In the heart of Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park, the beloved Seven Canyons Fountain has been reimagined as the Seven Canyons Refuge—a thoughtful renewal of one of the city’s most cherished public spaces. Originally built in 1991 to celebrate the seven canyons that feed the Great Salt Lake, the fountain has long been a gathering place for families, artists, and children at play.
OM Stone was proud to provide 34 granite pavers for the reopening and dedication of the refuge. Designed in close collaboration with artist Stephen Goldsmith, these pavers were guided by Ian Chambers of OM Stone, who worked alongside Goldsmith to ensure each piece captured the artistic vision while maintaining the durability and precision granite requires. Stone remains central to the project’s identity—the same enduring material that defined the original fountain continues to anchor the renewed space, symbolizing resilience and continuity.
Honored to be part of this renewal, OM Stone brought decades of experience in granite fabrication and installation. From the earliest design stages, Ian Chambers worked closely with the project team to weave granite elements naturally into the landscape. In our production shop, Dean, Kevin, Kyle, along with Tony transformed those ideas into lasting works of craftsmanship—each piece carefully shaped, finished, and placed to honor the park’s legacy. From the smallest paver to the grandest feature, every stone carries a tangible connection between the past and the new vision for the Seven Canyons Refuge.
More than three decades later, artist Stephen Goldsmith—who helped design the original fountain alongside Dr. O.C. Tanner and architect Boyd Blackner—returned to lead a new collaborative effort. The result is a public artwork that honors the past while responding to the present, blending art, ecology, and community in ways that invite connection, reflection, and stewardship.
The Seven Canyons Refuge now incorporates sculptural and sensory elements that deepen engagement with the landscape. Visitors can explore cast bronze “People Perches,” designed to translate birdsong into touchable, audible forms. Shishi-odoshi water features, inspired by Japanese garden traditions, invite visitors to pour water into bamboo vessels that tip and release in rhythm, symbolizing both renewal and shared responsibility for water. Throughout the site, etched granite cairns tell stories of the region’s waterways, its First Peoples, and the intertwined ecologies that have shaped life in the Salt Lake Valley.
The collaborative process behind the refuge reflects its core themes: interconnection, stewardship, and respect for both place and people. By incorporating materials from the original site and drawing inspiration from philosophies of repair such as kintsugi—the Japanese art of golden mending—the design embraces imperfection and renewal as part of its identity.
Connections extend beyond the physical space as well. Embedded QR codes link visitors to curated audio from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, allowing them to see and hear birdsong in new ways. In this sense, the refuge becomes both a local sanctuary and a living classroom, encouraging curiosity and empathy for the natural world.
For those who visit, the Seven Canyons Refuge offers moments of reflection, discovery, and play—an evolving space where children explore, families gather, and the community reconnects with the rhythms of the land. The renewed fountain and its surrounding elements stand as both a tribute and a promise: a continuation of Dr. Tanner’s original vision, realized through the artistry, craftsmanship, and dedication of OM Stone and the broader team, and grounded in the enduring relationship between people, stone, and water.
