Henry B. Eyring's artwork on display for the first time

REXBURG -- I’m Natalia Hepworth in Rexburg at BYU-Idaho and for the first time, President Henry B. Eyring First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is exhibiting his artwork.

SOT: “Only a very close circle of his family and friends knew he created art,” Curator Kyoung Dabell at the Jacob Spori Art Gallery says.

VO: These humbly sized 5X7 watercolor paintings have been in the making for 60 years. The exhibit is called A Visual Journal, and it’s on display at the Jacob Spori Art Gallery until Oct. 20.

SOT: “He was resisting, he didn’t want to do it, he didn’t want this to be about him so I think we, in a coy way (said), this will be a monumental opportunity because your son is being installed as a president, you were president here, and you never showed artwork anywhere publicly,” Dabell says.

VO: Ideally art galleries have various sizes of paintings, but Eyring gave reasons behind his small art.

SOT: “He basically said, not that I don’t like to paint large, I’m a busy man and I feel very uncomfortable spending a lot of time painting because he’s called to be an apostle, he’s serving,” Dabell says.

VO: Curator Kyoung Dabell says Eyring didn’t have specific pieces he wanted to show. There are 150 of 700 total on display.

SOT: “We decided since he painted some figurative landscapes, he just had many talents in many different areas and we decided to represent each area that he’s been painting,” Dabell says.

STAND UP: Students and the public can visit the exhibit for free but they will need tickets to attend. A link will be included in the article below. In Rexburg, I’m Natalia Hepworth, EastIdahoNews.com.