Arlo Johnson | Oil
This Untitled Landscape depicts a mountain landscape where a stream flows through the foreground into a waterfall surrounded by trees, grasses, and wildflowers. In the distance, snow-covered peaks rise beneath a sky filled with warm tones of red and orange, reflected in the water below. The composition combines natural detail with strong atmospheric color.
Arlo Johnson is a contemporary American painter known for realistic landscape works inspired by the American Southwest. His work often draws from the Four Corners region of New Mexico, where he spent part of his early life. Johnson left a background in corporate work to pursue painting full time, focusing on natural environments and western landscapes.
Johnson has also been active in educational outreach, including visits to schools where he shares his painting process and demonstrates techniques for students and community audiences. In 1996, he donated this painting to the Draper Elementary Art Collection following one of these visits.
Nola Beth Brown | Oil
Camping depicts a night landscape with a mountain stream and waterfall, a cabin along the left bank, and mountain peaks in the distance beneath a moonlit sky.
Miss Brown was a local girl, living in Crescent, Utah, with her parents while attending Draper Junior High School. She had a flair for oil painting and contributed this painting to the art collection.
A strong, distant mountain, bright color, rushing water, and a campsite are described as key elements of the composition.
The work is recorded as oil on canvas board, 19 × 16 inches, signed at the lower right, and was a gift by the artist.
Donna Huff Gilbert | Oil
Autumn Scene depicts a landscape with a calm mountain stream, rocks and trees along the water, rolling hills in the distance, and a pale, cloudless sky.
Donna Lowe Huff Gilbert was born in Franklin, Idaho, and moved to Draper at age two. She has fond memories of her home at 12338 South 700 East in Draper (no longer in existence), and was raised, along with eight brothers and sisters, by a loving mother and father. She attended all grades at Draper Park School and was a student of Principal Reid Beck and Willda Beck.
The painting was a gift to the Draper Visual Arts Foundation in 1997 by the artist in memory of her mother, Jennie Lowe Huff, a respected resident of Draper for 72 years. The work is recorded as oil on canvas, 18 × 24 inches, signed at the lower left, and presented in a stained wood frame measuring 25½ × 31½ inches.
Vonna E. Vawdrey | Oil
Morning Mist depicts an idyllic landscape with a waterfall in a mountain stream, trees and shrubs along the banks, and a deer standing in the foreground.
Vonna E. Vawdrey was born in Murray, Utah, and is a lifelong Draper resident. She is married to Harold S. Vawdrey and they have six children.
The painting was donated by the artist in 1969 in memory of her eldest son, Steven “J”, following his death.
Mrs. Vawdrey is self-taught and describes her work as guided by a natural sense of rhythm, color, and style. She was inspired to begin painting through the Draper school art collection and has served on the Board of Directors for the Intermountain Society of Artists. Collection notes identify her as a Utah landscape painter.
The work is oil on panel, 40 × 24 inches, signed and dated lower right, in a painted wood frame measuring 44 × 28 inches.
Renae Maughan | Oil
This painting is one of the more traditional marine landscapes in the Draper Elementary Art Collection. Sail Boats captures two sailboats navigating lively water beneath a broad sky filled with billowing white clouds. The larger vessel dominates the foreground, heeling sharply to port as its sails catch the wind. Whitecaps break across the dark blue water, conveying movement and the power of the breeze, while a second sailboat follows in the distance near a low shoreline.
The composition creates a strong sense of depth.
The viewer’s attention is first drawn to the foreground boat before traveling across the open water to the distant sailboat and horizon. The expansive sky occupies nearly half the canvas, balancing the energy of the waves below with a feeling of openness and calm. Rather than portraying a specific harbor or event, the painting celebrates the timeless experience of sailing and humanity’s relationship with the sea.
No information has been found about the artist. The painting was donated to the collection by Daniel Clayton in 1998.
R. Scott Jarvis | Pastel
Sailing Boat depicts a clipper ship moving through rough seas, with another vessel in the distance beneath a bright sky with high clouds.
R. Scott Jarvis was born in 1932 and is a native of Draper, Utah. He studied in Washington, D.C. at a private art school, commercial art at Arts Incorporated in Chicago, and at the Fine Arts Department of Brigham Young University. He began with pastel work before moving into oil painting, with subjects often focused on Western themes and Native American imagery. During his service in the U.S. Army in Japan and the Far East, he received awards in the Japanese Art Defense Art Show and the Far East Air Force Art Show. He began his professional art career in 1970 and has exhibited in the United States and abroad. He is also known as a sculptor.
The work is pastel on paper, 14½ × 17½ inches, signed at the lower right, framed with double mat and glass measuring 22 × 25 inches. The work was acquired as a gift by the artist.
Unknown | Chalk
This chalk drawing portrays Francis Scott Key standing aboard a truce ship in Baltimore Harbor during the Battle of Baltimore on the night of September 13–14, 1814. In the distance, Fort McHenry is illuminated by explosions from British rockets and mortar shells, while smoke and fire fill the harbor.
The artist places Key in profile, emphasizing his thoughtful expression as he watches the bombardment unfold. His face is softly modeled with warm earth tones, contrasting with the bright flashes of battle in the background.
This juxtaposition draws attention to the moment of reflection that would ultimately lead to the writing of one of America’s best-known patriotic songs.
Rather than depicting the battle itself in detail, the composition focuses on the emotional experience of witnessing history.
The scene references the events that inspired the writing of the United States national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The work is a chalk drawing on paper, 23 × 17 inches, not signed, and framed with a triple mat and glass measuring 32½ × 26½ inches.
The work is attributed to Draper Elementary School and may have entered the collection as a gift. The artist is unknown.
Cliff West | Oil
Mountain Peaks depicts a mountain valley with a river running through it, surrounded by evergreens and steep snow-capped peaks in the distance.
This work was previously listed as artist unknown. During restoration, the name “Cliff West” was observed emerging on the surface after cleaning, though it is not fully legible or confirmed.
The painting is oil on panel, 36 × 48 inches, not signed, in a framed presentation measuring 41 × 53½ inches.
Collection records note the attribution remains uncertain.
DeLoy | Oil
Autumn Tints depicts a mountain landscape with aspens along a small calm lake or pond, with reflections in the water and distant trees and mountains in muted fall colors.
The composition includes tall aspen trees, a curved trail along the edge of the water, and a distant mountain range with soft purple tones.
The painting was acquired in November 1931.
The work is oil on masonite, 22 × 32 inches, signed and dated at the lower right, in a natural wood finish frame measuring 26 × 36 inches.
The artist DeLoy is not identified in collection records.
Unsigned | Cliff West | Oil
Landscape depicts a mountain stream bordered by evergreens and low shrubs, with a steep cliff to the left and distant mountains beneath a gray-blue sky.
Although the painting has been associated with Cliff West, it is unsigned and the artist cannot be confirmed with certainty. Collection records note that no additional biographical information is available for the artist.
The work is oil on masonite, 18 × 24 inches, presented in a gold-painted wood frame measuring 21½ × 27½ inches.
1996 | Bonnie Sadleir | Oil
Hidden Water depicts a landscape with a large leafy tree, evergreens, an open meadow, and distant bluffs and mountains.
Born and raised in Gunnison, Utah, Bonnie Sadleir moved to Draper with her husband, Earl, in the mid-1950s, where he served as postmaster. She was active in producing scenery for road shows in the original Draper Third Ward, and later studied painting under Vonna Vawdrey, Frank Erickson, Clyde Smith, Katherine Stats, and instructors at Pioneer Craft in the Granite School District.
After her husband’s death in 1975, painting became an important part of her life. In later years, failing vision brought her artistic career to an end.
The work was painted in 1978. It is oil on canvas, 22 × 28 inches, signed and dated at the lower right, in a frame measuring 30 × 36 inches.
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