Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Salt Lake City's whale sculpture gained a new addition: a miniature replica.
- Michael Claflin, the creator, was surprised by the replica's widespread online attention, saying he made it just for fun.
- The whale's lore continues with new homages and a forthcoming mural redesign.
SALT LAKE CITY — Since leaping out of a roundabout for the first time in 2022, residents and visitors alike have left all sorts of trinkets next to Salt Lake City's beloved whale.
People have left Swedish Fish, cans of tuna and a photo of Jimmy Carter over the years for a variety of reasons. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall once even left a Utah Jazz shirt at the base of the 23-foot sculpture in hopes that the whale could help the team win the NBA lottery.
However, a miniature version of the official "Out of the Blue" sculpture may have sparked the most online fervor out of anything left behind over the past four years.
Many posted photos online about the tiny version that appeared out of the blue sometime last week. One person came to the 9th & 9th neighborhood to write a small message in chalk, calling it a "miracle."
"It's the baby we didn't know we needed, but somehow will bring us closer together," another person wrote online.
Michael Claflin, of Salt Lake City's Sugar House neighborhood, is more mystified by how his little creation sparked such a wide response.
"To be honest, I'm just as shocked as everyone else is. ... I just made it on a whim," he told KSL on Monday. "I just thought it would be funny to make a miniature whale."
Claflin has an appreciation of art, having taken art classes in high school and worked at an art gallery before. He had also dabbled in making it himself, making little sculptures that he'd post on his TikTok account as a hobby.
When Stephen Kesler's whale was unveiled, featuring "Point of Reference," Mike Murdock's mural design, Claflin was mesmerized. It rekindled his love of whales, which he has always found fascinating, as well.
So, one day two years ago, he decided to build his own whale replica for the fun of it, paying homage to the original. He still doesn't know why he decided to do it, referring to a theme in Rick Rubin's "The Creative Act," where someone may not know why they're creating something.
"I really don't know what possessed me to do it, to be honest," Claflin said, with a chuckle.
It sat around in his home for a while, almost ending up in the garbage a few times. When he lost his job last month, he decided to top it off with a close enough paint job to Murdock's original design, with paint lying around his home.
Claflin imagined it would be a humorous decoration for his front yard at the beginning, but he paraded it around at one of the latest "999" rides instead, where others weren't amused or at least as amused as he had hoped.
Dejected, he placed it somewhere on the outskirts of the city, hoping that it could delight anyone who came across it in an even more surprising place to find a whale within a desert. Then, something mysterious — or miraculous — happened.
His whale replica ended up at the base of "Out of the Blue," appearing as if Salt Lake City's whale had given birth to an equally colorful calf. He was out of town and scrolling through Facebook on Friday when he came across a KSL post about the whales standing side by side.
It's unclear who came across the whale replica or why they decided to leave it by the mother whale, but Claflin was delighted by the reaction. He's thrilled that many found it entertaining, even if others didn't, and that it unintentionally added a new chapter in the whale's mythology.
"If anything, I'm glad people have had a good reaction to it," he said. "I feel like just to be a part (of the lore) is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing, honestly, because I love Salt Lake City. It's such a cool place, and that whale is so iconic, so building some of that lore is pretty cool."
I think it just speaks about the impact of the piece and how much people really relate to it.
–Renato Olmedo-González, public art program manager for the Salt Lake City Arts Council,
Renato Olmedo-González, public art program manager for the Salt Lake City Arts Council, which commissioned the whale, said it's heartwarming to see the many ways people have adopted the sculpture over time.
The baby whale joins other unique homages, like "The Whaleathon" challenge or a whale-themed Red Bull soapbox car, that have emerged in recent years.
"I think it just speaks about the impact of the piece and how much people really relate to it," he told KSL.
The mini whale was still next to "Out of the Blue" on Monday, though it's unclear how long it will be there. All the little trinkets and offerings, including the Jazz shirt, eventually end up being removed in the roundabout during regular cleanups led by the city's public lands department.
The whale itself is slated to receive a new mural design this summer. The arts council has selected an artist, whom it plans to announce alongside a new design in the coming weeks.
While Claflin is sad to see Murdock's design go, he knows the whale's design will continue to do what drew him to "Out of the Blue" in the first place — and what he hopes his amateur design invokes.
"Whoever paints it will bring a whole new meaning to it," he said. "I'm excited to see what that is and the conversation it sparks. That's kind of the point of art, in my opinion."
