EDEN, Weber County — As Utah resorts gear up for the upcoming snow recreation season, Powder Mountain is adding a new feature that may change everything about how art is viewed in the state.
Resort officials unveiled the latest pieces in the first phase of its plan to become a “skiable outdoor art museum” that visitors can view with a lift ticket or season pass during the ski season and free at other times of the year.
The resort recently installed a few pieces for display, including “Starfire,” created by Nancy Holt in 1986, and Nobuo Sekine’s “Phase of Nothingness–Stone Stack,” a design initially conceived in 1971. It also commissioned works from artists EJ Hill and Kayode Ojo, which will be on display.
“Collectively, these new works create pockets of wonder and introspection throughout the mountain. They’re sited with great intention, working in harmony with their natural surroundings,” Alex Zhang, chief creative officer for Powder Mountain, said in a statement on Wednesday. “The idea is not to distract from the natural beauty of the mountains or the ski experience, but to enhance them and create seasonally dynamic moments for those who are inspired to seek them.”
Powder Mountain’s art collection began with “Launch Intention” by Griffin Loop, which was added to the Woody’s World and Paper Airplane trails over a decade ago, according to the Powder Art Foundation. A few other installations have joined the collection since, leading up to last year’s announcement that the resort would explore ways to turn it into an “open-air museum and sculpture park” featuring many more pieces by renowned artists.
It’s among the many other changes that Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings has announced or implemented since acquiring the northern Utah resort in 2023. The new art additions were acquired through philanthropic support, mainly from Hastings, per the Powder Art Foundation.
Holt died in 2014, but not before creating many iconic land art pieces, including “Sun Tunnels” in Utah’s West Desert. “Starfire” features eight ground-level fire pits that are arranged to look like the Big Dipper constellation and the North Star. It creates flames that look like a terrestrial map of the night sky when lit at night, foundation officials note.
Sekine conceived a sculpture featuring a 20-foot-tall arc with eight rounded boulders stacked in balance over 50 years ago, but he never saw that vision realized at that scale before he died in 2019. The work was done to complete his idea that “evokes an alpine cairn frozen at its tipping point,” according to the foundation.
It adds that Hill’s work features multiple “sculptural interventions and unique colorways” spread out through the resort, including the recently upgraded Timberline and Paradise lifts. Ojo designed an “immersive installation of faux-crystal chandeliers” suspended from the trees in a forest grove on the mountain.
Skiers can zoom past the pieces, but they will be visible year-round. They will be free to view during the mountain biking and hiking seasons, throughout the summer and fall months.
“These new works expand Powder Art Foundation’s vision for a site-responsive, year-round art experience in the alpine landscape rooted in adventure, ecology and long-term stewardship,” said Matthew Thompson, artistic director of Powder Art Foundation.
Additional pieces are expected to be added in the coming seasons. A grand opening for a new art program is slated for next year, while the resort says it will also break ground on a new trailside pavilion that will be home to “several immersive artworks integrated directly into the architecture” in 2026, including James Turrell’s “Apani” that debuted at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011.
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