The Pocatello Arts Council commissioned a site specific sculpture for the former Dudunake property directly adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce offices in historic Old Town.

On April 20, 2009, a beautiful and sunny spring day, Pocatello saw the installation of "Passage of Time," a stone and metal sculpture by artist Peggy Letterly Gunnerson. Our good friends from William Walker Monument Co. were there doing their usual excellent work. You can see photos of the sculpture installation at our online gallery (click here). A brochure produced by the artist explaining more about the sculpture and how it functions as a time piece is also available (click here for pdf file).

Some Project History

The process began last fall with a statewide call to all Idaho artists to submit proposals for a work of public art symbolic of Pocatello as the “Gate City.” On March 7, 2008, the selection was made by jurors representing both the arts council and members from community organizations. Ririe sculptor, Peggy Letterly Gunnerson, submitted the winning proposal.

Gunnerson has worked in many areas within the artistic domain and has concentrated on sculpting for the last ten years. Her public works include a 20 foot diameter sundial for Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich executive headquarters in Orlando, FL; a Bi-centennial Exhibit for the State of New Mexico; and, more recently, several “Art You Can Sit On” benches for the Historic Downtown of Idaho Falls.

Gunnerson writes that “the 'gate' sculpture proposed is site specific, designed to capture the historical arrival to the Snake River plain while reflecting the future of an innovative, progressive community.” As an artist, she sees her work as “both a portal and a visual representation of Pocatello’s specific location in relation to the Earth, the North Star, and time.”

Gunnerson has studied the science of “gnomonics” or shadow-casting to tell time. She continues, “The abstract, yet natural forms, originating from the concepts and relationships involved with 'time,' are intrinsically beautiful, rhythmic, and variable. They are also a means of bridging past and future, nature and technology. Therefore I propose to visually incorporate time as an aesthetic, functional element...the sculpture will be a monument demarking Pocatello specifically, an educational tool, and a community resource."

The sculpture incorporates both steel and Idaho travertine. The stone functions not only as an element of structural support and mass, “but also to represent the very real passage through the mountains to the plains that this sculpture and 'Gate City' symbolizes.”