Vision in the Desert: The Tree of Utah, a Sculpture by Momen

In Cooperation With the Utah Arts Council

Swedish artist and sculptor Karl Momen, while driving through Utah on Highway 80 en route to California, saw a "vision" of a Tree in the midst of that barren desert. He put his "vision" to art form and during 1982-1986 created an 87' high sculpture in that desert and called it The Tree of Utah. He then donated his "Tree of Utah" to the State of Utah.

Vision In The Desert, with 75 full color photos, tells the written and photographic story of the creation of Tree of Utah. A portion of the proceeds from this book, both hard and soft cover, are being donated to the State of Utah for the ongoing care of the sculpture, a project in cooperation with the Utah Arts Council.

Momen's Tree of Utah is located in the barren wasteland where the crew of the Enola Gay practiced their bombing runs before proceeding on to Hiroshima, and where members of the ill-fated Donner Party were tragically delayed before their awful demise in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is into this heroic and severe environment that Momen introduced his bold work. Ultimately it could be said that the Tree of Utah was created by an unlikely visitor from a foreign land, who, through his indomitable spirit and creative talent, paid a unique and unexpected tribute to the beauty of the Great Western Desert.

Herman Du Toit is head of audience education and development at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art in Provo, Utah. He has enjoyed an extensive career as an art educator, curator, critic, and writer, both locally and abroad. He is a former Director of the Durban Art School, and was head of the art education program at the University of Natal, in Durban, South Africa. His special interest in sculpture resulted in his curatorship of exhibitions that have featured some of the most renowned public sculptors in the United States.

An alumnus of Natal University in South Africa in the fields of art history, sculpture, and sociology of education, Herman Du Toit received his Ph.D. degree from Brigham Young University, in Utah. He was awarded a J. Paul Getty Doctoral Fellowship in 1996 for his research of educational and interpretive practices at some of America's leading art museums. He and his wife Sandy have four children and reside in Provo, Utah.