The sandhill crane will go on the Jeremy Ranch side and the moose on the Pinebrook side.
Board members chose the artist couple from Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the job earlier this month.
Kennell and Adler, who create large animals out of sheet metal and steel, initially proposed a bear and moose each over 20 feet tall.
Members of the board and the public liked the moose, but some said Summit County is not known for bears. So the artist duo came back with a few more proposals.
According to Adler, the sandhill crane idea came from a biologist who lives in Summit County and reached out to the artists after they were chosen.
“Raising awareness about the wetlands was another thing that was appealing to us that came up in our conversation with the wildlife biologist,” she said at the May 14 meeting.
As proposed, the 20-foot crane would be nesting with two yellow chicks on its back and its signature red-capped head.
Public arts administrator Jocelyn Scudder noted there’s a new nest nearby on the Jeremy Ranch golf course. Kennell told the board he and Adler have a local connection to sandhill cranes, too.
“A population of them winters here in New Mexico, just south of Albuquerque, at Bosque del Apache,” he said. “And so it's kind of interesting that they winter in New Mexico and summer in Utah.”
The artists also explored a fox and a hare, but the board unanimously voted for the crane.
After the vote, board members talked about community engagement opportunities with the artists, who expressed a desire to include the community in the fabrication process.
