Church History Museum Showcases 13th International Art Competition

An art exhibition celebrating faith across various media and cultures will be on display at the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. The exhibition is open from April 24, 2025, to January 3, 2026. Admission is free.

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Works were selected from the 13th International Art Competition. This year’s theme is “Lift Up the Hands Which Hang Down,” drawing from Doctrine and Covenants 81:5: “Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.”

Out of hundreds of pieces submitted for the competition, five jurors selected 150 to display.

Selected artists come from all over the world, including Angola, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.

Pamela Salinas Bernal entered the contest from Chile. “For me, it was a privilege to participate,” Bernal said. “I feel really grateful.”

Selected artworks represent a variety of media, from sculpture to ceramic, chitenge to tapa. “I love not just the diversity of stories but the diversity in the art forms,” said juror Amy Maxwell Howard. “It’s not like other exhibits I’ve seen.”

“A different style of art is like a different language,” said art curator Laura Paulsen Howe. “The 13th International Art Competition will showcase creators speaking many artistic languages and sharing their thoughts on what it means to lift up the hands that hang down. We hope to encourage the creation of quality art, showcase the breadth and diversity of Latter-day Saint cultural production, and purchase art for the Church History Museum collection that helps to represent who we are as a people.”

The subjects of the artwork are varied, although several repeating ideas emerged: There is beauty in helping others; humanity is healed as it loves and serves; and Christ lifts and supports all of humanity in its weakness. While in no way comprehensive, this list of repeating ideas highlights the charge of all to lift up the hands that hang down.

“The show is fantastic,” said Ryan Moffett, sculptor of “C'mon, Mom...” “The show has artists from all over the world expressing themes that I think everybody needs to see.”

The exhibition can also be viewed online. In the virtual gallery, viewers can vote for their two favorite artworks. The artists with the most votes will receive a Visitors’ Choice Award. Public voting ends on November 30, 2025.

An awards ceremony for artists of distinction was held on Thursday, April 24, in the Conference Center Theater on Temple Square. Here's the list of winners:

PURCHASE AWARDS:

Silvana Alvarez Rhodes, Fishers of Men

Paige Crosland Anderson, Sacred Mending

Gifty Annan-Mensah, We Are Our Neighbor's Keeper

Ernest L. Budu, Consolation

Sherron Crisanto, Together to Gather

Linda Vance Etherington, How Many Loaves Have Ye? Bring Them Hither to Me

Claire Forste, I Lift You; You Lift Me

Sarah Hawkes, Deposition

Andrea Larsen, A Collective Lift

Dilleen Marsh, She Leaned In

Ryan Moffett, C'mon, Mom...

Ahmed Jamal Qureshi, Tanaazul Allah / The Condescension of God/ ال تنازل

Pamela Salinas Bernal, The Garden of the Lord

Susana I. Silva, Invisible Networks

MERIT AWARDS:

Victoria Gail Richardson Pierson, “…And They Sorrowed in Their Hearts…” (3 Nephi 28:5)

Kwani Povi Winder, Love Letters

Rose Datoc Dall, Be Made Whole

Rebecca Klundt, These Three Widows

Shelby Stroud, Abish: A Remarkable Vision

Lovetta Reyes-Cairo, We Lift Each Other

Clark Kelley Price, By the Power of the Priesthood of Christ

Torgesen Murdock, The Community Well

Joanne McLeish, Lift Them to the Love of God

Beth Jepson, Sisters

Artists who wish to participate in the 14th International Art Competition are invited to ponder the next theme, “Enlarge the Memory of the People.” “We’d love for people to really digest and think about the ways their art and the publications of the Church have really enlarged who we are as a people and what we remember,” said Paulsen Howe.

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About the Church History Museum

The Church History Museum is on the west side of Salt Lake City’s historic Temple Square. The museum houses important artifacts of the founding, pioneer and contemporary leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as a collection of works by many artists from 1830 to the present. The museum and museum store are open to the public Monday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.