Hidden Waters: Celebrating water in our oasis on desert's edge
Authored by Brian Tonetti
The Hidden Waters installation, a collaboration between the Seven Canyons Trust and The Blocks, will explore narratives related to the Salt Lake Valley’s relationship with water. The installation will feature two components, a series of artist-commissioned Water Drops and The Source—a large sculptural element to unify the piece. Ultimately, the installation aims to build education and stewardship in our valley named after water.
We are thrilled to announce the Hidden Waters installation will be one of the first collaborative projects under The Blocks’ Co-Create Program. This program aims to foster collaborative endeavors to produce distinctive art installations, performances, activations, and projects within the boundaries of Downtown Salt Lake City, otherwise known as The Blocks Arts District.
The installation will be initially focused on North Temple where City Creek flows aboveground and then underneath the street in a pipe. It will connect City Creek Park to the Folsom Trail corridor at 600 West in Salt Lake City. It will highlight a past stream daylighting project at City Creek Park and a future project to uncover City Creek along the Folsom Trail.
The installation will highlight Salt Lake City’s relationship with its hydrology and the stream that built our city. It will rediscover narratives lost to history, such as the Indigenous Peoples of the Salt Lake Valley, as well as contemporary cultural narratives, such as the Greatest Snow on Earth, the 2034 Winter Olympics as water sports, stream daylighting, the Great Salt Lake, and more. It will work to culturally daylight the creek—not physically bringing the creek back to the surface. But rather, bringing the idea that the creek runs underneath our city, to the surface of the collective consciousness. Lastly, it will build education and stewardship of the hydrology in our city named after water.
The installation will consist of two distinctive components, a series of artist-commissioned Water Drops and The Source—a large sculptural element serving as a beacon for the project.
Water Drops
Water Drops will consist of a series of artist-commission pieces installed within a standard three-foot by two-foot metal water drop-shape frame. Artist-commissioned elements can include metalwork, stained glass, wood, written words, and more—the creative possibilities are nearly endless. They can be installed on various surfaces, such as to light posts, bus stops, on the side of a building, as a seat, or on a free-standing bollard. The pieces will create a new “creekside” walk along North Temple as pedestrians discover the next drop. A call for artists will be released to gather portfolios and proposals from qualified local artists.
After this first phase, we hope to continue installing Water Drops yearly leading up to the 2034 Winter Olympics for the next ten years. Water Drops may expand further into the Central Business District and throughout the Salt Lake Valley. They could even go all the way up into the Wasatch Mountains at our world-class ski resorts where we get our drinking water.
The Source
The Source will serve as a large beacon to draw pedestrians into the installation on North Temple. It will feature a livestream recording of City Creek within the concrete pipe underneath North Temple. This will bring the audio and visual of the creek back to the streetscape as it did before its burial at the turn of the 20th Century. It will feature the word “water” in the estimated 120 languages spoken in Utah to create a connection to water for our diverse residents. Lastly, it will include historic imagery, information about City Creek Park and the City Creek at Folsom Trail project, and a reproduction of the Stansbury map of the Salt Lake Valley from 1852, which includes some of the Native names for the seven Wasatch canyon creeks. The Source will be developed by our team of experienced artists and creatives, Stephen Goldsmith, Jan Striefel, and Brian Tonetti.
Adopt-A-Drop
The “Adopt-a-Drop” program will enlist surrounding businesses to support nearby Water Drops. A donation of $1,500 per drop will support maintenance and/or replacement. Funders will be recognized on the Water Drop frames.
Interested in supporting the installation and having your business featured on a Water Drop? Maybe you would like to install a Water Drop on your business? Email us at info@sevencanyonstrust.org for more information and to get involved.
