More than 75 Utah fine artists will set up shop at This Is The Place Heritage Park later this month for the fifth annual Art at The Park, a free two-day show that lets the public meet artists, watch live demonstrations, and buy original work ranging from $100 pieces to $10,000 statement art. The event runs Friday, September 18, from noon to 9 p.m., and Saturday, September 19, from noon to 7 p.m., at The Garden Place, located at 2601 Sunnyside Ave.
The show has grown considerably since its debut, according to the Midvale Journal, which reports that participating artists have sold well over $1 million worth of art since Art at The Park was founded. The show is now organized under artTHRIVE, a newly established nonprofit that channels net proceeds from the event into artist assistance grants, educational programming, and statewide art appreciation campaigns, according to the South Valley Riverton Journal. Entry to the weekend show remains free to the public, and organizers say the event's mission is to create meaningful opportunities for Utah artists while fostering an engaged arts community throughout the state.
From a Block-Print Artist's Idea to a Statewide Nonprofit
Rob Chipman, a Utah block-print artist, founded both Art at The Park and artTHRIVE. Chipman launched the inaugural event in September 2022 after three years of planning, according to KSL.com, creating an artist-run marketplace designed to help visual artists sell directly to the public outside traditional gallery systems. At the time, Chipman was serving as president of the Intermountain Society of Artists, a regional nonprofit that holds monthly workshops and exhibits at the Sons of Utah Pioneers building in Salt Lake City and supports artists working across mediums from oil and watercolor to block printing, per the Intermountain Society of Artists. Chipman led that organization from 2019 to 2024.
The event's roots reach back further than its 2022 debut. Seventy years before Chipman staged his first show, Utah artist Lynn Fausett displayed open-air art along the walls of the state's former prison site before that acreage was converted into Heritage Village at This Is The Place Park, according to Artists of Utah 15 Bytes. Fausett had envisioned a pioneer art village on the site, an idea that eventually evolved into the park's current form and inspired Chipman's modern outdoor show concept.
What Visitors Will Find at The Garden Place
Standard booths at the show measure 10-by-10 feet, giving artists room to exhibit dozens of works across mediums including reduction block prints, encaustics, glasswork, acrylics, and pen-and-ink drawings while demonstrating their techniques live, a structure that has been a core feature since the first edition, per the same 15 Bytes account. The Garden Place itself offers rustic timber beams, a large stone fireplace, indoor seating for up to 350 guests, and an outdoor waterfall patio that can hold more than 200 people, according to KSL.com. Food trucks will be on site both days, and the weekend also includes a student art showcase for emerging artists.
Featured artists this year include Melissa Tshikamba, a Brigham Young University illustration graduate who incorporates 22-karat gold leaf, oil, and abstract realism into figurative pieces exploring African Diaspora heritage, identity, and sacred themes, according to Salt Lake Juneteenth. Other participants include Esther Candari, a multidisciplinary artist who studies connections between ecology and culture, and Robert Fuerer, known for plein air landscapes and award-winning button mosaics. Artists are traveling in from across the Wasatch Front, including South Salt Lake, South Jordan, Taylorsville, West Jordan, Cottonwood Heights, Bountiful, Kaysville, Draper, Holladay, Midvale, Millcreek, Murray, Riverton and Sandy.
New Park Leadership and a Statewide Arts Push
Missy Wilson Larsen was appointed CEO of This Is The Place Heritage Park and chair of its board of trustees earlier this year, tasked with expanding the 450-acre living-history park into a broader cultural and educational destination, according to This Is The Place Heritage Park. The state park, whose theme is Awaken the Pioneer Within, features 11 rental venues set against the Wasatch Mountains foothill bench.
The show's expansion also reflects a broader pattern in Utah's arts economy. Statewide, the nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $335.6 million in total economic activity, with event attendees spending an average of $39.41 per person locally beyond admission costs, according to the Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 study cited by the Utah Division of Arts & Museums. For a free event like Art at The Park, that kind of spending translates into business for nearby restaurants and shops even before a single painting sells.
Ahead of the public opening, an invitation-only preview evening is scheduled for Thursday, September 17, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Garden Place, giving collectors early access to purchase original works before the weekend crowds arrive, according to the event's own website, artattheparkutah.com. Organizers have not detailed the specific grant or development programs artTHRIVE plans to fund with this year's net proceeds, and it remains unclear exactly how the festival balances booth space between established fine artists and the emerging artists in the student showcase.
