Hidden Waters water drop by Trevor Dahl. Image by Steve Coray.
On April 11, 2025, a new public art installation titled Hidden Waters was unveiled along North Temple in Salt Lake City. The project features eight eye-catching sculptural works mounted on utility poles from State Street to 600 West, tracing the buried path of City Creek as it flows west from City Creek Park toward the Jordan River. Each sculpture takes the form of a large “water drop,” individually designed by local artists to explore the significance of water and the city’s hidden hydrological systems.
One of the most striking pieces is by Trevor Dahl, a Salt Lake artist and high school teacher. His bright blue droplet, with cartoonish eyes bulging out from either side, stares directly at viewers. “The eye represents the consciousness of nature and something that we should all try to remember in this urban jungle,” Dahl explained at the unveiling. Other artists took equally personal and imaginative approaches to the theme: Cara Jean Hall depicted native plants inspired by her home garden; Sawyer Stroud illustrated the mountain-to-lake journey of water through snowpack, creeks, and rivers; Kate Wolsey celebrated frozen water in winter sports like skiing and hockey; and Vicky Lowe created a water protector rooted in her Indigenous Mexican heritage, with the message “water is sacred.”
Hidden Waters was developed through The Blocks Arts District’s Co-Create program in partnership with Seven Canyons Trust, a nonprofit working to “daylight” or uncover Salt Lake’s lost waterways. City Creek is one of several creeks—along with Red Butte, Emigration, and Parleys—that once ran visibly through the valley but were diverted underground as the city developed. The goal of the project is to resurface not just water, but the cultural, ecological, and creative stories tied to it.
Selected from nearly two dozen submissions, the eight installations were funded by a $30,000 grant from The Blocks, part of a larger annual investment in downtown art. While the water drops will remain in place for at least a year, organizers hope to rotate or expand the series over the next decade, leading up to the 2034 Winter Olympics. As program director Britney Helmers put it, the project invites viewers to consider their connection to water and to the buried histories flowing beneath their feet.
Hidden Waters water drop by Cara Jean Hall. Image by Steve Coray.
Hidden Waters water drop by Kate Wolsey. Image by Steve Coray.
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Categories: In Plain Site | Visual Arts
