WSU to expand downtown presence at Dumke Arts Plaza
Rendering of the Dumke Arts Plaza at night.
Rendering of the Dumke Arts Plaza view by day.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Dumke Arts Plaza, slated for October completion, was held on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
Cori Anderson (OCA) and Todd Oberndorfer (WSU, DOVAD) attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Dumke Arts Plaza, slated for October completion, on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
The new Dumke Arts Plaza, in construction on the southwest corner of 25th Street and Ogden Avenue, is seen by Ogden City and Weber State University as a bridge between campus and downtown Ogden.
The integration of WSU and the city is an important vision for the Dr. Ezekiel R. and Edna Wattis Dumke Foundation, which is contributing $2 million-plus for plaza construction and an additional $2 million for arts programming at the plaza through an endowment to Weber State.
Many others, including those associated with Ogden City and WSU, are also celebrating the opportunity for the university to expand its presence downtown.
“We feel such a part of the community … we want to be in the community,” said WSU Department of Visual Art and Design (DOVAD) Chair Kathleen Stevenson. “We’re not some kind of distance academic department.” She said the department is “thrilled” to be a part of what’s happening at the plaza and have a dual presence.
Lori Buckley, Ogden City arts coordinator, is hoping the students get more involved and active in events going on downtown, and vice versa. “There are a lot of awesome things going on at Weber State that the community at large would be interested in … but there’s been a disconnect.”
Programming at the plaza will be lead by Lydia Gravis, gallery director of the Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery, in collaboration with Ogden City and Ogden Contemporary Arts (OCA). Stevenson said DOVAD students will also be involved in the programming at the plaza, which will feature international, national, regional and local artists.
The plaza will be an outdoor art space for the public to gather year-round. Buckley said the city will allow any art-based events, possibly with a minimal nonprofit fee. She hopes to see community city events and others like Imagine Ballet and Good Company Theatre performances, poetry-readings and buskers utilize the space. Private events will not be allowed.
There will be sculptures, film, performance art and festivals of all kinds — “the full gamut of engagement,” Stevenson said. “It will be open and available for people to meet, visit, have a coffee or lunch … for kids to play.” The landscape architects for the project — Sasaki, in partnership with local designers Shalae Larsen of IO LandArch and Jake McIntyre’s Union Creative Agency — designed interactive features, and elements that reflect the culture of Ogden and preserve nature.
Buckley said if the funds are there, the city wants to expand the plaza to Ogden Avenue and The Monarch to become a “festival street.” The street could be shut down during festivals to make way for vendors and other activities.
Murals are also in the works. She’s hoping to get a grant to do a giant street mural the length of Ogden Ave from the Plaza to El Matador restaurant.
The inaugural exhibition at Dumke Arts Plaza in October is internationally renowned sculptor Chakaia Booker, famous for her monumental, abstract works from recycled tires and stainless steel for both gallery and outdoor public spaces.
According to publicartinchicago.com: “The various tread patterns, colors, and widths of the tires create a palette for Booker similar to the palette of a painter. The tire also represents her socio-economic concerns of the working class and factory labor in the industrial environment — the emotional and physical scarring of people. The black tires also symbolize the strength of African American identity.”
Stevenson said she is also anxious to show our community to the national artists that are coming through. Booker’s monthlong installation at Dumke Arts Plaza is a stop off on her way from Los Angeles to New York City.
“Our goal, and our joy, is bringing the visual and the performing arts to the city and the county, and this just gives us another venue to make that programming happen,” Stevenson said. “It helps the community know that our campus is much wider than just what’s up on the hill.”
