Could this Salt Lake City artist’s Granary District dino sculpture become the ‘whale of the west’?

One of Utah’s native creatures hopes to find a permanent home in the Granary District.

“Kosmo” is a 20-foot-long steel sculpture of a Kosmoceratops, a plant-eating dinosaur discovered in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. He’s the creation of Salt Lake City woodworker and artist Garth Franklin, who hopes Kosmo will become a mascot and anchor of the city’s Granary District, like the 9th and 9th’s whale has become to the east.

Kosmo came about through the open streets initiative, an annual project between the city, the Downtown Alliance and The Blocks Arts District meant to improve walkability and promote pedestrian-friendly streets.

In the Granary District, the program last September created a temporary pedestrian promenade along 500 West (between 700 South and 800 South) each Friday and Saturday, to study walkability in the area. The city had a $15,000 budget for a small art piece display for the initiative, and Franklin was considered the ideal artist.

Franklin’s first big Granary project was Hoodah, a large “trail troll” who sits on a section of abandoned train tracks near 400 West and 700 South. Neighborhood businesses raised money to cover his creation, which Franklin then completed using recycled materials Franklin salvaged from a redwood deck in Park City.

“I made Kosmo kind of out of the idea of Hoodah — I just wanted to do something like hyper-local,” Franklin said.

He thought of the 9th and 9th whale, which is an “iconic piece” in Salt Lake City. But as he decided what to do, he felt that sculpture, formally called “Out of the Blue,” didn’t have “a lot to do with a landlocked state.”

“So I tried to think of, what was the most local animal I could come up with?” he said.

That’s when Franklin came across a display of triceratops-like dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Other ancient beings and even today’s creatures share boundaries across the Intermountain West, Franklin said, but Kosmoceratops specimens have only ever been found in what is now Utah.

From there, Franklin met with paleontologist Mark Loewen, who was involved in the discovery and naming of the dinosaur.

“He brought me through the archives of the Natural History Museum to see the actual original skull of Kosmoceratops that was discovered, and some small pieces of Kosmoceratops, and a baby Kosmoceratops,” Franklin said. “I knew that was my perfect art piece.”

Unlike Hoodah, who will weather over time, Franklin built Kosmo with steel to last as a more permanent art fixture.

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He worked with Iron Mesa Studio founder Alec Gonos to weld the dinosaur’s frame together. And to ensure Kosmo retained the character of the Granary District, a local developer — Blazer Industries — allowed Franklin to salvage materials from an old building they’d purchased in the area.

“I was able to take a lot of old, rusted tools and machinery and fun shapes from that,” Franklin said, “and on the nonstructural side of Kosmo, adorn him with pieces that showed the lineage — the maker lineage, and gritty ethic of the Granary District — as just to kind of preserve that vibe, as the neighborhood continues to evolve and grow.”

One of Franklin’s favorite parts about Kosmo, and Hoodah, is that they belong to everyone and can help create a sense of identity in the neighborhood, he said.

Over the past two years, for instance, the Granary District has hosted “Hoodah Fest,” an event with food trucks and live music that highlights new and longtime area businesses, local murals and some environmental causes — all centered around Franklin’s gentle troll guardian.

“He lives outdoors, and he gets to see day in and day out what’s happening with our climate and the natural space,” Franklin said of Hoodah. “So he’s a protector for all things.”

Fisher brewing co-owner Tim Dwyer serves as the chair of the Granary District Alliance, a group of businesses in the neighborhood working to promote the neighborhood through sustainable growth.

Dwyer said one of the group’s main goals is to relocate Kosmo to his final resting place on a permanent traffic circle by the time Hoodah Fest rolls around again this year on Sept. 27.

“We would like Kosmo to be placed in that circle, and kind of make it like the whale of the west,” Dwyer said. “We think it’s a really cool thing that will help safely slow traffic around — and also showcase — both the art and industrial nature of the neighborhood.”

Kosmo currently towers over the southeast corner of 500 West and 700 South, overlooking the spot he may one day permanently reside. Relocating him, though, would involve creating an elevated platform, curb and gutter on what is now a painted roundabout.

“We really need the city to help Kosmo find his final spot, and kind of be a really good beacon of what our neighborhood is all about,” Dwyer said.