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Kamas Will Have New Public Art By Utah Sculptor

Summit County Day Christensen
Credit Summit County Day Christensen
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Summit County Day Christensen

The South Summit County Services Building in Kamas will have a new public art installation soon. The Summit County Art Advisory Board has selected a Utah artist to build the sculpture after receiving nearly two dozen applicants. Carolyn Murray has this:

The building was finished in April and the sculpture went out for an RFP (request for proposal) in early spring. She is the Summit County Arts Council Director Jocelyn Scudder said the title of the exhibit is Yambow. Yambow means “valley of the herbs” and is the name the Ute Indians gave the Kamas Valley.

“We just went through a fairly lengthy RFP process for this project in the South Summit Services Building in Kamas. And we had 23 proposals and we selected an artist. His name is Day Christensen.  He is from Highland, Utah. And, he proposed a really beautiful sculpture and it will be hanging in the foyer of the new South Summit Services Building.” 

Skudder said the artist Day Christensen responded to the RFP with a thoughtful proposal for a sculpture that would represent the Kamas Valley.

“It’s going to be hundreds of colorful leaves and grasses and they’ll be floating and shimmering throughout the high space of the main lobby. And, there’ll be a lot of flora and fauna represented. Oak and maple, aspens, spruce leaves. Those will represent the natural beauty of the Kamas Valley, while grasses and alfalfa will reflect the agricultural landscapes. So, that was something that we really enjoyed about his proposal is that he did his research and he really learned about the Kamas Valley. Not only about the natural landscape but about the agricultural history. So, it’s going to be really intricate and I think it’s going to be really stunning when anyone enters the building, it will be right above their head. So, I think it’s going to be very engaging and beautiful.”

One percent of the price tag on county building projects is allocated for art displays.  It’s the first public art project under the program. She said the public participated in the process giving input on the $60,000-dollar RFP.

“Well, the RFP process is a public process. So, we gave about an eight to 10-week period for artists to apply. So, we did a national call for artists. I think because this had a higher dollar amount, we got a really great response not only from local public artists but from national public artists so that we felt incredibly privileged as a board to really go through some advanced proposals.”

Skudder hopes the art installation will be in place before the Christmas Holidays. The county is drawing up the contract now and the artist is working with the metal foundry in Salt Lake City. 

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