halfway between the towns of Grover and Teasdale nearly 30 years before his death, positioned to view the Cockscomb, a massive, serrated rock formation rising from the Awapa Plateau at the base of Boulder Mountain.
Snow described the Cockscomb as his own "Mont Sainte-Victoire," a reference to the landmark famously painted by French impressionist Paul Cezanne. Snow's connection to the red-rock country was lifelong; his mother was born in nearby Loa, and he described an 18-year-old's first visit to the region as an epiphany. "That land is the source of my inspiration, the center of my strength," Snow once said.
Educational Impact and History
The mentorship program builds upon a history of honoring Snow's impact on the Utah art community. In 2024, the second annual mentorship was led by guest artist Jeff Juhlin, who mentored two University of Utah students, Kaylene Eldridge and Ryan Allaud. Eldridge, a landscape and figurative painter, and Allred, an abstract figurative painter, worked in Torrey to translate the local environment into their respective visual languages.
Snow's influence extended far beyond the Colorado Plateau. He was a prominent educator, serving as a professor in the University of Utah Department of Art for nearly 40 years and holding the position of department chair from 1966 to 1971. His students, including Parkin and others, have frequently cited his ability to provide inspiration rather than just technical instruction. Artist Earl Jones noted that Snow did not systematically teach the art of painting, but rather provided an emotional connection to the craft.
Artistic Recognition and Public Works
Snow's professional career was marked by significant recognition, including being featured in Life magazine in 1957 when he was 30 years old. His work is held in numerous prestigious collections, such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Springville Museum of Art, and the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University.
One of his notable contributions to Utah's public spaces is a 1964 oil on canvas mural commissioned for the Salt Lake City Public Library. The large-scale work, measuring 27 by 14 feet, was assembled from canvases mounted on panels. The mural underwent a complete cleaning and restoration in 2012 following renovations to the building, which now houses The Leonardo.
The Final Light Retrospective
The celebration of Snow's career was previously marked by a major retrospective titled "Final Light: V. Douglas Snow in Retrospect." This joint exhibition, held at the Salt Lake Art Center and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in 2011, featured 35 paintings from various private and public collections across the West. The exhibition was organized by guest curator Frank McEntire and examined Snow's career from his early Abstract Expressionist-inspired period in the 1950s to his later works that blended abstraction with realism.
McEntire, a friend and curator who helped organize Snow's memorial services and scholarships following his death in 2009, noted that Snow's work often captured the tension of the desert landscape. This was exemplified by a mural originally titled "Conflict and Resolution," inspired by a thunderstorm Snow witnessed while hiking in Capitol Reef National Park.
Concluding the Mentorship
As the mentorship program concludes on Aug. 8, 2026, the participating students will present their work-in-progress to both an in-person and online audience. This final presentation serves as the culmination of their five-day immersion in the Colorado Plateau, marking another year of the Entrada Institute's efforts to foster artistic connection to the Utah landscape.
