Catalyst Magazine - A History of CATALYST Covers

A History of CATALYST Covers

Written by Polly Mottonen

The first thing people say when I tell them I am CATALYST's art director is "How do you find those great covers?" Truth be told, they find me.
Over the years we've been wrapped in the artwork of young (at the time) art students like David Habben and and Wendy Ajax; teachers like Susan Makov, François Camoin and Patrick Eddington. Cultural icons and legends like Alex Grey, Carl Jung (yes, that Carl Jung); even Everett Ruess.

Jann Haworth (co-creater of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover) popped in her "nudies" cover. Her corset sculpture was well received, although another cover showing a real life "bra" prompted one distributer to toss us out. Some folks can be a little prudish, you know. It's a line we are aware of. For every cover selected there are a number rejected. Oh, the hundreds of covers that might have been.

Dan Cummings is a perennial cover boy and has a special place in our hearts along with local heavyweights Edie Roberson, Carel Brest van Kempen, Willa Marie Huelskamp, Ric and Marcee Blackerby, Randall Lake, Nathan Florence, Trent Alvey, and my aces in the hole Chris Miles and David Wilder. (Always tailor-made for us!)

We are sometimes timely (Scott Siedman's painting of Obama, "The Man from Illinois" in 2008), sometimes silly (Keith Carlsen's "Cooped Up"—affectionately known around the office as "Underpants Boy") but always pick-up-able!

Photographers Sallie Shatz, John deJong, Carol Koleman, Pax Rasmussen and even myself (Dad walking through the woods is my favorite)mix things up.

My most memorable cover hunt conversation was with a then little known artist (now Utah's artistic treasure) Pilar Pobil, explaining to me why she would not be sending me slides. "you really must see my house. My art is here!" (If you know Pilar, this makes perfect sense and I'm so glad she insisted.)

Repeat featured artists Bradford Overton, Dana Ballard, Kim Riley, Meri DeCaria, Jean Arnold, Stephanie St. Thomas, Kindre Fehr, Kinde Nebeker, Heather Campbell, Karen Horne, Laurie Lisonbee, Sandy Parsons, Dennis Mecham, Ed Bateman, Sunny Strasberg—all so different but alike in that we fell in love with them. Really, this is the only criterian for being selected as a CATALYST cover. (Sending good chocolate helps though... just ask fabulous landscape cover guy Roydon Card.)

Polly Plummer Mottonen has been Catalyst's art director for over 20 years... or 240 covers.

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Polly Mottonen

Polly Plummer Mottonen came to Utah from Wisconsin in 1986 looking for rocks (and mostly to live by her favorite aunt and mentor, Greta deJong.) Armed with a degree in geology she jumped heart first into the best kind of litho study—river running— and all things desert. Hanging up her adventure travel hiking boots in 1992, Polly came to work for Aunt Greta at Catalyst. It started with collections, kinkos runs, making the 3am tea, trimming and waxing (these were the "olden" days.) sales, production managing a little writing and photography... then a few years in, there was an emergency opening for graphic designer/art director and with a couple quick quark lessons she has been designing and laying out the magazine ever since.

Polly has also been a professional stained glass artist for over 25 years with work in homes all across the country. Given all the fun, creative work she gets to do what tops the list is being wife to jazz drummer extraordinare, Mark Mottonen and mom to the two most amazing boys you'd ever hope to meet Miles and Max. (If you are a frequent Catalyst reader you know their faces well.) "Getting to help produce Catalyst for the past 20 years continues to be a joy and a privledge."