Lawn Gnomes: Eat Your Hearts Out

The 2011 Lawn Gnomes Eat Your Hearts Out exhibition is now closed. Congratulations again to the $2,000 prize winners and thank you to all participating artists!

757 S 800 E, Margaret Tarampi, Eric Egenolf, & Zach Gildersleeve.
Congratulations to Margaret, Eric, and Zach who created a secretly interactive video piece. Visitors who went to check out their lawn piece were disappointed to see nothing there, until that evening from 8-10 PM when they saw their own images projected in the windows. The artists have agreed to keep their piece running through June 19, two days past the June 17 end date.

Click here to view a large map with more detail on the almost 50 lawn sculptures scattered throughout Salt Lake!

About the Event

There are many unsung heroes of public art right here in Salt Lake City—and we’d like to give you a chance to shine.

Residents of Salt Lake City and its immediate environs are invited to participate in the first annual Lawn Gnomes Eat Your Hearts Out lawn sculpture competition and extravaganza, hosted by the 337 Project and Salt Lake Art Center! This is a chance to shine for artists who want to show off their innovation, skill, and quirkiness in the creation of our community’s best lawn sculpture!!!

This Spring, Salt Lake Art Center will exhibit the sculptural exhibition, Expanded Field: Recipients of the 2011 International Sculpture Center Awards. But we don’t want the fun to stay inside our galleries. So Lawn Gnomes is your chance to bring art outside the walls of the Art Center and into the places where people work, live, and play, encouraging everyone to think about new ways to actively engage with our city and neighborhoods. Salt Lake Art Center will present maps and tours in a variety of formats that lead residents from the Art Center’s formal galleries into the reimagined urban space created by artists participating in Lawn Gnomes Eat Your Hearts Out.

The front lawn is a private plot of land that is publicly visible, and functions in urban and suburban society as an important signifier of taste, individualism and community. Lawns are a teeny slice of utopia: they can proclaim your political position, your ecological philosophy, your domestic ideal! Let your lawn be your canvas and be creative in your use of materials! Your contribution can be anything as long as it utilizes your lawn, abides by city zoning and building codes and any other applicable laws, and is suitable for audiences of all ages. You can build a sculpture, a garden, a flower-painting, a landscape, a fantasyland…be creative!!!!! You can even create your artwork on property owned by a friend or neighbor (if they give you permission).