In developing the public art for the Sorenson Unity Center, the artists addressed the themes of transformation, change, adaptation, growth, inclusiveness and unity.   In abstract form, the public art, in five pieces, unfolds from a simple universal shape into a butterfly suspended from the interior ceiling.  Fabricated of aluminum and steel, the artists engaged form, color and density of the material to create the transition from the standing sculpture outdoors through the two pieces attached to the exterior wall to the two interior pieces that float overhead as visitors enter the building.

The artwork is located in the garden representing Mexico in the International Peace Gardens. The garden features the Olmec Head, the Aztec Calendar, the God of the Mayas and the flower God of the Mexican culture.

The artwork is located in the garden representing China at the International Peace Gardens.

The garden was dedicated in 1959 and features pagodas, graceful bridges and painting. The guests experienced first hand the theory of the Chinese garden, “Each step a different view,” as they meandered over the bridge and entered the Chinese Pavilion.

The Pavilion ramp faces the Jordan River, whose banks are well dotted with bamboo, pines, lotuses, and water lilies. There are weeping willows, mulberries, flowering plums and peaches, as well as many roses, begonias, chrysanthemums and other flowers. There are also rare imported magnolia trees and citrus shrubs, gifts from the Chinese Freemasons president from San Francisco, California.

The magnolia have long been an emblem of peace in China and planted in the Peace Garden, the donors trust they will ever remind Americans of the friendship of Chinese loyal to the Republicans cause.

William Louie, an architecture student from the University of Utah, was the designer of the garden. In true high minded fashion, the entrance to the thirty foot gateway of wood and concrete with Chinese style roof tiling was graced with a wooden sign engraved in Chinese with the words “Peace Garden” in the calligraphic hand of Dr. Wellington Koo, the former Chinese Ambassador to the United States. A couplet on either side of the gate read: “China and the West harmonious live beneath auspicious clouds; Joyous emanations permeate the International Peace Gardens.”

The two large lion statues at the entryway were dedicated in 1979.

Brodauf-Craig, a master sculptor, chose to combine the image of contained flames and the wheel to represent the work of the firefighters in large scale to serve as a landmark for Fire Station 11.

Brodauf-Craig’s large body of work, private and public, is a tribute to modernity. She was chosen as one of Utah’s “100 most Honored Artists” in 2002 as her artwork reaches many through both the private and public sectors.

 

This project was created to recognize the importance of our parks. Artists photographed visitors to the park, talked with them and incorporated their brief story into the plaques.

Plaque text: Fall is always a good time to come to the park. Especially when you’re with a best friend.

Aaron Lyman (left) and Trenton Kidd came to Herman Franks Park on a fall day in 1991 to throw a baseball and shag a few flies. “Sometimes it’s baseball, sometimes its Frisbee,” they say. But it doesn’t really matter what. It’s who that really matters.

The parks. They’re all about friendship.

Two photographers, Wayne Chubin and Tim Gallagher (former residents of Salt Lake), ventured into the three-dimensional world with their Signal Site in Westpointe Park. The piece is laid out along the mathematical basis of the Fibonacci sequence, a series of numbers embraced by mathematicians and found in nature. The figures atop each post were vetted with the help of the Anti-Gang Task Force of the SLC Police Department to ensure that none of them were inadvertently associated with any of the local gangs.