Gunnison Legacy Wall gets unexpected funding but needs help from the public to complete
By Robert Stevens
Managing editor
8-11-2016
GUNNISON—The unfinished center panel of the Gunnison City Legacy Wall can finally be completed thanks to grant funding from Governor Gary Herbert’s Arts and Culture Business Alliance—but help of a different kind is still needed.
The funding was unexpectedly received by the Casino Star Theatre Foundation on behalf of Gunnison City to finish the monument, and although the majority of its design has been completed, the Casino Star Theatre Foundation is looking for ideas from Gunnison citizens on what to put on 10 supplementary panels (five on each side).
Only four other organizations statewide received this grant: the Caine College for the Arts at Utah State University; the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Complex at Southern Utah University; the Performing Arts Foundation of Salt Lake City; and the Helper Arts and Music Festival.
Councilman Robert Andersen and Project Manager Lori Nay assembled a committee to direct the design for the central panel of the Legacy Wall, which is now a bare concrete slab at the eastern edge of the Plaza at Main and Center.
Along with Andersen and Nay, the committee is comprised of Scott Andersen, Barbara Bown, Brinlee Bown, Jake Dyreng, Richard Dyreng, Janell Overly, Kim Pickett, Diana Spencer and Debbie Wilson.
The committee cooperated with artists Victoria Lyons and Michael Moonbird (Bad Dog Arts) to draft, then refine, a design of 12” x 12” glazed porcelain tiles featuring images of Gunnison, past and present.
The actual tiles for the center panel are currently in production, with installation expected before winter, but the Legacy Wall Committee wants suggestions from the public for the 10 supplementary tiles.
Gunnison citizens may submit your ideas in several ways.
Call Diana Spencer at 979-2798 or Lori Nay at 979-9723, write up recommendations and hand them in at the Gunnison City Hall or Casino Star Theatre, or take your ideas to Councilman Robert Andersen at GIC.
Donations to help further the project can be made to the Casino Star Theatre Foundation, the acting arts council for Gunnison City.
