Summit County’s Newest Public Art Piano at Kamas Library

The latest Summit County art piano is currently in production! Artist Michael Calles has just started work on the Chase upright piano at the Summit County Library - Kamas Valley Branch.  

As a longtime lover of landscapes and wildlife of the West, Michael plans to paint a landscape with a doe and buck pronghorn from Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area on the front panel. The back panel will depict a bear in the Bear River Mountains in Cache County. The side panels will showcase portraits of native Utah wildlife  including deer, moose, and mountain lions. 

Originally from the Northeast, Michael has always loved the West. After completing his studies at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Old Lyme CT, he packed his bags and came West. He lived and painted in and around Wyoming and fell in love with painting landscape and wildlife. He went on to receive a Bachelor's degree and Masters of Fine Arts from Utah State University and continued to study wildlife work of Wilhelm Kuhnert, Carl Rungius, Bob Kuhn and more. Michael expresses, "I'm excited to be apart of this project because it brings art, nature, and music together. Music and nature are where I derive my inspiration from and I hope someone can get their inspiration from my work as well." More of Michael’s work can be seen at MichaelCalles.com.

Once complete, the playable piano is available for anyone to play and is one of six Art Pianos managed by the Summit County Public Art Advisory Board. The program seeks to bring back the piano as a centerpiece of music, community, art and fun in Summit County, UT. Artist decorated pianos are placed in public areas to be played and enjoyed by all. The other pianos are located at the Kimball Junction Transit Center (Artist Kylie Millward), in the lobby of the South Summit Aquatic Center in Kamas (Artist Sonny Luca), outside the entrance to the Summit County Library on Ute Blvd. (Artist Renee Mox Hall), the front lobby of Coalville City Hall (Artist Camille Vernon), at Newpark Resort & Hotel (Artist Nathan Florence), and at Ledges Event Center (Artist Sally Neilson). 

In the next few weeks, every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, you can find Michael painting the Chase upright piano in the main foyer of the Kamas Library.