U Research

Research and creative work take many forms. At the University of Utah, discovery is not confined to laboratories, archives, or field sites—it also unfolds through artistic practice that helps us see the world differently.

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend time with the work of LeConte Stewart (1891–1990), a celebrated Utah painter and former University of Utah faculty member whose artistic legacy continues to shape how many understand the landscapes of the American West. Stewart served on the University of Utah faculty and chaired the Department of Art from 1938–1956, mentoring generations of students while advancing a body of creative work that remains deeply influential.

One of Stewart’s remarkable paintings, Mt. Ben Lomond and the Foothills (1928), captures something larger than landscape alone. The work reflects an artist attentive to place, light, scale, and community—mountains towering above cultivated land, the built environment situated within a larger ecological and geographic context. It is creative scholarship that asks us not merely to observe, but to notice.

What stands out to me is how deeply Stewart integrated artistic practice with education. He reportedly preferred the outdoors to the studio, often painting alongside students in nearby fields and foothills, teaching them to see color in shadow and movement in changing light. In many ways, this reflects a longstanding University of Utah tradition: scholarship and mentorship intertwined.

As we celebrate research excellence across disciplines, it is worth remembering that creative work is a vital part of the university’s research enterprise. Faculty in the arts generate new ways of understanding experience, culture, history, identity, and place. Their work expands knowledge not through equations or experiments alone, but through interpretation, imagination, and forms of expression that endure across generations.

If you find yourself at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, I encourage you to visit the sixth floor, where examples of Stewart’s work—including Mt. Ben Lomond and the Foothills—are on display. These paintings offer a powerful reminder that creativity, beauty, and discovery have long been central to the University of Utah community.

LeConte Stewart’s legacy reminds us that impactful scholarship can take many forms—and that creativity itself is a powerful mode of discovery.

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Jakob D. Jensen
Senior Associate Vice President for Research
University of Utah