A new coat called Open Your Eyes
Jiyoun Lee-Lodge created Open Your Eyes, the second mural on Out of the Blue, Stephen Kesler's humpback sculpture in the roundabout at 900 South, 1100 East, and Gilmer Drive. Salt Lake City's public-art collection now identifies it as the current mural.
Open Your Eyes draws from Great Salt Lake, Utah's wide skies, and moving water. The published design uses pink-and-blue gradients, flowing wave forms, and dots of color in a continuous treatment that changes as a viewer moves around the sculpture.
The detail hiding in plain sight
One of the Whale's eyes is painted open and the other closed. The asymmetry gives the mural its name and turns a familiar landmark into something that rewards a second look.
Whale Fortunes calls each mural a coat. That is our language, not the title used by the city or either artist. The sculpture remains Out of the Blue; Open Your Eyes is the new artwork painted across its surface.
How Salt Lake City chose the design
The Salt Lake City Arts Council says 35 artists applied through a county-wide call. Four finalists presented proposals to the Salt Lake Art Design Board and neighborhood stakeholders, who unanimously selected Lee-Lodge's concept.
The process also drew on responses from more than 1,700 residents gathered through the city's What's Next for the Whale survey. The city says that input helped define the commission and was shared with artists while they developed their proposals.
A completed mural, with the original design preserved here
Checked October 8: the city's collection records Open Your Eyes as the completed second mural. The October 3 Whale Fest date has passed; our event article preserves the announced plans rather than claiming to be a recap.
The image on this page remains the artist's scale-model design, as its caption explains. For the city's photographs of the finished mural, follow the Open Your Eyes collection link below.
The Whale's imagined coat closet
The real sculpture receives a new artist's mural every few years. These are our playful daydreams about that changing tradition—not past murals, official proposals, or previews.
Swipe through 3 imagined coats
Which imagined coat should the Whale wear next? Your vote stays on this device.
Sources
- Salt Lake City Public Art — current mural on Out of the Blue
- Salt Lake City Public Art — completed Open Your Eyes mural
- Salt Lake City Mayor's Office — new mural announcement
- Salt Lake City Arts Council — Open Your Eyes
- Salt Lake City Public Art Program — Whale Fest schedule
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