“Mother of Six Goes Back To School” - Daily Universe
Artist Statement
About
Crystal Gonzalez Callison (b. 1988) is a Mexican American, Texas-born, Utah-based interdisciplinary artist and mother of six. She began as a self-taught artist before receiving a BFA in Fine Arts from Brigham Young University. Her work emerges from grief, caregiving, memory, motherhood, and her cultural inheritance, reconstructing lived experiences through painting, video, objects, photography, sculpture, and installation. Her work has been discussed in 15 Bytes and featured in Exponent II and AWE and will appear in New American Paintings, West issue 186.
Her work has been featured at the UVU Museum of Art at Lakemont, the Springville Museum, the Ramble Gallery, Covey Center for The Arts, Bountiful Davis Art Center, JKR Gallery, J Kirk Richards Museum, and various student exhibitions. She received first place in the 2024 Minerva Teichert Award for Creative Work competition, honorable mention for a 3D sculpture, and First place for Video at the 2025 Statewide Emerging Artists’ Annual Exhibition at the Bountiful Davis Arts Center. She has been featured in Exponent II, the 2025 AWE (A Women’s Experience) magazine, and interviewed by the Daily Universe, and on the cover of Mormon Barrio: Latinx Belonging in the Church of Latter Day Saints by Sujey Vega.
CV.
Education
2026 BFA, Brigham Young University
2024 Communications Minor, Brigham Young University
2023 Social Media Marketing Certificate, Ensign College
2022 AA, Dallas College
Solo Exhibitions
2026 Without A Village, Weight Room Gallery, Provo, UT
2025 Where Memory Led Me, Weight Room Gallery, Provo, UT
Select Group Exhibitions
2026 New American Paintings Juried-In-Print Exhibition #186, (Upcoming)
Autumn Apparitions, JKR Gallery, Provo, UT
Re-Reading Re-Making: Art After Dialogue, J Kirk Richards Museum of Art, Provo, UT
365, 99.9 Gallery, Provo, UT
Class of 2026, 99.9 Gallery, Provo, UT
Evocations, Border & Square, Provo, UT
102nd Annual Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT
Annual Student Exhibition, Weight Room Gallery, Provo,UT
Zines 2026, Arcade on Stadium, Provo, UT
All Shapes and Sizes, JKR Gallery, Provo, UT
The Love Art Show, JKR Gallery, Provo, UT
A New Page, JKR Gallery, Provo, UT
2025 Women Out West Online Exhibition, UT
39th Annual Spiritual and Religious Art Show, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT
Space Not Space, Auditorium Gallery Level 1 BYU Library, Provo, UT
Invocation, 99.9 Gallery, Provo, UT
Student Art Showcase, The Fourth Annual Art at The Park, Salt Lake City, UT
Inseparably Connected: Our Relationship with Heaven, Earth, and Each Other, Orem Library, Orem, UT
Business Card Art Show, JKR Gallery, Provo, UT
Statewide Emerging Artists’ Annual Exhibition, Bountiful Davis Art Center, Bountiful, UT
Summer Art Showcase, Provo City Library, Provo, UT
Summer Art Showcase, The Covey Center for Arts, Provo, UT
HONORING MINERVA, Ramble Gallery, Bountiful, UT
I AM NOT AFRAID OF STORMS, Utah Women in Art 2025, JKR Gallery, Provo, UT
Time Is of the Essence, Gallery 1050, Provo, UT
Annual Student Exhibition, Weight Room Gallery, Provo, UT
PowHerful, The Compass Gallery, Provo, UT
The House Show 2.0, Weight Room Gallery, Provo, UT
2024 When Worlds Collide, Provo, UT
38th Annual Spiritual and Religious Art of Utah, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT
2024 Business Card Art Show, JKR Gallery, Provo, UT
Annual Student Exhibition, Weight Room Gallery, Provo, UT
2023 The Art of Belonging, UVU Museum of Art at Lakemount, Orem, UT
Awards & Honors
2026 Utah Somos Foundation Scholarship, Utah Somos Foundation
2025 Best In Figurative, Women of The West Online Exhibition, UT
Open Studios Award, BYU Art Department, December 2025
First Place, Video, Emerging Artists Annual Exhibition, Bountiful Davis Art Center, 2025
Honorable Mention, Emerging Artists Annual Exhibition, Bountiful Davis Art Center, 2025
BIPOC Artist Scholarship, Exponent II
Utah Somos Foundation Scholarship, Utah Somos Foundation
Open Studios Award, BYU Art Department, April 2025
Talent Award, BYU Art Department, February 2025
2024 Open Studios Award, BYU Art Department, December 2024
Open Studios Award, BYU Art Department, April 2024
First Place Minerva Teichert Award for Creative Work, (1st Place), BYU Global Women's Studies and the College of Fine Arts and Communications, Provo, UT
Talent Award, BYU Art Department, February 2024
2023 Open Studios Award, BYU Art Department, December 2023
Press
Stewart, Danielle. “Three Trends from the 102nd Springville Salon.” Artists of Utah’s 15 bytes Utah’s Art Magazine. June 12, 2026. https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/three-trends-from-the-102nd-springville-salon/
Bray, Elsa. “Mother of Six Goes Back To School.” Daily Universe. January 31, 2025. https://universe.byu.edu/campus/mom-of-six-goes-back-to-school
Jayswal, Palak. "After four years, this mansion turned museum opens to the public." The Salt Lake Tribune. May 12, 2023.
https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/2023/05/12/uvu-turns-an-orem-mansion-into-an/
Publications
2026 Artist Feature, Issue 186, New American Paintings, (Upcoming Publication)
Artist Feature, AWE (A Woman’s Experience), April 2025
Commissioned Cover Art, Mormon Barrio: Latinx Belonging in the Church of Latter Day
Saints, by Sujey Vega, New York University Press.
2025 Artist Feature, Exponent II, Vol. 44, No. 4, Spring
2024 Artwork Featured in Exponent II, Vol. 44, No. 1, Summer