Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
LINDON — When Eric Dowdle visits your town, you might be amazed by what he will learn and create with that knowledge. You may even wonder if you will find yourself in what many are calling the "Where's Waldo" of cities and towns.
From Logan to Santa Clara, Park City to Beaver, and many towns in between, Dowdle has taken brush to canvas to create a visual representation of each with the goal of giving back to what he sees as the backbone of America.
Dowdle is the founder and master painter at Dowdle Folk Art Studios in Lindon, and for over 30 years, he has been painting towns and turning them into puzzles. For the past 13 years, however, he has embarked on a project to prepare to celebrate America's 250th birthday in 2026 by painting towns in each of the states. He said he has committed the first year of this celebration to Utah.
"Some of these towns I would have never really gone to had it not been for this project," Dowdle said.
The artist explained that the city pays for the puzzle and he makes sure that it is greatly involved in what goes in it. The city is then presented with a 32-by-40-foot puzzle at an unveiling ceremony and then is given an exclusive right to sell the jigsaw puzzles at City Hall, with each town standing to profit financially.
"With the sales of all the puzzles, the city profits $25 to $50,000, but that's not the only benefit," Dowdle explained. "A puzzle takes anywhere from three to 10 hours to complete; and if you have 5,000 residents completing individual puzzles, you do the math and you're looking at 80,000 hours of engagement with your city. So as far as overall conversation and advertisement and celebration, a puzzle will give you more time and more interaction with your city than anything else. … And when the city comes together at an unveiling, it becomes something that the whole city is involved in. They all love it!"
On June 7, Payson was presented with its puzzle. State Rep. Doug Welton, a former Payson city councilman, was at the unveiling and spoke highly of the puzzle and overall experience.
"The amount of detail and history crammed into a Dowdle puzzle is amazing," Welton said. "It's a little like 'Where's Waldo?' as you search through all the Easter eggs in the puzzle. … It all brings back so many memories. For me, the 'Footloose' references, Sunday band concerts, the old library building on Main Street and sledding at the old Peteetneet Elementary School stand out the most.
"The unveiling was so much fun," he continued. "It created and reinforced the strong sense of community we have in Payson. It was fun to celebrate and recognize the stalwarts of our community that have helped create the tapestry of who we are, but rarely get the recognition they deserve. … It was fun to watch people gather around and point out gems in the puzzle that brought back memories."
These puzzles are a way to show that there's no missing pieces, everybody matters, and we really celebrate the individual.
–Eric Dowdle, artist
The way Welton described the overall experience of the puzzle and unveiling is exactly what Dowdle said he has hoped for.
"These puzzles are a way to show that there's no missing pieces, everybody matters, and we really celebrate the individual," Dowdle said. "It's also a way to celebrate creativity because freedom, to me, equals creativity. … Creativity is what I believe, as a country, we're blessed to have. If you're free, you create. … It's at our core."
It's that freedom of creativity and of showcasing the uniqueness of each town that Dowdle plans to continue to do as long as he can.
For more information on how to get your town involved, Dowdle said to send an email to Hello@dowdlestudios.com. His puzzles can be found at dowdlefolkart.com. Dowdle is also the subject of the HBO series, "The Piece Maker."
