Like Us
Colby A. Sanford is a figurative realist painter with a heart for finding poetry in the prosaic. Growing up in an unconventional home, he was encouraged to paint on the walls of his bedroom and later lived in a yurt. His most precious moments are spent at home with his wife and soon-to-be three daughters, often baking oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Sanford paints in his home at the base of the mountains in Provo, Utah - often in the living room and occassionally in his basement studio. He paints using a restricted acrylic palette on wooden panels, as he works to highlight the beauty in the mundane. Many works are paired with short-form poetry that serves to further parse extraordinaries from the commonplace of everyday life.
“Like sweeping the floor or doing the dishes, painting is a daily, meditative act that allows me to better live and appreciate my everyday life. It is between the strands of my wife’s hair when electrified in late afternoon light, or nestled deep in the knit stitch of my daughter’s faded periwinkle blanket that I find my brightest moments of inspiration.”
Exhibitions
2024
Artists of Utah, 35x35 Exhibition, Finch Lane Gallery
2023
How Many Pieces of Me are Somewhere in the Sky, Meyer Gallery, Solo Show
Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art
2022
Purchase Award, Patchwork Sky, State of Utah Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection
Trying My Hand, Meyer Gallery, Solo Show
Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art
12th International LDS Art Competition
2021
Manifest Gallery, Season 17, Two-Person Show
Patterns, Meyer Gallery, Solo Show
Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art
2020
U.S. Embassy in Switzerland, Art in Embassies Program
Until We Fade Seamlessly Into The Sky, Meyer Gallery, Solo Show
2019
11th International LDS Art Competition
Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art
2018
Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art
Remembering Home, Meyer Gallery, Solo Show
Finding Greener Grass, Harris Fine Arts Center, Solo Show
2017
Poem and Paint, HERE Gallery, Solo Show
Artist Dad, Group Show, Alice Gallery
Petit Nuit, Group Show, Meyer Gallery
Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art
Home, Solo Show, New Vision Art
2016
Artists of Utah, 35x35 Exhibition, Finch Lane Gallery
Fatherhood, Solo Show, Writ & Vision Gallery
Annual Statewide Competition, Bonneville Davis Art Center
Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art
2015
10th International LDS Church Art Competition
Spiritual and Religious Show, Springville Museum of Art
Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art
Awards
Award of Merit - Springville Musum of Art Spring Salon, 2022
Honorable Mention - Springville Museum of Art Spring Salon [Fall Edition], 2020
Grant Winner - Center for LDS Arts “Art for Uncertain Times”
Second Place - Springville Museum of Art Spiritual and Religious Show, 2019
Third Place - Springville Museum of Art Spring Salon, 2019
Honorable Mention - Springville Museum of Art Spring Salon, 2018
Honorable Mention - Springville Museum of Art Spring Salon, 2017
Award of Merit - Springville Museum of Art Spiritual and Religious Show, 2016
Publications
Dictionary of Utah Fine Artists, Gibbs Smith Publishing, 2022, pg. 319-320
Marigold’s Lullaby, self-published children’s book, 2023
Some Sunday Afternoons, self-published children’s book, 2021
