Sculptural Legacy Program
Intermountain Health
This proposal outlines a long-term sculptural initiative for Intermountain Health, developed from within the organization and grounded in the lived experience of practicing medicine.
The intention is not to represent medicine symbolically, but to reflect the reality of care as it is experienced over time.
Historically, the most enduring figurative works are not defined by heroism, but by presence.
The Burghers of Calais is a useful reference point. The figures are not elevated or idealized. They stand in a moment of weight and continuation, grounded in the reality of what they carry.
This proposal draws from that lineage—work that is human, specific, and recognizable without explanation.
PERMANENT INSTALLATION
The central idea is to create a body of sculptural work that reflects the physical and emotional reality of a life in medicine.
These initial sketches are not finished designs, but a way of establishing direction. The focus is on gesture, posture, and presence rather than symbolism or narrative.
A second direction explores a quieter moment, care expressed through proximity and attention.
The figure is oriented toward another presence, implied but not depicted.
This approach shifts the focus from identity to action. Not “physician” as a role, but care as a repeated and lived experience.
A permanent bronze installation, placed at a key Intermountain campus.
The figure would not represent an ideal, but a condition: standing, aware, and grounded.
The posture reflects continuity rather than culmination. It suggests a life spent in attention, responsibility, and care.
The work is intended to be immediately recognizable to those within medicine, without requiring explanation or interpretation.
LEGACY SERIES
In addition to a permanent installation, this proposal includes an ongoing series of smaller bronze works.
These would be presented to physicians at retirement or significant career milestones.
Rather than a fixed object repeated indefinitely, the series could evolve gradually over time—allowing each period to carry its own form while maintaining continuity across the institution.
The intent is to create something lasting and physical that acknowledges a life in medicine in a way that traditional forms of recognition cannot.
Over time, this initiative creates continuity across the system and reinforces a culture that values long-term commitment.
It establishes a visual and physical identity grounded in lived experience, rather than abstraction.
It offers a way to recognize physicians not only for what they have done, but for how they have lived their work.