The Art Castle’s outdoor art experience begins with the historic church itself, whose exterior features a mural by Utah muralist Josh Scheuerman. The sculpture garden gives rescued works by visionary Utah artist Ralphael Plescia a new home alongside contemporary installations in light, technology, reflection, and fire. Its newest addition is The Illuminator by Derek Dyer, a monumental disco ball more than 23 feet in diameter with over a thousand mirrors. A crystal-and-heart sculpture combines illuminated crystal with a fire-lit heart and bursts of flame overhead. Free to view, this collection brings unexpected encounters with art into everyday neighborhood life. Westside Whale Tail will build on that experience, pairing Kesler’s monumental sculpture with a succession of mural artists’ interpretations.
Sculpture garden
Art you can walk up to
A free sculpture garden wraps the castle’s east side, with light, mirrors and fire.
The garden today
Two sculptures, and more on the way
Caption: The Illuminator and the crystal-and-heart sculpture, installed November 8, 2026. Photos: UAA, retouched.
- 2sculptures installed on November 8, 2026
- 23+ ftdiameter of The Illuminator
- 1,000+mirrors on The Illuminator
- Freeto view, for everyone
The castle rescues Ralphael Plescia’s work. UAA rescued Plescia’s sculptures, and they become part of the Art Castle’s immersive art attraction and living museum. The garden gives them a home, in public, where neighbors can see them every day.
Photos: UAA, 2026. The dragon photo is retouched.
Coming next: Westside Whale Tail
A purple whale tail will rise from the garden and give the Westside a landmark of its own. A new mural artist repaints it every two to three years.
The plan
The full garden
An 18,917-square-foot sculpture garden wraps the castle’s whole east side. It opens to everyone, free to view.
- Public sculpture. New light, fire and mirror installations join rescued works.
- Surreal and local. Local artists build the sculptures in the spirit of Gilgal Gardens, with repurposed creative materials and water-wise planting.
- A playground and plaza. They invite families to stay.
- A stage. It hosts outdoor shows.
Coming next
Westside Whale Tail
Westside Whale Tail adds a landmark to the garden. It continues a story Salt Lake City loves.
Renderings © Tusk Studios LLC.
A new mural every two to three years
The sculpture stays. The surface changes. Each new artist gives the tail a fresh look, so neighbors have a reason to come back.
The artist and the first whale
Stephen Kesler made Out of the Blue, the humpback whale that breaches from the ground at 900 South and 1100 East. The Salt Lake City Arts Council commissioned it, and it debuted in April 2022. Neighbors adopted it. They gather to celebrate its changing murals, and runners circle it in Whaleathon endurance challenges.
Westside Whale Tail shows the other end of the same whale. Together the two sculptures invite people to picture one enormous whale moving beneath the city, with its head on the East Side and its tail on the Westside.
The artwork
- The tail measures 14 feet by 13.5 feet by 9.5 feet.
- Kesler will build it from the same materials as the head. He will choose the final title.
- A separately commissioned mural artist paints its surface.
- A new artist and a new mural arrive every two to three years.
- The planned debut is October 9, 2027.
Read about Out of the Blue
- Out of the Blue (sculpture), Wikipedia
- Why there’s now a giant whale jumping out of a Salt Lake roundabout, KSL
- All hail the whale: how a sculpture at 9th and 9th captured the city, The Salt Lake Tribune
- The whale’s cultish following grows with each winter storm, FOX 13
- The whale draws worshippers, marathoners and apparently rain, KUER
- How the whale found a second home in Japan, KSL
Rescued art
Ralphael Plescia and the Christian School
Ralphael Plescia spent about 50 years turning a building on State Street into a three-level world of sculpture and paint. UAA volunteers carried out what they could before the building came down.
- Who he was. Plescia was a Salt Lake City artist who died on August 14, 2022, at age 84. He filled the Christian School, his studio at 1324 S State Street, with sculptures and paintings inspired by Revelation 12, and he painted portraits of family members on the ceiling.
- What happened to the building. Its owner, the Colmena Group, demolished the Christian School on May 28–29, 2025. Much of the art was part of the structure itself.
- What UAA saved. UAA volunteers started in September 2024. They moved a 2,000-pound serpent and the Lady of Wisdom sculpture, and Derek Dyer reports that the team also removed two dozen canvas paintings, three large sculptures and six smaller ones.
- What the building kept. Art built into the walls, floors and ceilings could not leave. The team made 3D scans and photographs of that work before the demolition.
The Plescia sculptures on the lawn come from this rescue. Three of the rescued works stand outside, and UAA keeps the rest inside the castle. The garden gives his work a public home, where neighbors see it every day.
Learn more about Plescia and the Christian School
Join the castle.
Crystal Young
Development Lead, Sterling & Pink
cy@sterlingpink.net
Derek Dyer
Executive Director, Utah Arts Alliance
derek@utaharts.org