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Show Page 8 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Thursday, October 9, 2008 attorney fa ram mshhmi Janice Peterson DAILY HERALD Gov, Jon Huntsman Jr. chose a Spanish Fork city attorney at-torney Thursday to fill the 4th District Court position soon to be vacated by Judge John Backhand. Christine S. Johnson, assistant assis-tant city attorney for Spanish Fork, will fill Backlund's position posi-tion pending approval by the Utah State Senate. Backlund will retire from the Orem judgeship Dec. 31 after 25 years of service. Lisa Roskelley, spokeswoman spokes-woman for the governor's office, of-fice, said Johnson was among five finalists chosen by a judicial judi-cial selection committee and submitted to the governor for selection. "He felt that she was the best person for the job at this time and was pleased that she was able to serve in that capacity," ca-pacity," she said. According to a press release, re-lease, Johnson has been an attorney since 1997 after graduating from the J. Reuben Reu-ben Clark School of Law. She worked for the Utah County Public Defender Association for six years before taking her position for Spanish Fork City in 2003. "Christine has a strong foundation as a local attorney and solid experience practicing practic-ing in the 4th District Court," Huntsman said in a press release. "She has a sincere desire de-sire to serve her community, and I'm confident she will make a superb contribution to the bench." Johnson said she was surprised sur-prised and excited to learn she had been chosen. She said she applied for the position because be-cause she has always been impressed im-pressed with the role a judge plays in the judicial system. "I'm of course honored to have been selected and I'm excited to begin working," she said. Johnson said she and her family are excited to make the change if and when the Senate Sen-ate approves the appointment; however, she said it will be difficult to leave Spanish Fork. "That will be the hardest part," she said. "I work with some wonderful colleagues at Spanish Fork City." Seth Perrins, assistant city manager for Spanish Fork, said Johnson has been a great employee and a good person to work with. As assistant city attorney she has served as the city prosecutor and worked on land issues for the city, among other tasks. Perrins said he believes Johnson will be fair, objective and accurate in her judgement from the bench. "Christine has been an ex tremely objective prosecutor," he said. "She's handled the role and responsibility of being be-ing a prosecutor very well." Perrins said Johnson has been fair as a prosecutor while not being overzealous in the position. Upon hearing the news yesterday, yes-terday, Perrins said the city staff had big smiles on their faces and were pleased with her appointment. "She's a great employee, and she'll do very well," he said. "We'll miss her, but we're really excited." Accidental Orem artists works reflect her life, values J .Wr Vv-.; i II DAVIS ARCHIBALDDaily Herald Angela Kotter Angela Kotter works on a piece of art in her basement on Tuesday, in Orem. Kotter recently "Iris," colored pencil on watercolor by Orem artist Angela won "Best in Show" at the Utah State Fair in the amateur artist category. Minert Kotter. Michael Rigert NORTH COUNTY STAFF For an Orem mom, her blossoming art career is not a means to obtain recognition and riches, but simply the medium me-dium through which she connects con-nects with the things that are most precious to her family, faith and her desire to create beauty around her. Angela Minert Kotter, 29, the mother of three boys ages 6 years to 4 months, recently garnered Best in Show honors at the Utah State Fair in the amateur artist category for her colored pencil on water-color water-color entitled "Iris." Part of a trilogy of nature still-lifes she's done that also include a scarlet maple leaf and a peach blossom, her subject matter tends toward the domestic rather than the exotic. Kotter and her husband, Doug, and their children live in a small north Orem home and the vast majority of her topics are found in mature gardens surrounding the house or contained within its walls. Lining the family's front room wall are portraits of their three sons including a 57-hour work-in-progress that depicts her boys (and their personalities) in a nativity nativ-ity scene. She does most of her work at night after the children are in bed from her tiny blue studio stu-dio in the basement. "I don't have a lot of time to do art work, so if I'm going to do something, it has to mean something," she said. She's also done portraits of extended family members and neighborhood children as gifts or as payment for their parents' par-ents' babysitting time. One of her upcoming project depicts a scene of Jesus Christ. "I'm five or 10 projects (in the works)," Kotter said. "I have so many ideas I can't get them all down." Doug Kotter said his wife fully invests herself in things she gets involved in, whether it be raising their sons, piano lessons, church, or her artwork. art-work. "One thing about Angela is that everything she does is from the heart," he said. Yet the Mountain View High School alumnae hasn't always been a budding visual artisan. A talented pianist and piano instructor (she gives lessons at her home twice a week), Kotter accepted an academic scholarship to Utah State University and graduated gradu-ated with a bachelor's degree in piano pedagogy. She didn't draw or paint at all in college but rather was a member of the Aggie ballroom dance team and the marching band, where she met Doug, a school teacher, who she calls her biggest big-gest fan. Rather than the artsy, creative cre-ative type, she describes herself her-self as more of a "band geek." It wasn't until five years ago when the family moved into their Orem home and Kotter Kot-ter was at home fulltime with the couple's first child that she signed up for a color pencils class at Robert's Crafts. Merely by coincidence the class's teacher, Julie Ann Allen, Al-len, an artist in her own right, was working on a master's degree in graphic arts at Brigham Young University. Allen recognized Kotter's po tential, mentored her, and the more Kotter learned about her new pastime, the more fervent her interest became. "Like most of music is learning learn-ing to hear, most of artwork is learning to see," she said, describing how she'll work out a particular element of a painting out on paper and in her mind until figuring out the best way to execute it. "You need to spend more time looking look-ing than drawing." Buoyed by the encouragement encourage-ment of Allen, her parents and Doug, the largely self-taught Kotter forged ahead and created cre-ated "Leaf" that depicts a flaming red Canadian maple leaf, the first installment in her front -yard nature trilogy. Her mother encouraged her to enter the piece into a Utah art contest sponsored by the American Association of University Uni-versity Women of Utah from which she took home her first prize winnings, a cool $1,000. "I hadn't thought of entering enter-ing anything ... When I got the first-place blue ribbon, I cried," she said. "That was a huge blessing because doing art work takes money." Since then Kotter has reinvested her cumulative competition winnings into replenishing re-plenishing materials including colored pencils that run about $1.50 a piece and custom framing fram-ing for her original pieces that can easily get into the hundreds hun-dreds of dollars. "We still haven't found a sponsor," Doug jokes. Prints and greeting cards featuring Kotter's nature trilo gy will current available at the seasonal Pretty Posh Boutique, 24 E. 980 North, in Orem, that be open today and Friday, 3-8 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The event will include the works of nearly 30 local artists art-ists and craftsmen. But Kotter says any money she makes simply allows her to continue exploring, refining and experimenting with her new-found talent. She doesn't ever want to create art out of need to produce a product. "Spending that much time on something you don't like is pointless ... ," she said. "Doug jokes that art is cheaper than therapy. As a mom, your mom bucket is always al-ways being emptied. Artwork fills my bucket so I can get in the fray with a smile." 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