Made in Utah

In 1996, Randy Ramsley made a career change and purchased a 50-acre piece of land in Caineville with his first partner, Deborah. Though Randy was raised with a farming background in Yankton, South Dakota, he moved in and out of the agricultural world for decades. Many of these career moves appeared lateral, but these skills would later play into his farm, as help and resources are slim in that part of the country.
https://utahstories.com/2024/01/mesa-farm-market-the-purple-store-on-hwy-24/

Mesa Farm Market: The Purple Store on HWY. 24 - Utah Stories Mesa Farm Market, on Highway 24 between Hanksville and Capitol Reef National Park, offered home-produced goat cheeses.

Jordan Hess holds a $24,000 violin aloft by the neck, like a popsicle. It’s not actually a $24,000 violin … yet. First the bare, white-looking wood needs to get colorized with a red oxidizing solution. After that dries, he’ll coat it with another solution to “activate it,” and then it’ll go under an ultraviolet light to turn it “hopefully old-colored,” Hess says.

“It’s like going to a salon to get a tan, except it’s wood.”

Hess is the owner of Sugarhouse Violins. As he talks, Hess never stops working. His hands are in constant movement, slathering the watery red solution generously over the violin with what looks like an ordinary paint brush from a hardware store. After the colorizing treatment it will get lacquered and delivered to the buyer who commissioned it.

From Humble Beginnings to High-Value Instruments: Sugarhouse Violin Journey - Utah Stories Salt Lake is a home of five major luthier schools in the country and half a dozen local shops offering custom violin and restoration services

While Bridgette was content with painting as a personal expression for the Utah landscape she loved, it wasn’t until she attended an encaustic hot wax/paint workshop in 2009 that she realized she wanted to create a career from her art. Her husband built her a dedicated studio out of a shipping container and she began painting full-time. Bridgette showed her first works at Gallery MAR in Park City in 2010, and now her encaustic and watercolor paintings are also shown in Colorado galleries as well.

As an established local artist, Bridgette also conducts annual outdoor watercolor workshops. “I find that a lot of people get hung up on the definition of ‘outdoorsy,’” she explains. “I want to show people that there are many ways to enjoy being outside, including simply bringing your art outside. You don’t have to be a person who skis or mountain bikes all the time to enjoy the outdoors.

Utah Artist Bridgette Meinhold's Transition: From Engineer to Artist - Utah Stories Bridgette Meinhold was trained as an engineer but when economic crisis hit in 2008, she decided to transition her art from a hobby to a full career.