For artist Gordon Huether, the next major piece to be put in place at Salt Lake City International Airport signifies the end of one journey before travelers take flight for another.
Installation will begin on Northern Light in about three weeks, the artist said. The roughly 15-foot-wide, 4,000-pound structure of stainless steel, dichroic glass and hand-drawn glass rods will be located in a new plaza on concourse B and will be visible to passengers who emerge from the Central Tunnel after the walkway opens in October.
(Salt Lake City) A rendering of Northern Light, the art installation that will greet travelers when they arrive on concourse B after passing through the Central Tunnel at Salt Lake City International Airport.
“You could almost call it,” Huether said, “the period at the end of a sentence.”
That’s because travelers get a sampling of Huether’s work from the moment they enter airport property to the time they reach their gate.
Huether’s artwork includes The Peaks at the airport’s entrance, The Falls glass installation by the escalators near baggage claim, The Canyon on the walls of the airport’s main atrium, and will soon include River Tunnel, the artist’s name for his work in the Central Tunnel.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Artist Gordon Huether oversees installation of The Peaks near the entrance to Salt Lake City International Airport, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.
“The idea behind it is we’re celebrating the natural beauty of Utah,” he said. “... We’re trying to kind of de-escalate the stress of travel.”
Huether’s fingerprints are also on a piece of Utah history that travelers will view after arriving back on Beehive State soil. He led the restoration of the Hoberman Arch — an iconic relic from the Medals Plaza during the 2002 Winter Olympics — which was unveiled last year after being disassembled for years.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Hoberman Arch is unveiled at Salt Lake International Airport on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.
Northern Light was fabricated years ago in Germany and has been sitting in airport storage while crews build the expansion that includes the concourse B plaza. The airport spent about $750,000 on the piece, which will hang near the terrazzo world map that was preserved from the old airport.
While Huether may see the piece as punctuation, it won’t be his last at the airport. The artist plans to install two suspended sculptures — one at each end of the B concourse.
“Honestly, there’s a little bit of sadness there because I’ve been working on the airport for almost 10 years now,” he said. “We’ve got about another year, year and a half, and it’ll be coming to an end.”