Busy Ogden corner gets splash of color with new sculpture

OGDEN — The southwest corner of 25th Street and Washington Boulevard has a new splash of color.

A crew of workers on Wednesday installed a public art piece on the corner, “New Range,” one of the last steps in the upgrade of the high-traffic location, home to The Corner, the city-owned visitor’s center and snack outlet.

“It’s pretty much complete,” said Lorie Buckley, arts administrator for the City of Ogden. The multicolored art piece and small plaza where it sits, now dubbed The Corner Plaza, will be ceremonially unveiled during a ribbon-cutting at 6:30 p.m. Friday, one of the featured activities of First Friday Art Stroll activities.

The Corner and the area around it were the focus of a $404,000 upgrade meant to bolster the area’s drawing power. The Ogden Municipal Building sits to the south while the Ogden Amphitheater sits just to the west.

“We want to make it more approachable, a gathering space,” Buckley said. New benches, which have not yet arrived, will also be placed in the plaza, allowing for small “pop-up” events at the location, she said.

Funds for the improvements came from the city and the 0.1% Weber County sales tax earmarked for arts and recreation initiatives. The city covered the separate $130,000 cost of “New Range.”

New York-based Hou de Sousa Design Studio designed “New Range,” inspired by the Wasatch Mountains and the Bigelow Hotel across the street from it. A crew from Lehi-based Metal Arts Foundry installed it on Wednesday.

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