The Salt Lake City Arts Council’s Public Art Program is excited to announce the selection of Adam Kuby, a Portland, Oregon based artist specializing in landscape-based, environmentally responsive public art projects for the creation of an artwork for Donner Trail Park. This public art commission is part of a broader reimagining of the park, made possible by the voter-approved Parks, Trails & Open Space General Obligation Bond.
Feedback from community members to Public Lands staff during this reimagination effort shows that neighbors highly value the park’s natural setting, its opportunities for solitude and quiet, and its panoramic views of the Salt Lake Valley. Additionally, community input emphasized a desire to incorporate local culture and identity into the park. Suggestions included highlighting the park’s namesake, the area's natural landscape, local wildlife, and its geological and ecological history. There was also strong support for integrating traditions and histories through art installations, gathering spaces, and interpretive displays. The park’s redesign will feature a Memorial Tree Grove, enhancing its natural and contemplative qualities. This grove will offer a space for community members to honor their loved ones and, alongside Kuby’s artwork, create a living narrative that evolves over time as the trees mature.
Kuby’s artwork will explore themes of entropy and the relationship between humans and the natural world. His design will feature sloping berms, carefully placed stones, and boulders that blend seamlessly into the environment. These elements will be thoughtfully arranged throughout the park, guiding visitors along winding paths that invite curiosity and exploration. The berms and stones will form pathways and passages that evoke journeys through mountains, canyons, and other narrow spaces, echoing the routes many have traveled to reach Salt Lake City. Stones positioned among large-growing trees will gradually shift as the trees mature, creating a dynamic interaction between the landscape and the artwork. Additionally, these elements will serve as places for sitting and reflection, fulfilling the community’s desire for more seating and opportunities to appreciate the park's natural beauty and wildlife.
The artwork’s working title, Journey Lines, reflects the visual language Kuby will use to depict the diverse historical and contemporary journeys of those who have called Salt Lake City home. Its artistic concept subtly references the Donner Party’s 1846 migration through the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon pioneers followed this same route, the Hastings Cutoff, in 1847 to reach what was then Mexican territory. Their arrival marked the beginning of the displacement of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Indigenous tribes from their ancestral lands.
Adam Kuby’s experience in landscape architecture and urban forestry informs his art practice and understanding of public space. Kuby’s installations can be found nationally and internationally, and his work is represented in the public collections of the cities of Seattle, Portland, Boulder, Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, and others. Adam received the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 2015. He holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of North Carolina.
Journey Lines was recommended for commission by the Salt Lake Art Design Board and subsequently approved by Mayor Erin Mendenhall in the spring of 2024. Kuby was selected from a pool of 115 applicants following a 'Request for Qualifications' process open to artists and artist-led teams based in the United States in late fall 2023. He and the landscape architecture team reimagining the park are currently working on design development and integrating the artwork’s concepts throughout the space. Construction for the park and the artwork's fabrication are expected to begin next spring, with anticipated completion by the end of 2025. For more information about Kuby, follow him on Instagram at @adam.kuby and www.adamkuby.com. All images are courtesy of the artist.
The inclusion of a public art installation within Donner Trail Park is possible through the GO Bond’s allocation of 1.5% for public art and marks the inaugural commission of this funding for an artist commission. The Public Art GO Bond funding will also support site-specific artist’s commissions for Glendale Park, the Fleet Block Public Open Space, Warm Springs & North Gateway Parks, and a unifying public art project to be installed out across all GO Bond funded locations.
We invite you to follow us on Instagram at @slc_publicartprogram for updates on this project and the many others we sponsor throughout Utah’s capital city. The Public Art Program is a service of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, residing within Salt Lake City’s Economic Development Department. You can learn more about what we do at saltlakepublicart.org, saltlakearts.org and slc.gov/ed/.
