Christopher Lynn exhibited at the Bountiful Davis Art Center in 2024. This fall, he returns to pick the winners.
BDAC announced Monday, Aug. 24, that Lynn will serve as guest juror for the 2026 Statewide Emerging Artists' Annual, the center's flagship juried exhibition for early-career artists across Utah. The show opens Sept. 11 and runs through Nov. 13 at BDAC's gallery at 90 North Main St. in Bountiful.
Lynn, a West Valley City resident and associate professor of historical, critical and cultural studies in art at Brigham Young University, was named a 2025 Utah Artist Fellow in Visual Arts, a $5,000 state award chosen by nationally renowned out-of-state jurors. He participated in BDAC's own Statewide Annual exhibition in 2024.
When the fellowship was announced in May 2025, Lynn said on the Utah Division of Arts & Museums page that the honor "places me with my friends and art heroes who have made and continue to make Utah an interesting place to live."
As juror, Lynn will select the artists featured in the exhibition and choose three works to receive unrestricted cash awards. The Best in Show winner will also be offered a solo exhibition at BDAC in 2027.
That matters.
BDAC framed the juror role as more than a selection process, saying the exhibition gives emerging artists a chance to have their work seen and placed into conversation with the larger arts community.
Lynn's interdisciplinary practice spans installation, sound, video, photography, drawing and digital media. His curatorial resume includes stints as gallery director at Columbia College Chicago's Center for Book and Paper Arts, assistant curator at DePauw University, and executive director of SPACES in Cleveland and the Gallery of Contemporary Art at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. His artwork has been shown at venues in Germany, South Korea and Switzerland.
The exhibition is open to current BFA and MFA students and artists with five or fewer solo exhibitions. That definition of "emerging" includes students, recent graduates, self-taught artists and those returning to art after long breaks. Work in painting, sculpture, performance, installation, fiber, video and new media is accepted.
How to attend
The opening reception is Friday, Sept. 11, from 6 to 8 p.m., with awards announced at 7 p.m. Admission is free. BDAC is at 90 North Main St., Bountiful. Call (801) 295-3618 or visit bdac.org for details.
