MOOSE SCULPTURES AT RED BUTTE

16

Strolling the Dumke Floral Walk at Red Butte Garden, absorbed in the sights and smells of the plants and flowers along the way, you almost miss them. But looking up, you realize that a moose and her calf are standing in the water, their heads turned toward you, plants hanging from their mouths. If the light is right, at first you might think they're real, that you've startled a cow and her calf as they feast on an aquatic snack in Red Butte Creek. But you relax as you realize they're sculptures—as is the bull watching from above, visible only by the antlers peeking above the trees and brush. For a moment, however, artist John Mortensen's sculptures (which also include a deer and her fawn, near the ornamental grasses) transport you to the wild. They're just another ingenious Red Butte method of offering visitors a most civilized walk on the wild side.

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