“Salute” is a 2008 art installation by Kay Kirkpatrick, a former Boise State student. The work is a steel cutout of a soldier and serves as a veteran’s memorial to replace the one which was torn down in 1993. Kirkpatrick’s design for “Salute” won the commission from a pool of 4,000 applicants. Installed on the east side of the Student Union during renovations, the sculpture memorializes veteran contributions to our community and campus. The black, Columbia basalt columns behind the soldier’s silhouette represent each decade of Boise State’s existence, and the light colored flagstones at the base of the piece demonstrate soldiers’ origins from the ground up.
Written by Rachel Taylor, Summer 2019 intern