We noticed this the other day—a house in Salt Lake City along West Temple being gutted by construction workers who were careful to keep a mural along two of its sides intact. Turns out, it’s a new library.
The Ballpark Library Lab (1406 S. West Temple) is the City Library’s newest location, serving the Ballpark neighborhood from a newly-renovated, repurposed space. It will have a small collection of materials and be open intermittently for programs, events, and reservations.
Image courtesy of Salt Lake City Public Library.
The ribbon cutting was Friday, May 23, from 9:30–10:30am, followed by an open house until 2pm. The the mural is by Utah artist Caro Nilsson.
-Border & Square, the beloved Provo-based framing shop known for its handcrafted custom work, will open their new space this week. Founded in 2018 by Kheng Lim, a passionate woodworker and art enthusiast, the business has grown from a 200-square-foot studio behind a house to a 650-square-foot garage workshop staffed by a four-person team to, this weekend, an even bigger space at 125 W 500 South in Provo (formerly occupied by Thread Wallets).
– Pioneer Park, Salt Lake City’s oldest green space, will soon welcome its first permanent public art installation. Set to debut in 2026, Common Roots by artists James Shen of People’s Architecture Office and Jennifer Tran was selected through a national call administered by the Salt Lake City Arts Council’s Public Art Program. Chosen from more than 130 applicants, Shen and Tran proposed a series of colorful archways that will serve as a gateway into the park. Drawing inspiration from tree roots and migration routes, the design also reflects the linguistic and cultural diversity of the neighborhood. The sculptural “roots” will spell out “Pioneer Park” in flowing cursive letterforms influenced by scripts historically and currently spoken in the area—including Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Arabic, and more.
-Utah’s art historian with a sartorial flair, Micah Christensen, has been teasing the opening of the Salt Lake Art Museum. Officially, it’s scheduled to open in Spring of 2026 in the former B’Nai Israel Temple at 249 South 400 East in Salt Lake City, but this week sculptor Ben Hammond will be giving a presentation on his work and philosophy at the space.
-The Utah Public Art Program has announced that Utah artist Scot Olson has been commissioned to create a work for the Mountainland Technical College Heber Campus project. The proposed sculpture “will depict and honor the student body of Mountainland Technical College, represented by two bronze figures rising from a ‘flame’ of stone. The stone flame pays homage to the beautiful mountain ranges which frame Heber Valley.”
-Utah Valley Magazine has awarded the UVU Museum of Art a “Best of Utah Valley” award for Art Museums.
-Ogden Contemporary Arts has curated “healing-centered artwork” for the newly opened Weber-Morgan Children’s Justice Center. Works by the following artists were revealed at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 22: Nancy Andruk Olson, Collin Bradford, Venessa Castagnoi, Samantha da Silva, Emily Fox King, Emily Hawkins, Kiki Gaffney, Lydia Gravis, Miriam Gutierrez, Kathryn Knudsen, Kasey Lou Lindley, Nancy Rivera, Cara Romero, Jorge Rojas, Wren Ross, Heath Satow, Laura Sharp Wilson, Bianca Velasquez.
-Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) has purchased a work by Cody Chamberlain. The image of an old, twisted juniper reaching upward with its bare branches against a cloud filled sky, will be placed—appropriately enough—in SLCC’s Juniper Building on the Herriman campus.
-The Utah Watercolor Society’s Spring Show is currently on display at The Attic Gallery in the historic Provo Library (550 N. University Ave.). Awarded works include:
FIRST PLACE: Heidi Harley, “Tibble Fork Canyon Winter River”
SECOND PLACE: Roland Lee, “Angels Landing”
THIRD PLACE: Greg Pearson, “Three Flies”
HONORABLE MENTION:
Bradley Kropp, “Flatwater;”
Kristi Grussendorf, “Red Rock Plein Air;”
Jana Parkin, “With His Stripes;”
Matt Chatterley, “Seasons of Mist.”
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MERCHANT AWARD: Becky Hartvigsen, “Old Guys Rule;”
Sherry Meidell, “The World at Her Shoelaces;”
Diana Vogel, “Perfectly Pink;”
Yvonne Krause, “And God Provided Lindsay with Bamboo Children.”
UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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