Basin Recreation Millennial Tunnel Public Arts Project
It was a project the likes of which had never been tackled by Basin Recreation. It was a very different form of recreation but one that the Recreation District was very interested in exploring. When approached by the Park City Summit County Arts Council to jointly organize a large scale art mural in an otherwise large and blank tunnel, Basin Recreation jumped at the chance. It was an opportunity to bring the youth of Park City together to tell us about their views of the future. It was a project inspired, in part, by the life of Sam Jackenthal.
The tunnel had been a place of respectful tagging by Sam’s friends in his memory. While necessary, Basin Recreation’s trails crew hated to remove the tags, knowing that they were left with good intention. But the vision of organizing the “graffiti-like” art into a larger project seemed like a way to give the local youth a place to express their thoughts while beautifying the space. An artist from New York City, Bisco Smith, was selected to lead the endeavor.
The kick-off workshops were full almost immediately. The installation took place over a cold and wet weekend. The final product is amazing, colorful and uplifting. The mural has taken a cold, grey transportation tunnel and turned it into a spot where you slow down, really appreciate what these kids have to say about what they want for the future. While his life was cut short, Sam inspired those thoughts in his friends, in those that watched him, both on the snow and off.
