The Salt Lake Art Show will Make its Inagural Debut this May

Photo: Peak Art Fairs

Mountain Living sits down with Briana Dolan, COO and Co-Founder of Peaks Art Fairs, to learn more about one of the region’s most exciting upcoming cultural events. Alongside CEO and Founder Kevin O’Keefe, Dolan is helping bring the Salt Lake Art Show’s 2026 edition to life — running May 14–17 at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, Utah.

Photo: Peak Art Fairs

ML: What inspired Peaks Art Fairs to launch the Salt Lake Art Show, and why did you choose Sandy, Utah as the location for this inaugural event? 

BD: What started in Reno as the Reno Tahoe International Art Show was inspired by two major factors, strangely enough, both related to COVID:

1. The pandemic spurred the movement of many affluent people, primarily from the Bay Area, into Reno Tahoe, changing the landscape of the region dramatically in a very short period of time. (We, too, each moved from the East Coast to Reno in 2020).
2. With so much change occurring globally, both in physical movement and mindset, we saw an opportunity to anchor a significant annual event with the power to, over time, replace some of the negative stereotypes surrounding Reno with positive, art-centric momentum. Taking inspiration from the influence of events like SXSW in Austin and Art Basel in Miami, we aimed to position Reno Tahoe as a nationally recognized center for arts and culture.

In the process of carrying out this vision, we developed a very new, disruptive model of fine art fair that focused on the community first to create an event that the locals could be proud of, and take ownership of, and that those visiting from a distance could experience, in one weekend, just what that region’s Arts & Culture was all about. That model is something we are very passionate about and that we feel confident will work well in Utah.

Salt Lake City is a much larger and much more established market that is easy to travel to, very supportive of the arts, extremely affluent and, amazingly, contains the most professional artists in the country per capita. For us personally, we saw a lot of similarity in the geography of the city with the Park City-SLC / Tahoe-Reno connection, which helps with trying to understand the potential growth of an event like this. We were encouraged to launch the show in Sandy as a middle ground for Salt Lake City, Park City, Provo and beyond.

Photo: Peak Art Fairs

ML: The show features six distinct segments, including Galleries, Utah Treasures, Sculpture, First Nations, Indigenous Peoples and Bespoke Furniture. Can you walk us through what attendees can expect from each, and which segment you’re most excited about for this first year?

BD: The Peaks model is very unique in that we are presenting a diverse array of exhibitors in an environment where they typically wouldn’t be shown together. The wide range of mediums and price points creates a sense of inclusion- not just on the exhibitor side, but also for attendees who may be entering this kind of fine art experience for the first time. The Salt Lake Art Show will be a very colorful event, with each segment called out by a different color.

The Galleries are in the front of the show along with several key features, including the presentations from each participating university (UU, UVU & BYU), a showcase by Springville Museum and the Ageless Masterworks presenting art and design from across several centuries. The main walking aisle through the fair doubles as a major indoor Sculpture Walk where we have 3D works of all scale, including major 20-30’ large-scale works similar to the ‘Post-Playa’ Burning Man feature we have in Reno.

Utah Treasures and Studios & Collectives will present over 100 independent artists and collectives from the state of Utah, the country, and several coming from abroad. The First Nations Indigenous Peoples pavilion includes some of the most celebrated Native artists, primarily of western tribes, exhibiting fine art, sculpture, ceramics, woven arts and jewelry. The bespoke furniture is a segment of the fair that we are particularly excited about and anticipate growing significantly in 2027, here exhibitors are presenting custom one-of-a-kind furniture, lighting and functional arts, which is ideal for the explosive custom luxury home development taking place across the state of Utah.

Artist: Tänd Unmechanized

ML: The Bespoke Furniture segment is particularly intriguing for our readers — tell us more about the sustainable furniture made from fallen trees in the western mountain ranges. Who are some of the makers we can look forward to seeing?

BD: As former EVP of Emerald Expositions, Kevin ran a major fair in Manhattan called ICFF- International Contemporary Furniture Fair. He has worked directly with designers and makers from around the world creating one-of-a-kind pieces in the furniture, lighting and functional art space.

Bespoke furniture was a natural addition to the Peaks model, especially considering the demand for custom furnishings within luxury home development and design, which is happening in a big way all over the state of Utah. Attendees will find a wide range of bespoke furniture and lighting, from unique kinetic tables and chandeliers from Sisyphus Industries, large-scale live edge tables from Live Edge Slabs of Utah and welded works by Heather Sallen to architectural lighting pieces by tänd studio and custom wood record players by Streamline HiFi.

Salt Lake Art Show logo by Caro Nilsson

ML: The show’s logo was created by Salt Lake City muralist Caro Nilsson, whose paintings are poems about the land. What does it mean to have her art set the visual tone for a show?

BD: Caro is an incredibly talented artist and a wonderful person who cares deeply for her home and her creative community. We are honored to have her work represent this first launch into Utah and look forward to having her exhibiting at the show and creating a mural onsite as well.  

Photo: Peak Art Fairs

ML: For someone attending for the first time, what’s the best way to experience the Salt Lake Art Show across the four days — from the VIP Preview Evening on May 14 through the final day on May 17?

BD: The opening night VIP Preview is a fun kick-off event featuring beautiful live music, dance performances and an opening ceremony by Oaxaca En Utah. It is a ‘first look’ opportunity for collectors and a not-to-be-missed celebration of the Salt Lake arts community and everything that went into making the fair come together.

That energy carries into all the days of the fair, with Friday serving as primarily a professional day for interior designers, architects and art consultants and the weekend days heavy with family-friendly activities including kids dance classes by Tanner Dancer and craft activities for all ages by Pioneer Theater and the participating universities.

We also have several workshops, panels and keynote speakers scheduled through the fair, with topics ranging from the Art of Theater and Design, Architecture and the Art Convergence to Inspired Arts and the Art of Collecting: Rare Objects and Literature. All workshops, Talks and activities will have required pre-registration so attendees can decide in advance how they’d prefer to spend their time on the show floor.