ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS infuses Downtown Salt Lake with Color, Joy and Hope
by Melissa Fields
Tucked into a downtown Salt Lake City alleyway, just east of State Street and south of 200 South, is a colorful, new mural-like sculpture exuding joy, positivity and hope. ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS is the brainchild of visual and written artist, Dallas Graham, and was brought to life with the help of a creative group of “kid-laborators.” “The whole point of ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS,” Graham says, “is to make some good vibes.”
The ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS installation depicts six animal portmanteaus, or mashups, each pairing one thriving and one threatened native-to-Utah species: the yellow Cougyote (coyote + cougar), the red Spoizard (Spotted bat + Sagebrush lizard), the green Big Bumblehorn (Desert bighorn sheep + American bumblebee), the blue Feroose (moose + Black-footed ferret), the purple Butterbear (American black bear + Nokomis fritillary butterfly) and the black and white Skundor (striped skunk + California condor).
The idea for ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS grew out of two of Graham’s earlier projects. One is Red Fred Project, a book series he began creating more than a decade ago where he collaborates with children living in extraordinary circumstances (rare diseases and life-threatening illnesses) to publish their original stories. The other inspiration is “U R M<0> BST FRND,” a series of “freeform critters” Graham sketched and painted on wood panels and debuted in 2024 as a solo show at FICE Gallery. When a friend told Graham about THE BLOCKS’s Co-Create Program—a collaboration between artists and THE BLOCKS’s Arts District to bring bold, original ideas to life in downtown Salt Lake—Graham merged the creative spirit of the two projects to create ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS.
“The Co-Create partnership is the ultimate collaboration between a city-entity and an artist, both intent on bringing a sense of community and wonder to the community,” Graham says. “THE BLOCKS staff believed in my vision from day one and then walked beside me the entire time as we figured out how and where to make this massive installation.”
With a referral from his friend and Red Fred storyteller, Nathan Glad—author of the children’s book and Salt Lake Acting Company play, Climbing with Tigers—Graham partnered with Rich Ellis, founder of Mascot Miracles, creator of joyful experiences for children with a range of physical challenges, debilitating conditions, and life-threatening illnesses, to find five kid-laborators, age 6 to 18, to be part of the ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS team. A three-hour workshop between Graham and the Kid-laborators—Myles, Lucy, Navy, Baylor and Ezra—followed, with each kid-artist contributing to the six portmanteaus making up ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS. “I wasn’t looking at the kids’ technical skills, but for original ideas about how the animal portmanteaus should look,” Graham says. “They all did really well, and their original ideas are evident in each one of the six made-up animals now featured in the installation.”
Artist Dallas Andrew Graham
ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS was unveiled on September 25, 2025, which was also when the kid-laborators saw the completed project for the first time. “It was an awesome moment when they came around the corner and saw it,” Graham says. “Because of their circumstances, they get labeled differently than the rest of us. But they like to be known for their ideas and output just like the rest of us do. This project shows that art can be an expression of anybody and can include anybody.”
When you go, be sure to use the QR code printed on the wall at the base of the installation to send a selfie and message to the kid-laborators for publication onthe project’s Instagram page. Messages left so far include, “Thank you for taking the time to share your vision with us,” “Your art is awesome and will inspire thousands of people for years to come” and “Thanks you so much for sharing your wonderful creativity with me and the city!”
ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS will be up at least until March 2026. In the meantime, Graham is pitching his idea to other cities, hoping to spread ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS’ colorful message of creativity and inclusion elsewhere in the U.S., and possibly the world. “Children have a magical relationship with the outside world that I think as adults we still crave,” Graham says. “ABSLTY AMZNG ANMLS taps into that.”
