Temple Square Stereoscopics and GIFs

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by Scott Heffernan:

On a recent trip to Salt Lake City we stopped by Temple Square. The temple grounds have always fascinated me. I often feel a strange aura there. There's the cheerful families and tourists that give it a sense of levity. At the same time there's sort of a ghostly air filled with esoteric symbolism, deep longing, and moodiness. I took some photographs on our visit not intending to put them together like this. However, I noticed later on that pairing some of them up created that quirky combination of mysticism and frivolity I experience at the Salt Lake Temple.

Scott Heffernan is a graphic designer and photographer in Seattle. He works on the creative team at Archie McPhee doing all manner of strange things. He grew up a child of the ‘80s in Salt Lake City, served a mission to England/Wales, and got a degree in American Sign Language from the University of Utah. After marrying his sweetheart, they moved to Seattle and had three beautiful baby boys together. He loves toys, skateboarding, and thrift store shopping and has impeccable Modar. Twitter: @ScottHeffernan. Tumblr: ScottHeff.tumblr.com.
Images: Scott Heffernan (used with permission).

Introducing Kolob Kitsch!

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by Scott Heffernan:

I'm excited to announce a new website I've been working on—Kolob Kitsch! Celebrating the weird and the wonderful of Mormon culture, humor, and arts. I created Kolob Kitsch as an outlet to share the oddly charming and overlooked treasures of Mormondom. I’m a lifelong and faithful member of the LDS church, but also have a bit of a twisted sense of humor.

Kitsch refers to items that are considered to be distasteful, garish, or overly sentimental, but are appreciated in an ironic or knowing way. I’ve always had a fascination with Mormon and religious kitsch, and plenty will be featured here. Many of the themes on the site will go beyond the scope of kitsch, but I chose that word because I like the tone it sets.

Mormon life is endlessly beautiful, inspiring, peculiar, and absurd. Kolob Kitsch is irreverent, but good-natured. I hope you enjoy this collection of paraphernalia I’ll be creating and curating.

15 Minutes in the National Gallery of Art: Adoration of the Magi

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by Shawn Tucker:

Series Note: The best way to experience Washington D.C.'s National Gallery of Art is in short intervals. The thing is like the Costco of art museums! Too often when people go they stay too long and look at too much, and it all becomes a big, beautiful blur. So this will be an ongoing series of posts that use a room or even just a painting from that museum and connect it with a song or poem to create what I hope is a productive and satisfying 15 minutes.

We're moving through the halls of the National Gallery of Art, and now we are deep in the Renaissance. Look at this painting—this is the sort of painting that we have museums for. This is Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi. The magi are the wise men. At the center is the Blessed Virgin Mary wearing her traditional red and blue and holding the Christ child wearing.

Botticelli is clearly not shooting for historical accuracy. Mary does not look like a poor Jewish woman, and the deep background looks like Tuscany. There is no manger, and the setting actually looks like the ruins of some building. Botticelli painted this work in Rome. The buildings are Roman ruins with a large wooden framework on top. This is an important and complex symbol. Catholics believe that God built Christianity on the foundation of the classical world. That world had passed away, but God's kingdom emerged from it. The humble wood of Christ's cross becomes the framework of a new roof that we see on top. That framework would eventually become the cathedral roof of God's kingdom on earth.

Botticelli wants to make Christ's advent, mission, and relation to the present as real and vivid as possible. Notice the even, delightful deployment of strong colors throughout the work. Notice the central focus and casual symmetry of the composition. Of course we could also see more going on here. Notice the faces of the wise men. Do you see how Mary’s face is fairly generic, as it is just an idealized woman's face? Do you see how many of the wise men look like real people? This is because those are not generic faces; they are the faces of the people who paid for the work. The magi were very popular in Florence at the time. There was a confraternity that celebrated them with a parade every five years. The fact that these are faces or portraits also explains why there are so many wise men and such a large retinue.

When you go to the National Gallery of Art or any other museum with Italian Renaissance art (or Italy!), you will notice lots of paintings of the worshiping wise men. And by lots I mean lots and lots and lots. You will also notice far fewer worshiping shepherds. Oh, and I cannot think of one painting of the Rich Man and Lazarus. That makes sense, because paintings were expensive, rich people paid artists to make them, and rich people wanted paintings that showed God's approval of rich people like themselves. Yes, this work is a show of humble devotion, but it also shows God's approval of the wealthy, powerful people featured here.

So let's listen to two songs with this painting. The first one emphasizes the devotional nature of this work. It should be familiar. Look and listen and see how these go together.



And then there is this song.



This may not be familiar; rarely is 90's Ska music compared with Italian Renaissance art. To what degree might the song describe Botticelli? Was he just a sell out for the rich? Let these two songs rattle around in your head next time you see one of those Italian adoration of the magi pictures.


Shawn Tucker grew up with amazing parents and five younger, wonderful siblings. He served as a missionary in Chile during the Plebiscite and the first post-dictatorship election. After his mission, he attended BYU, where he married ... you guessed it ... his wife. They both graduated, with Shawn earning a BA in Humanities. Fearing that his BA in Humanities, which is essentially a degree in Jeopardy, would not be sufficient, Shawn completed graduate work in the same ... stuff ... at Florida State University. He currently teaches at Elon University in North Carolina. He and ... you guessed it ... his wife have four great children. Twitter: @MoTabEnquirer. Website: motabenquirer.blogspot.com.

Mormonism and Bigfoot

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by Scott Heffernan:

As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very strange personage walking beside me.... His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle. He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark. I asked him where he dwelt and he replied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, that he had earnestly sought death during his sojourn upon the earth, but that he could not die, and his mission was to destroy the souls of men. About the time he expressed himself thus, I rebuked him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, and commanded him to go hence, and he immediately departed out of my sight.... [Lycurgus A. Wilson, Life of David W. Patten [Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1900], p. 50., quoted by Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 127-128.]

I love this story. I don’t believe it’s true, but I still find it fascinating. I initially came across it as I read Spencer W. Kimball’s The Miracle of Forgiveness on my mission (not recommended). I’m not quite sure why President (then Elder) Kimball included it in his book. It doesn’t seem to serve much purpose other than to point that murderers exist, they are evil, and Cain was (or is) one of them. I like to imagine Elder Kimball recalling the story and thinking, “This is awesome! I’ve got to find a way to work it in.”

The Holy Ghost, Right On Time

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by Scott Heffernan:

Scott Heffernan is a graphic designer and photographer in Seattle. He works on the creative team at Archie McPhee doing all manner of strange things. He grew up a child of the ‘80s in Salt Lake City, served a mission to England/Wales, and got a degree in American Sign Language from the University of Utah. After marrying his sweetheart, they moved to Seattle and had three beautiful baby boys together. He loves toys, skateboarding, and thrift store shopping and has impeccable Modar. Twitter: @ScottHeffernan. Tumblr: ScottHeff.tumblr.com.
Image credit: Scott Heffernan.

Illustrated Mormons 2

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by Scott Heffernan:

A while back I shared some Illustrated Mormons modeled after Julian Opie's iconic portrait style. Here are a few more to add to the collection.

Latter-day Prophets: Joseph Smith, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Brigham Young

The Mormon Comic Sans Project 2

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by Scott Heffernan:

The Mormon Comic Sans Project is an ongoing design exercise that involves taking Mormon-related logos, and replacing them with designer-unfriendly Comic Sans font. You can see the first batch here. They are kind of hideous and glorious at the same time.

There are still plenty of logos to go, but if there's one in particular you'd like to see in the next batch, let me know in the comments.

(Click on any image to see the original logo.)

Big Tent

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by Scott Heffernan:

Scott Heffernan is an artist, designer, and photographer living in Seattle. He works on the creative team at Archie McPhee, doing all manner of strange things. He grew up a child of the 80s in Salt Lake City and loves skateboarding, toys, and thrifting. He served a mission in England/Wales and has a degree in American Sign Language from the University of Utah. He has one wife and two kids. Twitter: @ScottHeffernan. Tumblr: ScottHeff.tumblr.com.
 Image credit: Scott Heffernan (used with permission).

Happy Anniversary, Napoleon Dynamite

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by Scott Heffernan:

Yesterday, Seattle Jon suggested I design an image for the 10th anniversary of Napoleon Dynamite. I love the film and thought it was a great idea. One of my favorite creative elements from the movie is the wardrobe choices. Here's Napoleon, Kip, Deb, and Uncle Rico. I hope you like it.

See some pictures from the cast reunion here.


Scott Heffernan is an artist, designer, and photographer living in Seattle. He works on the creative team at Archie McPhee, doing all manner of strange things. He grew up a child of the 80s in Salt Lake City and loves skateboarding, toys, and thrifting. He served a mission in England/Wales and has a degree in American Sign Language from the University of Utah. He has one wife and two kids. Twitter: @ScottHeffernan. Tumblr: ScottHeff.tumblr.com.
 Image credit: Scott Heffernan (used with permission).

Participate in Mormon Arts Sunday!

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by Scott Hales:

Early last year, I wrote a good-natured satire of “Wear Pants to Church Day”—as well as the strong (sometimes violently-worded) resistance to it—and posted it in two parts (here and here) on A Motley Vision. In the posts, I encouraged all Mormons everywhere to wear a black beret and/or maroon clothing to church on Scout Sunday, the first Sunday in February, to raise awareness of Mormon art and its often-overlooked place in our community. While the posts were obviously tongue-in-cheek, several of us who contribute to and read AMV, realized that the idea was bigger than the satire and decided to take it seriously. On the designated Sunday, the second in February, we donned our black berets and maroon ties, snapped a few selfies for social media, and headed off to church.

This year, when February rolled around, half of us forgot about commemorating Mormon Arts Sunday while the other half kept the tradition alive. (I was among the forgetful.) Feeling like Mormon arts deserved better than that, we decided to move Mormon Arts Sunday officially to the second Sunday in June. We made the move for several reasons. First, we didn’t want Mormon Arts Sunday to conflict with Scout Sunday, even though Scout Sunday seems (in my opinion) to be mostly a relic of the last century. Second, June was the month when the first works of Mormon literature were published in The Evening and Morning Star in 1832. Third, June marks the anniversary of the founding of A Motley Vision in 2004. The move to June seemed right.

This week, in preparation for Sunday, AMV founder William Morris has published a list of things you can do to commemorate Mormon Arts Sunday and show your commitment to Mormon art and solidarity with Mormon artists. I have little to add to his excellent list aside from my support and endorsement. In my opinion, giving Mormon art and artists recognition is one of the most important things we can do for Mormon communities around the world. Too often, after all, we feel as if we have to apologize for Mormon art—or dismiss it for being sentimental, didactic, kitschy, and amateurish—forgetting that Mormon art is not simply what we see on shelves at church bookstores, but also that which we create as Mormons with our own hands. In other words, Mormon art is the creative work we do on a daily basis—in all its forms and mediums. Whenever we do something creative with our Mormon perspectives—through writing, singing, scribbling, drawing, dancing, etc.—we are making Mormon art.

So, to raise awareness for Mormon arts everywhere, don your artsy black berets, wear your maroons and dark reds, and show your support for our artists. And don’t forget to post your Mormon Arts Sunday selfies on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, or anything else that helps you show your commitment to Mormon Arts. And use #MormonArtsSunday—‘cause we Mormons are all about our hashtags!


Scott Hales lives in a small house in a suburb of Cincinnati with his wife and three daughters. He spends a lot of his time reading Mormon fiction and trying to come up with original things to say about it. On weekday mornings, he gets up at 4:40 to teach seminary. On weekday evenings, he and his wife watch network television and wonder what it must be like to have a satellite dish and 400 channels. During the daytime, he is a graduate student in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cincinnati. He doesn't like pets or home repairs. He always likes to watch superhero cartoons with his kids. Sometimes he rides a mountain bike in the woods behind his neighborhood. When he's feeling particularly nostalgic, he'll pull out his masterfully written mission journals and remember the days when he didn't sport sideburns. Twitter: @TheLowTechWorld. Blog: low-techworld.blogspot.com.
 Image credit: Scott Hales (used with permission).

Manly Design: Record Album Cover Art

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by Scott Heffernan:

When my wife, Aimee, and I got married, we wanted to have some art that combined our interests. We really connect on music and thought it would be fun to put some of our favorite albums on our wall. I liked the idea of a 3x3 square, so we each chose four albums, then agreed on a ninth together.

There are a few things to consider when choosing what to put in the frames. Love of the album, first and foremost. But the album cover art has to be good. And in some cases, really good album art wins out over a great album with poor cover art. We got married in 2006. Here's what we went with:

A Mother Here: Heavenly Mother in Art

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by Scott Heffernan:

Recently there was an art and poetry contest "celebrating the wondrous truth that we have a Heavenly Mother overseeing our spiritual development." A Mother Here announced the winners on Mother's Day. I was lucky enough to get an honorable mention. Here's my piece, as well as a few of my favorites. See more at the A Mother Here gallery. Selected poetry entries can be seen here.

Scott Heffernan

Jennifer Smith

Lynde Mott

Caitlin Connolly

Scott Heffernan is an artist, designer, and photographer living in Seattle. He works on the creative team at Archie McPhee, doing all manner of strange things. He grew up a child of the 80s in Salt Lake City and loves skateboarding, toys, and thrifting. He served a mission in England/Wales and has a degree in American Sign Language from the University of Utah. He has one wife and two kids. Twitter: @ScottHeffernan. Tumblr: ScottHeff.tumblr.com.
 Images via amotherhere.com.

Dies Irae, Die Laetitiae (Day of Wrath, Day of Joy)

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by Shawn Tucker:

There is traditional funeral music dating from medieval times that includes a section called the Dies Irae, which is Latin for “Day of Wrath.” The music warns of an ultimate judgment day, a day when the sinful would experience God’s anger. As Mormons, though we acknowledge both, we don’t typically emphasize either God’s wrath or a dreadful final verdict; perhaps a final Judgment day merits some reflection.

My typical image of Judgment Day involves a lot of people sitting around watching the DVD of each individual’s life. There is a funny Calvin Grondhal cartoon that puts forward the idea that those who would not be exalted to the Celestial kingdom would be asked to pick up and put away all of the Judgment Day chairs, inevitably trying to stack all of them properly on those rickety carts and slide them under the stage. The Egyptian idea of final judgment was weighing a person’s heart against a feather. Does God make some sort of tally marks as each person’s DVD rolls on the big screen, drawing up some final cumulative total indicating to that individual the mansion or condo or duplex or shack or van down by the river wherein they will be spending eternity?

Once you actually start to think about it, the idea that Judgment Day is a day of wrath becomes clear. As I mentioned in a previous post, when I was 17 a close friend died from bone cancer. Imagine how I might feel on Judgment Day if I were able to see that Greg’s cancer was not completely accidental or an act of God? What if, on that day, I learned that the willful neglect of some people had directly led to Greg’s cancer? Imagine the shock, surprise, and bright, burning anger that I might feel. I think that we should anticipate that if there is a Judgment Day that it will be filled with dark, painful, and nasty surprises. We will see how the actions of others have affected us and our loved ones in tremendously painful ways. Those surprises will truly make that a day of wrath.

15 Minutes in the National Gallery of Art: Late Medieval Art

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by Shawn Tucker:

Series Note: The best way to experience Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art is in short intervals. The thing is like the Costco of art museums! Too often when people go they stay too long and look at too much, and it all becomes a big, beautiful blur. So this will be an ongoing series of posts that use a room or even just a painting from that museum and connect it with a song or poem to create what I hope is a productive and satisfying 15 minutes.

Yep, today we're starting with gallery one. No, we’re not doing every gallery ... don’t worry. We just happen to be starting in the first room. So, when you walk into that room, this is one of the paintings that you will see. It is a 13th Byzantine painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the Christ child. Perhaps the first thing you might notice is the sadness on Mary’s face. On her lap is her child, and not just her child but the Savior of the world. But his red robe hints at how he will bleed from every pore, and the humble maidservant of the Lord already reflects her deep sorrow. Mary wears the traditional blue robe, and that color is associated with truth and integrity. Mary and Christ are seated in a grand, celestial throne, and two angels accompany them. The throne seems to rest on a sort of green stage.

The emphasis in the painting seems to be on Mary and Christ. The background is a simple, plain, golden wall. Mary’s robe is a series of interesting lines, shapes, and patterns. Christ’s robe is similar. The chair seems a little awkward if not clumsy by our standards. They seem to look straight out at us, but the chair seems to … move to the side.

So one quick note about the approach to painting here: the artist seems to treat the surface of the painting as something to be decorated. There is a hint of three dimensions, but no one is going to mistake the painting for window. Some centuries later, artists are going to try to make paintings seem like windows, with the action happening on the other side of the painting's surface. That is not the approach of this Byzantine artist. The painting is not meant to trick your eye into believing that it is a window. Instead, the painting is meant to inspire the eye and the mind and the heart and the soul to seek the joy and the blessings that came into the world via Mary and Christ.

So let’s listen to a couple of pieces of music that might make this painting even more interesting. The first piece is a portion of medieval plainchant. Listen to the music, perhaps follow along with the English translations, turn down the lights, and what happens? Does the simplicity and beauty of the music almost transport the soul? Do the music and painting lift you above the daily and mundane? Do they come together to invite a meditation on or even a connection with the Divine?

Okay, so now let’s listen to another piece of music. What is this piece like? How is it similar to the plainchant? Did you notice the echo? And what happened when you heard him say, “talking like this?” And did you notice the anachronism? (That is when something is out of chronology, or out of its time period.) The voices that accompany the main voice create harmonies. Plainchants feature either one melody or melodic lines treated individually. They do not (generally) harmonize. And did you laugh when this became a sort of medieval barbershop quartet? Finally did you find the self-referentiality funny?  (Self-referentiality is when the singer refers to himself.) What is funny about self-referentiality is that the painting and the plainchant try to move you, viewer and listener, away from the art and toward God. They Might Be Giants do exactly the opposite, inviting you to notice the song and “plight” of the singer.

So, does this show the world we live in? Have we become out of tune with quiet, contemplative things? Do we expect visible realities and therefore reject what is meant to move one toward higher realities? Does the self-referential, perhaps, show us how easy it is to be trapped in the mundane details or in the busyness of daily life such that we miss out on something valuable? Or is the They Might Be Giants song just a fun spoof?


Shawn Tucker grew up with amazing parents and five younger, wonderful siblings. He served as a missionary in Chile during the Plebiscite and the first post-dictatorship election. After his mission, he attended BYU, where he married ... you guessed it ... his wife. They both graduated, with Shawn earning a BA in Humanities. Fearing that his BA in Humanities, which is essentially a degree in Jeopardy, would not be sufficient, Shawn completed graduate work in the same ... stuff ... at Florida State University. He currently teaches at Elon University in North Carolina. He and ... you guessed it ... his wife have four great children. Twitter: @MoTabEnquirer. Website: motabenquirer.blogspot.com.
 Image credit: National Gallery of Art (used with permission).

What is Appropriate Religious Decor for Our Homes?

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by Lauren Johnson:

Saint Mark brought this 2009 Conference talk by Elder Gary Stevenson to my attention back in his November post.

Elder Stevenson encouraged us to take a virtual tour of our home with our spiritual eyes… “Is it clean and orderly, and do you see uplifting images, which include appropriate pictures of the temple and the Savior?”

It was a beautiful talk, but one that caused me some questioning. What are "appropriate pictures"? Art within my home has always been quite personal. I am deeply moved by art. I don’t own a Greg Olsen painting, and it’s not because I don’t think he’s talented, or appreciate what he does, but personally, realism art does nothing for me. When it comes to art sold at Deseret Book, the only artist that resonates with me is Minerva Teichert, but I want an original (not that I can afford such a thing) and it would gnaw on me if I purchased a print.

Manly Design: Type Drawer Figures

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by Scott Heffernan:

I thought this would be a fun series. Stereotypically home decor is largely left up to the ladies, but men have some good ideas too and I think it's time we stepped up. I hope other contributors and guest posters will send in their own Manly Design Tips.

A vintage type drawer filled in with small toy figures—this is hanging on my wall at the bottom of the stairs.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who is nostalgic for their childhood toys. This seemed like a good way to make them into an art piece. Type drawers were used by typesetters to store and sort their font letters. You can find them on eBay or sometimes at garage sales. I got this one for $15 from a garage sale that advertised on Craigslist that they’d be selling drawers. The little compartments are perfect for holding plastic army men. I tried to incorporate a wide variety of figures. I chose to fill the larger slots with G.I. Joe action figures, my favorite toy line growing up.

Makes for good conversation and the kids love it.

Scott Heffernan is an artist, designer, and photographer living in Seattle. He works on the creative team at Archie McPhee, doing all manner of strange things. He grew up a child of the 80s in Salt Lake City and loves skateboarding, toys, and thrifting. He served a mission in England/Wales and has a degree in American Sign Language from the University of Utah. He has one wife and two kids. Twitter: @ScottHeffernan. Tumblr: ScottHeff.tumblr.com.
 Images by Scott Heffernan.