SALT LAKE CITY — Pioneer Park is about to get a colorful makeover.
“Common Roots,” a massive, multicolored art piece depicting a tree’s root systems, designed by California-based artists James Shen and Jennifer Tran, was selected to be added to the downtown Salt Lake City park in 2026, as the park goes through other upgrades, Salt Lake City Arts Council officials announced on Thursday.
The piece, the artists explained, aims to celebrate the location’s unique history, merging the “cursive letterforms” inspired by immigrants with Arabic, Chinese, Greek and Japanese other groups who settled in the blocks in the area surrounding the park. The letters help spell “Pioneer Park.”
A rendering of “Common Roots,” a public art sculpture planned for Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City. The piece, designed by California-based artists James Shen and Jennifer Tran, is expected to be installed in 2026. | Salt Lake City Arts Council
Its “colorful, flowing arches” also reflect the many communities and plant life that have shaped the park since it was established, first as a pioneer fort and then a city park. Once installed, it will be the park’s first public art piece.
“Public artworks like ‘Common Roots’ help communities see themselves reflected in the spaces they share. By weaving together cultural stories, languages and symbols, it turns a park into a place of connection, memory and pride,” said Felicia Baca, executive director of Salt Lake City Arts Council, in a statement. “It becomes a mirror of who we are and who we’ve been.”
The art piece is part of a larger $18.4 million project to revamp the park, which draws in large crowds during the Salt Lake City Downtown Farmers Market on Saturdays during the summer, but struggles at other times.
City officials unveiled a site plan late last year ahead of construction that they expect to finalize this summer. On top of an art feature, the city’s vision plan calls for a new playground, plaza, pavilion and ranger station, new pickleball courts and a fenced off-leash dog area and natural habitat section.
A site plan showing what the future of Pioneer Park in downtown Salt Lake City will look like. Construction is expected to begin as early as September 2025. | Salt Lake City Public Lands
Construction could begin as early as September and carry into 2026, said Nancy Monteith, a landscape architect for Salt Lake City Public Lands, in December. Most of the project was funded through a $67.5 million sales tax bond the city approved in 2022. Additional funds were allocated to add all the new features during one construction period instead of in phases.
However, funding for “Common Roots” comes from the city’s Public Art Program, where 1.5% of eligible city project funds go toward creating and maintaining public art displays. Shen and Tran’s design was selected by the Salt Lake Art Design Board, which reviewed submissions from over 130 artists nationwide.
Utah Historical Society officials provided feedback during the process, given the park’s history, while Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall gave the final stamp of approval on the design.
“We are excited to create a landmark for such an important park in Salt Lake City, one with a rich history of immigration,” Shen said in a statement Thursday. “As children of immigrants ourselves, we’re inspired by the different communities that have shaped Pioneer Park, and hope to celebrate their stories.”
