A Welcoming Installation

›› What makes you feel welcome in the outdoors? This is the question that Sage Sullivan pondered as she submitted a proposal to create an art installation at the base of Steamboat Resort.

A community committee asked for submissions for murals, sculptures and interactive tech-based ideas from over 20 artists across North America last fall. The judges unknowingly landed on a local artist in selecting Sage, whose childhood in Steamboat Springs was infused in her art – even if the selection was made in a “blind review,” in which judges did not know the names of artists during their considerations.

Sage’s piece will permanently live at the main entrance corridor at the resort, welcoming guests from all walks of life. The sculpture, which is slated to be installed in November, is a bouquet of abstract wildflowers growing from aspen tree stems in a tipi shape. It was created from welded steel, epoxy resin and fiberglass.

While the installation celebrates the Yampa Valley in its truest form, much of the inspiration came from Sage's time away from Steamboat, when she worked in art at the Nomadics Tipi Shop in Bend, Oregon – coincidentally the makers of Steamboat Resort’s iconic tipi on Why Not.

“I’ve always been interested in Native art, but appreciation over appropriation,” she says. “That’s what Nomadics is all about. Then I find out these are the tipis I grew up eating cookies in during Trail Busters (a kids’ ski program for Steamboat locals). It felt really cyclical.”

The tipi style of Sage’s bouquet pays homage to the Indigenous people’s use of aspens for the construction of tipis and medicinal purposes to acknowledge that the land Steamboat Resort is located on belongs to the generations that came before. The aspens in the piece, with their tangled web of roots, represent the connection and community that is fostered in the valley.

The aspen “eyes” are made from old horseshoes donated by ranches across Routt County. The wildflowers, representing resilience and individuality, celebrate marginalized groups, Black, Indigenous, People of Color and the LGBTQ+ community. Their colors are the blues, purples, pinks and oranges of Steamboat’s iconic alpenglow.

“The more I show it to people, the more I hear, ‘Oh, it looks like this!’ or ‘It reminds me of this.’ Each time it’s something different and not something I’ve thought of,” Sage explains. “That’s exactly what I wanted people to do. I want them to find themselves in it.” ■

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