Salt Lake City Public Art Program

Connecting people to place and place to stories since 1984

Jordan River Current (Gadsby Trailhead)

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Jordan River Current is a large-scale public art installation along the Jordan River. Santa Fe, NM-based artist, Colette Hosmer, created a total of 25 eight-foot-tall steel trout sculptures as part of this multi-site project aimed at connecting recreational users of this natural tributary with their environment.

The artwork was installed at four different boat ramps, spanning 7.2 miles along the Jordan River Trail. Across all four sites, one fish in each cluster is painted in a different color than the rest visually linking all locations across the river and functioning as a wayfinding element and marking for each ramp.

The Gadsby Trailhead site contains six sculptures, with one fish painted white. The artist team and the Salt Lake City Arts Council established a partnership with Edison Elementary School in Poplar Grove for this commission. The school’s 4th grade students were involved in naming all four colored fish within this installation. The white fish at Gadsby Trailhead was named BiggieCheese.

Colette Hosmer is a contemporary naturalist who is celebrated for her monumental outdoor sculptures and site-specific work utilizing organic materials.

Photos by Logan Sorenson.

View the rest of the installation at Glendale Park, Riverview Trailhead, and Fisher Mansion.

Jordan River Current (Riverview Trailhead)

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Jordan River Current is a large-scale public art installation along the Jordan River. Santa Fe, NM-based artist, Colette Hosmer, created a total of 25 eight-foot-tall steel trout sculptures as part of this multi-site project aimed at connecting recreational users of this natural tributary with their environment.

The artwork was installed at four different boat ramps, spanning 7.2 miles along the Jordan River Trail. Across all four sites, one fish in each cluster is painted in a different color than the rest visually linking all locations across the river and functioning as a wayfinding element and marking for each ramp.

The Riverview Trailhead site contains 11 sculptures, with one fish painted red. The artist team and the Salt Lake City Arts Council established a partnership with Edison Elementary School in Poplar Grove for this commission. The school’s 4th grade students were involved in naming all four colored fish within this installation. The red fish at Riverview Trailhead was named Finny.

Colette Hosmer is a contemporary naturalist who is celebrated for her monumental outdoor sculptures and site-specific work utilizing organic materials.

Photos by Logan Sorenson.

View the rest of the installation at Glendale Park, Gadsby Trailhead, and Fisher Mansion.

The Crossing

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The Crossing is inspired by the fluidity of water and the evolving nature of public transportation, its users, and the central neighborhood in which this artwork is located. According to the artist, The Crossing “illustrates water spreading out, so people can pass through.” The portal created by the breach between the two sculptures invites people to immerse themselves into the artwork and reflect upon the ever-changing nature of Salt Lake City – a place inhabited by individuals who, like water, are constantly changing and evolving. Throughout the steel panels, the artist integrates colorful floating pearls and egg-shaped spheres, indicating new, exciting, and unknown possibilities. The Crossing asks viewers to consider the ways in which people—as individuals and as members of a community—move like water, with waves that carry new futures and opportunities.

Jiyoun Lee-Lodge creates art that is influenced by social media and is inspired by the intersectionality of her own shifting identity: as woman, as an immigrant, and as an individual existing in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world.

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, Patrinely Group, PEG Companies, Lowe Property Group, Sinclair Real Estate Company, Utah Transit Authority, and the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City.

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.

Free Flight

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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 jumps and a pump track. The storage container located on site is used by City crews and volunteer work groups to store maintenance equipment, and provided 208 square feet of surface for a mural wrapping three sides of the unit.

Josh Scheuerman’s Free Flight depicts a fleet of paper airplanes and origami birds in front of blue geometric mountains and a glowing orange and yellow sky. Free Flight showcases the Wasatch Front and mimics sunsets visible from the park. Scheuerman used the familiar image of childhood paper airplanes to evoke the concept of flight after he noticed young kids at the park watching the older riders catch air.

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.

Photos by Logan Sorenson and Josh Scheuerman

337 Pocket Park

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Prior to being a community park and garden, this site was once home to a two-story, privately owned residential building. The home was scheduled for demolition in 2007. However, before being torn down, the property owner invited over 100 artists of various disciplines to fill the 25,000-square-foot structure with art. The building, full from floor to ceiling with paintings, murals, sculptures and installations, received thousands of visitors and became a visual arts hub before it was destroyed. Later the vacant lot was sold to Salt Lake City Corporation and in 2015 a portion of the land was developed into a community garden managed by Wasatch Community Gardens. In 2017, Salt Lake City Parks and Public Lands decided to create a pocket park to function as an inviting and engaging gathering place for the community.

As a nod to the site’s art-infused history, the fence that surrounds the perimeter of the park was designed to include 24 unique designs by local artists to carry on the tradition of displaying the work of Utah’s diverse art community. Sixteen artists were selected to design panels for the park fence: Rob Beishline, Shelley Beishline, Chris Brown, Trent Call, Josh Cisar, Karl Hale, Sarinda Jones, Beyza Kilic, Lenka Konopasek, Juan Luis Molero, Jared Neves, Traci O’Very Covey, Brook Robertson, Heidi Moller Somsen, Shannon White, and Maria Zielinska. All panels were fabricated in Corten steel in 2018.

From left to right:
Photo 1: Shannon White, Untitled // Juan Luis Molero, Untitled
Photo 2: Trent Call, Untitled // Shelley Beishline, Living Roots
Photo 3: Traci O’Very Covey, Veggie Garden // Rob Beishline, Blowing Leaves
Photo 4: Maria Zielinska, Untitled // Sarinda Jones, Substrate
Photo 5: Shelley Beishline, Living Leaves // Trent Call, Untitled
Photo 6: Heidi Moller Somsen, Untitled // Sarinda Jones, Buoyancy
Photo 7: Brook Robertson, Look! // Shelley Beishline, Living Blooms
Photo 8: Karl Hale, Untitled // Lenka Konopasek, Untitled
Photo 9: Trent Call, Untitled // Beyza Kilic, Untitled
Photo 10: Rob Beishline, Triangle Tree // Josh Cisar, Untitled
Photo 11: Lenka Konopasek, Untitled // Jared Neves, Ball
Photo 12: Chris Brown, Untitled // Lenka Konopasek, Untitled

Photos by Logan Sorenson.

Flying Objects Permanent Collection

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These 8 flying objects were initially crafted in Flying Objects series 1.0-4.0, and were purchased by the Salt Lake City Arts Council and the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake for permanent display in the City. They join the 18 permanent flying objects crafted in series 5.0, which are installed along 3rd South.

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