Katy Trail Art
Photo Credit: Todora Photography LLC
Katy Trail Art partners with Dallas area museums, artists, art collectors and the community at large to expand the role of contemporary art around Dallas.
The Initiative borrows, commissions, and produces world-class art projects on and around the Katy Trail to inspire creativity, spark conversation, encourage self-reflection, challenge assumptions, foster community building, and promote civic ownership of the Katy Trail.
Gone (2022), by Carolyn Salas, located south of Knox/Armstrong entrances
Carolyn Salas’ sculpture Gone explores the complex relationship between abstraction, narrative, and feminine identity. Drawing from both ancient and modern influences, Salas' work simplifies the human form, from a lexicon of symbols and inspired by early Egyptian carvings. Her sculptures are both airy and commanding, constructed from multiple flat components that overlap and interlock, giving each piece depth and substance while their stark white surfaces allow them to subtly disappear into the surrounding space. This play between presence and absence invites viewers to consider the relationship between form and space in a dynamic, ever-changing way.
At the heart of Gone is Salas’ exploration of the symbolic power of the human body. This tension between strength and fragility reflects the dualities of feminine identity—softness and power, vulnerability and resilience. The work serves as a visual metaphor for womanhood as a precarious balancing act, with its fragile, shifting equilibrium suggesting the complexities and contradictions that define it.
Salas’ process is integral to the meaning behind her sculptures. Each piece begins as a hand-cut maquette made of foam core before being translated into larger metal forms that retain the spontaneous energy of her handwork. The angular, bent shapes of the final sculptures demonstrate an ongoing dialogue between intention and unpredictability. This method—combining sharp, flat elements with organic, flowing curves—mirrors the central theme of Gone: the fragility of time and the delicate tension between stability and the precarious nature of existence. By merging the historical with the contemporary, Salas’ work engages with the timeless and the fleeting, offering a profound reflection on the balance of feminine identity in an ever-evolving world.
About the Artist: Carolyn Salas was born in Hollywood, CA. She earned a BFA in sculpture from the College of Santa Fe and an MFA from Hunter College. She has attended residencies at the Abrons Art Center A.I.R. Space Program and The NARS Foundation, New York, NY; Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY; the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; and the Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM. She has also been a Chashama Studio Space recipient, and an Elizabeth Foundation Studio Program/Space awardee.
Salas was named a 2021 Artist-in-Residence at Google and commissioned by the United States Tennis Association and the Armory Show with Mrs. to create a new outdoor sculpture for the US Open, in 2022. Her work is currently on view in Synchronicities: Intersecting Figuration with Abstraction at the Bemis Art Center in Omaha, Nebraska. A solo exhibition of Salas’ work can also be viewed at New Mexico State University Art Museum, through the first of March, 2025. The artist has been represented by Mrs. since 2020.
This project has been made possible with the support of Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX and Mrs., Maspeth, NY.
Katy Trail Art 2025 Presenting Sponsor
Marilyn Lenox
Katy Trail Art Donors
Anonymous
Pat Baudendistel
Amy and Brandon Bean
Faisal Halum and Brian Bolke
J. Patrick Collins
Bela and Chase Cooley
Jennifer and John Eagle
Christina and Sal Jafar
Laura and Greg Koonsman
Kasey and Todd Lemkin
Marilyn Lenox
Ann and Chris Mahowald
Jessica and Dirk Nowitzki
Janelle and Alden Pinnell
Kelli and Allen Questrom
Cindy and Howard Rachofsky
John S. Relton
Ginny Searcy
Sewell Automotive Companies
Lindsay and Blake Shipp
Amanda and Charlie Shufeldt
UOVO: Art, Fashion, and Wine
Amy and Les Ware
Peggy and Mark Zilbermann
Donation Information
Katy Trail Art Overview
Katy Trail Art Overview by Friends of the Katy Trail
Art Donation Form
2025-2026 Art Donor Form by Friends of the Katy Trail
Art Selection Committee
Amanda Shufeldt, Co-Chair
Charlie Shufeldt, Co-Chair
Jennifer Eagle
Vivian Li
Jed Morse
Jessica Nowitzki
Janelle Pinell
Howard Rachofsky
John Runyon
Jeremy Strick
Peggy Zilbermann
