In collaboration with Ogden City and the Ogden Nature Center, Weber State University will welcome artist Jane Kim to create an inspiring art project throughout the city.
Kim received her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Then, with journalist Thayer Walker, she founded Ink Dwell studio in 2012.
Kim has participated in different productions throughout the country with the intent of creating art that inspires and educates the public on the natural world.
After originally meeting Kim last year at the Artist and Residency Program, Weber State invited her back to Ogden to create multiple large-scale murals throughout the city.
“Bringing in notable artists is always a great thing because not only does it mean that our town is gaining interest nationwide, but it also means that it activates and gets local artists interested and involved,” said Todd Oberndorfer, Weber State’s Visual Arts Outreach Manager.
The mural Kim and her team are currently working on in downtown Ogden is on the external walls of The Monarch building on the corner of 25th St and Ogden Ave.
The Monarch, which is projected to open its doors for the first time in spring 2019, will provide a coffee shop, bar, restaurant and over 50 creative studios and makers spaces for local artists.
The building is also a part of the Nine Rails Creative District, which is an initiative started in 2015 with the hope of bringing innovative and creative work and projects to downtown Ogden.
“What the Creative District is going to try to do is bring more artists into the area to live and to work,” Oberndorfer said. “Which will make it more attractive for people to walk through the area and do work in the area.”
The goal of this collaboration is that it will create a convenient and affordable facility that will attract artists from all over to participate and partake in what Ogden city has to offer.
“The mural of the monarch butterfly is an amazing symbol; it is a butterfly rising and spreading its wings; it is colorful and beautiful and creative. It is a great flag to stick in the middle of the Nine Rails Creative District,” said Thaine Fischer, developer and owner of The Monarch.
The mural at The Monarch is the second of three installations throughout Ogden City featuring monarch butterflies.
The first stage of the murals began with the installation of unique banners at the Ogden Nature Center depicting the life of a monarch butterfly. This stage is currently open to the public to view.
After the mural downtown is complete, the last stage of the project will be a monarch mural in Weber State’s Kimball Visual Arts building, expected to be completed by the end of October.
The purpose of the monarch murals throughout Ogden is not only to beautify the city, but also to educate and inform the community about the rapid decline of Monarch butterflies’ population.
The Ogden murals are part of a nationwide campaign called the Migrating Mural, an ongoing project led by Kim and Ink Dwell, which follows migration corridors of different wildlife as they intersect with people.
Kim and her team traveled to multiple cities throughout the country to display their artwork including Florida, California and Arkansas.
“Our murals show what’s happening to a lot of other different species and insects. We try to make each one unique to the location by adding something specific about the area,” said Fiorella Ikeue, artist at Ink Dwell.
In addition to creating the large-scale mural at Weber State, Kim is offering a free public lecture on Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. in Lindquist Lecture Hall of the Kimball Visual Arts Center.
