The neighborhood is at the foundation of the artwork integrated into all elements of the Trolley Station. The artists used ideas and images generated from a series of workshops they conducted with Central City youths and seniors. They were translated into mosaics, granite pavers, glass art and more. The Central City community is rich in history and the art workshops provided the opportunity for residents to share that history – and their dreams for the future –  and see them transformed into permanent and colorful works of art.  

Working with the richness of the written word and balancing the concepts of order and chaos results in a number of elements at the Library Station. Stacks of oversized cast bronze books are placed on the platform, with particular attention paid to their titles. The viewer is left to determine why each stack contains the titles it does. The book stacks were first modeled in wax, then cast in bronze, and finally colored with a chemical patina.

Etched into the windscreen glass are the images of library shelves bearing books, organized by their subject area. The books are marked with quotes along their spines, rather than book titles, providing some thought-provoking reading material for TRAX passengers.

Celebrating the people who make this place a neighborhood, the artists showcased diverse techniques in cast glass to bring color and vitality to this TRAX station. Each of the glass tile patterns inset in the benches represents one of the many ethnic groups in our community and the faces that look out from the colorful towers serve to remind us that we all contribute to the character of the neighborhood. Special thanks to the members of the Glass Arts Guild of Utah for their assistance on this project.

A group of 11 people, including artists, writers and architects, collaborated to create the artwork at the Ballpark Station.

The Ballpark Station in the People’s Freeway neighborhood is rich with history and local pride. Artwork reflecting this richness includes colorful painted images on railing panels, color tile insets in the platform and etched images in the windscreen. The tree grates follow the history of the ballpark, a keystone of this community. An extensive photo frieze, capturing the essence of the neighborhood, stands as a reminder of the people in the community to whom we are indebted.

Queue, a corten steel sculpture by Utah artist Cordell Taylor, represents the riders who use the TRAX light rail system. It is prominently installed at the entrance to the parking lot.

The artwork at this station weighs the various elements in the increasing complexity of our lives. The scales of justice represent the complexity of balancing the public and private interests which the judicial system and city government undertake on a daily basis. Family names sandblasted on the windscreen are of “regular folks,” the cornerstone of society, but always mobile. The bronze and concrete seats are metaphorical “weights” for the scales above, posing the constant weighing of options between humans, nature and the needs of society.

Taking a cue from the familiar phrase, “This Is The Place,” the artwork places bronze X’s with facts about our community in the paving. Seats of Utah sandstone, with shapes tapering downward, “point” to the place and provide a link between the past and the present, or the here and now, and the future. Bronze crickets and grasshoppers inhabit the station, reminding us that these insects, though individually small, have had a significant role with both native and immigrant cultures in the past, which continues in the present and presumably into the future.

One hundred bronze bees are installed throughout the station’s canopy. Images of the Great Salt Lake represent the cultural and historic nature of this location and the significance of the City’s name, derived from this beautiful and unique lake. The windscreens were hand painted with vitreous paint and the glass was then fired, evoking the colors of the lake. Red and gray brick pavers on the surface of the platform have been laid in a wave pattern.

Bonnie Sucec is one of the most highly regarded modernist artists in Utah. She earned an MFA from the University of Utah, with earlier study at the California College of Arts & Crafts and Brigham Young University. She is also a teacher and arts activist, and she has been selected for several public art commissions in Utah. Sucec is represented by Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City.

Day Emil Christensen is a sculptor and mixed media artist. He graduated from BYU with a B.A. in Art and Design and a Master in Landscape Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 2008, Christensen was awarded a grant from the Utah Arts Council as part of the Individual Artists Services Grants program.

Images of the Great Salt Lake represent the cultural and historic nature of this location and the significance of the City’s name, derived from this beautiful and unique lake. The windscreens were hand painted with vitreous paint and the glass was then fired, evoking the colors of the lake. Red and gray brick pavers on the surface of the platform have been laid in a wave pattern and a flock of bronze seagulls is perched atop the canopies.

Bonnie Sucec is one of the most highly regarded modernist artists in Utah. She earned an MFA from the University of Utah, with earlier study at the California College of Arts & Crafts and Brigham Young University. She is also a teacher and arts activist, and she has been selected for several public art commissions in Utah. Sucec is represented by Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City.

Day Emil Christensen is a sculptor and mixed media artist. He graduated from BYU with a B.A. in Art and Design and a Master in Landscape Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 2008, Christensen was awarded a grant from the Utah Arts Council as part of the Individual Artists Services Grants program.