Woodland Hills <\/b>\u2022 From her tidy,<\/b> meticulous Utah County studio, Latter-day Saint artist Rose Datoc Dall transports viewers to an unassuming stable in Bethlehem, a workaday wood shop in Nazareth, the surging gusts of Galilee and the dusty streets of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of feel like that\u2019s what I\u2019m here to do,\u201d Dall says, \u201cto paint the life of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dall does so by combining contemporary art techniques, fused from film, with scriptural stories, filled with faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cRose is one of the most important artists working in religious art in Utah right now,\u201d says Emily Larsen, Springville Museum of Art\u2019s executive director<\/a>. \u201cHer work is really unique and has a really unique point of view. She\u2019s technically masterful.\u201d<\/p>\n Dall draws in her audiences, Larsen explains, through realism, painting lots of flat planes of color that give her work a \u201cgraphic quality.\u201d<\/p>\n For her part, Dall, who nearly became a moviemaker, visualizes her paintings through a cinematographer\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n \u201cYou plan your shots. You plan your compositions,\u201d Dall says. \u201cIt\u2019s like in storyboarding. That really appealed to the way my brain works.\u201d<\/p>\n (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rose Datoc Dall in her home and studio in Woodland Hills on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025.<\/p>\n Early on, she focused on more secular themes. But the reception her religious art received changed her career trajectory.<\/p>\n In 2008, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\u2019 Church History Museum hosted an international art competition<\/a>. Dall decided to participate and painted one of her signature pieces \u201cFlight<\/a>,\u201d a biblical depiction of Mary and Joseph taking the infant Jesus to Egypt.<\/p>\n The painting won raves and her new artistic direction took off.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of things came together,\u201d Dall says. \u201cI could sort of marry contemporary art sensibilities with religious subject matter. \u2026 This is sort of the painting that launched my career.\u201d<\/p>\n Mixing the old with the new<\/p>\n This blend of contemporary technique with ancient scripture led Dall to a distinct style.<\/p>\n She often employs bold shapes and contrasting colors (she calls them \u201csunrise\u201d and \u201csunset\u201d colors) to highlight certain details and figures in her work.<\/p>\n (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rose Datoc Dall in her home and studio in Woodland Hills on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025.<\/p>\n (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sketchings in the studio of Rose Datoc Dall in Woodland Hills on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025.<\/p>\n In \u201cBread of Life<\/a> (Command These Stones),\u201d since purchased by the Springville Museum of Art<\/a>, this contrast is vibrantly visible. The piece, which depicts Satan tempting a fasting Christ to turn stones into bread, shows a darker, blue hue around the subjects, with a bright stunning yellow in the background.<\/p>\n Some don\u2019t take to her style \u2014 and Dall says she\u2019s fine with that. \u201cI\u2019m OK if people don\u2019t relate to my paintings. That\u2019s what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n After all, she says, art is all about personal interpretation and connection. And Dall herself didn\u2019t feel that connection to one of her own works.<\/p>\n She painted \u201cWoman of Faith<\/a>,\u201d a New Testament portrayal of a woman with an issue of blood, about five times but says she never quite appreciated her subject.<\/p>\n Until Dall got cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cI love this image because she could be us at any given time,\u201d the Filipina American artist says. \u201cI felt like that woman. Do I have the faith to be healed? Or do I have the faith not to be healed?\u201d<\/p>\n (Rose Datoc Dall) “Woman of Faith 04,” oil on canvas, 2022.<\/p>\n Dall has fully recovered and says she understands better now how her art can help people of faith.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people are on the edge of crisis,\u201d Dall says. \u201cI feel like the more personal I make these paintings, the more universal they end up being.\u201d<\/p>\n Prepping for each painting<\/p>\n (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Models and sketches in the studio of Rose Datoc Dall in Woodland Hills on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025.<\/p>\n Dall spends copious amounts of time prepping each painting even before her first brushstroke.<\/p>\n First, she storyboards each painting. She also photographs models to study the facial expressions and angles. Then come the maquettes, small-scale models that serve as visual aids. Dall\u2019s maquettes, often clay figures, are modeled in the correct shape and lighting for the final product. And after all of this, Dall\u2019s paint finally makes it to canvas.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of research that goes on \u2026 conceptualizing, visualizing the layout,\u201d says her husband, Tim Dall. \u201cAnd when she does religious art, she wants it to be historically accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n (Rose Datoc Dall) This is one of Rose Datoc Dall’s depictions of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n To that end, she portrays Jesus with authentic Semitic features.<\/p>\n Dall explains that she first painted Christ in this style back in 2020 and posted an image on Instagram.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of took this risk,\u201d Dall says. \u201cI put it out there \u2026 and didn\u2019t know how people would respond.\u201d<\/p>\n Viewers embraced it.<\/p>\n Depicting Heavenly Mother<\/p>\n (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rose Datoc Dall in her home and studio in Woodland Hills on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025.<\/p>\n In another bold move, Dall was commissioned to paint Heavenly Mother for the 2020 book \u201cA Boy\u2019s Guide to Heavenly Mother<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Latter-day Saints believe Father in Heaven has a wife, a Mother in Heaven. While the doctrine is more openly taught<\/a> today, it can be a touchy topic<\/a>, even among the faithful.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a real struggle,\u201d Dall says. \u201cAt first I was going to paint her by herself, but then I just felt stuck. I was like, \u2018What am I trying to say? I have so little information on her.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n She finally decided to paint what she did know, depicting the divine couple as creators of the universe in a piece titled \u201cWorlds Without Number<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The response proved electric. Another of her Heavenly Mother paintings, \u201cThe Veil Is Beginning to Burst<\/a>,\u201d has outsold all of her other works.<\/p>\n (Rose Datoc Dall) “The Veil Is Beginning to Burst,” oil on panel, 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept getting orders and orders of this image,\u201d Dall says. \u201cAnd, for whatever reason, women really responded to this. The acknowledgment of Heavenly Mother means that it further validates your own divine nature and your own worth.\u201d<\/p>\n And Dall\u2019s worth as an artist continues to rise.<\/p>\n