Looking Back: Revisiting the 2002 Olympic Exhibition

In 2002, Salt Lake City presented the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, hosting 2,500 Olympian athletes from across the globe. Though many associate the Olympics with athletic achievement, the arts have played an integral role since the ancient Olympic Games. The 2002 Winter Cultural Olympiad Arts Festival was founded to celebrate the accomplishments of Utah’s greatest artists.

In conjunction with the 2002 Arts Festival, the Springville Museum of Art hosted an exhibition celebrating 150 years of Utah’s art history. The featured artworks were carefully chosen by a team of art experts, using rigorous criteria to ensure diverse representation and superior quality. The final exhibition of over 300 works presented one of the most significant surveys of Utah’s art history ever compiled.

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Salt Lake City Olympics, we want to once again celebrate the achievements of Utah’s many artists, both living and deceased. This exhibition contains a small selection of the artworks originally displayed in 2002.