Salt Lake City Public Art Program

Connecting people to place and place to stories since 1984

Out of the Blue

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This full-size sculpture of a humpback whale breaching out from the roundabout is designed to complement and augment the unique and welcoming identity of the 9th and 9th area.

Kesler, who was introduced to the neighborhood as a teenager and spent nearly two decades in this community working on art, music, and starting a family, describes 9th and 9th as “unexpected and out of the blue. A community where people from all backgrounds, beliefs and ideas migrate and feel a sense of belonging. A community that bursts through expectations; that commands respect for nature, and varied ideas and identities…” Out of the Blue is a symbol of community, resilience, and harmony.

This project is made possible through the Salt Lake City Public Art Program, a service of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, and with support from the Salt Lake Art Design Board, Salt Lake City’s Engineering and Transportation divisions, the East Liberty Park Community Organization, and the 9th and 9th community.

To learn more about the current mural on Out of the Blue, click here.

Glendale Gather Blocks

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Glendale Gather Blocks was created by an artist-led team consisting of Chuck Landvatter, Jared Steffensen, and J. Dayton Crites. The process began in 2019 with a ‘request for qualifications’ from artists and/or artist-led teams based in the United States. The Salt Lake City Public Art Program received a total of 135 applications for the project. After a careful review of the applicants, the Salt Lake City Art Design Board recommended Landvatter, Steffensen, and Crites to the Mayor for commission.

“We wanted to create a place for people to gather together,” said artist Jared Steffensen, who designed the sculptural elements of this public art project. “Each of the sculptures have been fabricated differently so they provide unique opportunities for play and interaction within the park: they can be used as a playground, a picnic table, or for seating. These sculptures are for a place, not about a place.” In speaking about the colorful color palette found in this public art installation, commissioned artist Chuck Landvatter mentioned how “they evoke a bright and optimistic feeling, much like Glendale is as a community. These colors come together beautifully and create a synergy that compliments the whole project.”

One of the most impactful elements of Glendale Gather Blocks is the way in which it has incorporated the portraits of several Glendale individuals throughout the park. These serve as a celebration of their work, lives, and advocacy and enrich our City as a whole. “Getting to know these people,” says Chuck Landvatter, “has been so fulfilling. When I initiated this project, I didn’t expect that part of the process to be so rewarding. I’ve gained many friends along the way and got to know Glendale in a much more intimate way.” Each individual tells a unique story – some are immigrants, some have lived in Glendale for many years, and their ages vary. In all, it is unique individuals like these who, together, make Glendale the incredible place it is today.

List of community members pictured in murals:

  • Kim Khuu
  • Gilberto “Juan” Rejón Magaña
  • Roxanne Langi
  • Abdullah “Tuna” Mberwa
  • Charlotte Fife-Jepperson
  • Janet Ramirez
  • Ifa Motuliki
  • Esperance Iradukunda
  • Karen Sanchez
  • Elizabeth Montoya
  • Abdulkhaliq Barbaar
  • ‘Inoke Hafoka
  • Simon Larson
  • Laurent Ntakarutimana
  • Dane Hess
  • Ailine Lao

A Prayer for My Brother

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In September of 2020, a donor who requested anonymity delivered A Prayer for My Brother by William S. Phillips to Salt Lake City Fire Station #1. The 2001 painting depicts two firefighters among the rubble of the terror attacks on 9/11/2001. The painting is approximately 3’5” by 4’4” on canvas and is framed.

The donor provided a note along with the work, articulating the intention of the donation. It reads: “Dear Salt Lake City Fire Department, Station #1 – I have been the custodian of this portrait A Prayer for my Brother since 2002. Now I would like to pass it on to the SLC firefighters who selflessly commit their lives to keep our city safe. Thank you for your service, Anonymous.”

Salt Lake City sent first responders to ground zero in 2001, so there is connection between the A Prayer for my Brother and the Salt Lake City fire Department.

Whimsy Walls

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The creation of the New Salt Lake City International Airport provided the opportunity for the inclusion of 24 large scale murals in restrooms throughout the airport. These vinyl wrap murals are nine feet tall and range from about sixteen to forty feet wide. The images on each of these unique vinyl wraps come from original artwork by 18 different artists working in a variety of mediums, from photography to painting. The murals are intended to create immersive and engaging experiences for travelers. Many of the selected designs, which were chosen from nearly 500 proposals, reflect the spirit, culture, landscape, and community of Salt Lake City.

Nine local and nine national artists who were recommended by the Salt Lake Art Design Board for the Whimsy Wall project. They are: David Adams, Kelly Baisley, Lynn Basa, Adam, Bateman, Laura Bender, Brianna Bennion, Nancy Bradach, Trent Call, Amy Cheng, Stephanie Dunn, Janet Tarjan Erl, Dan Ray Everett, Thom Holzer, Levi Jackson, Traci O’Very Covey, Whitni Parry, Victoria Primicias, and Kerri Warner. Twenty whimsy walls are currently installed throughout terminals one and two, with four additional whimsy walls scheduled for installation upon the completion of terminal three.

Click here for additional information on the Whimsy Walls public art project, and other artwork in the airport.

Photos courtesy New SLC Airport.

Three Creeks Confluence Park

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Three Creeks Confluence Park is the site where Red Butte Creek, Emigration Creek, and Parley’s Creek join together and empty into the Jordan River. Previously a paved-over dead end, the confluence has been day-lighted and transformed into a site for community gathering, recreation, education, and restored riparian habitat. Each of the twenty laser cut steel panels that comprise the fence on this pedestrian bridge was design by a different Utah artist. These one-of-a-kind public artworks were selected by Salt Lake City’s Art Design Board from over 160 proposals and were created specifically for the Three Creeks Site. Many of the designs are by artists with a connection to the Glendale neighborhood, where the park is located, or to the unique hydrology of Salt Lake City. Themes include Salt Lake City’s waterways, the natural life they support, and the communities that live in the Glendale. These laser cut designs were created using only negative space (the holes cut away by the laser) and positive space (the remaining steel); each part of the designs is connected to the whole.

  • Photo 1: Tooza Design, Hope
  • Photo 2: Al Denyer, Mapping the Source; Three Creeks
  • Photo 3: Cara Jean Hall, Salt
  • Photo 4: Ann Chen, Winged Gathering
  • Photo 5: Reihanah Noori, Transparent Flow
  • Photo 6: Rosa Bandeirinha, Urbe
  • Photo 7: Joshua Graham, Colliding Eddies
  • Photo 8: Joseph Toney, Fluidity
  • Photo 9: Matt Monsoon, Re:Union
  • Photo 10: Lola Reyes, The Confluence of Resiliency
  • Photo 11: Karl Hale, Flight
  • Photo 12: Beto Conejo, Sombras del 104
  • Photo 13: Jonathan Hale and Jennifer Hale, Cottonwood Snow
  • Photo 14: Hank Mattson, Cartwhell
  • Photo 15: Graham Rich, Horizon
  • Photo 16: Elisabeth Bunker, Russian Sage
  • Photo 17:  Gyorge Ann Yawn, Family
  • Photo 18: Claire Taylor, ­River Snakes
  • Photo 19: Chanté Burch, Pride
  • Photo 20: biltslouisart, ­Hibiscus

 

This project was made possible through the Salt Lake City Arts Council’s Public Art Program, with support from Salt Lake City’s Department of Parks and Public Lands; Metal Arts Foundry, which fabricated the artwork; and Trevor Dahl, who provided technical assistance on the project. Photos by Logan Sorenson.

Near Distance

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Near Distance celebrates natural Utah. The installation, which is thirty feet wide and eleven feet tall, offers a calming focal point near the high-traffic security screening area of the New SLC International Airport.

Utah artists Hannah Vaughn, Soonju Kwon, and Reihaneh Noori used local materials – embedding layers of charcoal, Great Salt Lake salt, and flecks of copper into plaster panels. These panels frame a dark horizon punctuated by several small voids in the installation. The artwork expresses humanity’s shared horizons and our home between earth and sky, while evoking Utah’s stark and sublime landscapes.

The artists write, “Its 3-dimensional presence aims to give layers to the experience and emphasize movement with subtle vertical shifts between the panels. The work ties into the greater narrative of the airport and marks a moment of calmness, gravity, and groundedness before the traveler emerges into the luminous main concourse.”

This project was made possible through collaboration between the New SLC International Airport and the Salt Lake City Arts Council Public Art Program.

 

Photos Courtesy of New SLC Airport and Hannah Vaughn, Reihaneh Noori, and Soonju Kwon

Pages of Salt

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Managed by the City’s Public Art Program, and funded with $2.2 million from the RDA’s major reconstruction of Regent Street, Pages of Salt is Salt Lake City’s largest investment in a single piece of public art to date.

Pages of Salt is comprised of stainless steel rods and 336 Teflon flags that cover the entire north façade of the Walker Center Garage. The work’s themes are specific to its location on Regent Street, and in Utah more broadly. In Kahn’s research as part of responding to the Arts Council’s Request for Qualifications for the project, he became fascinated with the site’s connection to the printing presses of both The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News, which were located on Regent Street for over 80 years. The images of hundreds of newspaper pages draped on conveyer belts echo the many identical swaying parts Kahn often utilizes in his wind sculptures.

Kahn was also inspired by the Great Salt Lake and the salt flats it leaves behind. The flags’ light-catching whiteness and square cutouts reflect the crystalline structure of salt and the patterns left by the receding lake. The artwork is intended to suggest a vertical cloud of newspapers swaying in the wind. By making the wind patterns visible, Kahn hopes to stir a sense of awe and appreciation for our environment and allow viewers to reflect on their relationship with nature.

Based in Northern California, Ned Kahn has created over 100 public works in the last 30 years, throughout the country and abroad. His installations often mirror or respond to nature, engaging wind, water, fog, and light to bring an increased appreciation of the natural environment. In his initial application for the Regent Street Project, Kahn wrote “I am deeply fascinated with the history and phenomena of the Great Salt Lake and the surrounding region. I am intrigued with the idea of creating an artwork for Regent Street that would draw its inspiration from the amazing natural forces and phenomena that occur in the region as well as responding to the actual forces that are present on the Regent Street site.”

Shredding the Knar

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The 9 Line Bike Park is a unique recreational amenity, offering dirt jumps and a pump track for Salt Lake City riders. In 2017, Salt Lake City’s Department of Parks and Public Lands responded to community requests to expand the 9 Line Bike Park at 700 West and 900 South. The bike park, popular with riders of all ages and skill levels, includes jump lines and a pump track. The starting platform for the jumps uses large concrete blocks to stabilize the platform and retain dirt, providing 400 square feet of surface for murals wrapping the blocks.

Shredding the Knar is by artist Charlotte Pili. Pili’s work features riders, bikes, and dust clouds along with the occasional speech bubble exclaiming “Send it!” Pili’s mural send a message of belonging to people of all genders at the parks and action lines show her images to be in motion, just like the riders. The mural’s colors are cohesive with the park’s plants, sky, and dirt jumps and keep the site alive in all seasons. Pili deliberately left space between her images, so the original color and texture of the blocks is visible in places.

This temporary public artwork is intended to remain installed for three to five years. This project was made possible through the Salt Lake City Arts Council’s Public Art Program, with support from Salt Lake City’s Department of Parks and Public Lands.