Art Lake City | In Plain Site | Visual Arts

Day Christensen’s Giant Apricot at Marmalade Plaza

Outdoor view of a modern building with a large, artistic sculpture resembling an oversized peach with a leaf, positioned prominently in the foreground. The sculpture's smooth, shiny surface reflects the sunlight, and it's set against the backdrop of the building’s dark wood and glass facade under a clear blue sky.

Marmalde Plaza, where Day Christensen’s “The Apricot” has been installed, is on the north side of the Marmalade Branch library.

Day Christensen’s bronze sculpture of a giant Apricot near the corner of 500 North and 300 West has been installed for several months, but it was recently celebrated by Salt Lake City officials in conjunction with the opening of the public plaza the sculpture was commissioned to anchor. (Shortly after the ribbon cutting the work was unfortunately re-obstructed by orange construction barrel and yellow caution tape: so maybe dont’ visit just yet).

The work goes back seven years, when Christensen was first commissioned to create a public art piece reflecting the history of the neighborhood below the west flank of the State Capitol. He has created several other public art pieces for the city, including the “Sugar Beets” in front of the Sprague Branch Library in Sugar House (another piece meant to commemorate the history of the neighborhood, although the pioneer-era sugar industry never materialized there). The artist was inspired by the original inhabitants of the Marmalade district who grew fruit trees along the hills beneath the Capitol and sold their marmalade along highway 89.

Christensen could have depicted a peach—and some might mistake this slightly orange sculpture for one—but it’s an apricot. Otherwise, imagine the possible difficulties. In addition to copyright claims from the  Roald Dahl estate, one can imagine the cheeky responses of street artists painting nearby murals of and neighbors erecting sculptures of giant purple eggplants.

Outdoor view of a modern building with a large, artistic sculpture resembling an oversized peach with a leaf, positioned prominently in the foreground. The sculpture's smooth, shiny surface reflects the sunlight, and it's set against the backdrop of the building’s dark wood and glass facade under a clear blue sky.

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