Public Art Links
- Posted by Mike Scullen on January 5th, 2007
Stacey Dyck from our City's Public Art Program scans the web for interesting developments in the world of public art and sends out a periodic email with her findings. Read more for her latest dispatch:
Artistic flair at airport amid greater security
Art is bringing levity to the Victoria International Airport.
With renovations to the terminal completed last year, and an expanding parking area in the works in 2006, the Victoria Airport Authority decided to add a little artistic flair with three major art projects to lighten the emotional load of weary travellers.
Public art competition releases short list of designs for utility hole covers for new streets in Regent Park
Two hundred and seventy-five people submitted nearly 600 designs to the Grounds For Art public art competition and today the short list of design proposals were released for viewing on the City of Toronto Culture website, www.toronto.ca/culture.
Tale of the tape
A giant bronze thimble and two concrete buttons: As works of art go, Stephen Cruise's Uniform Measure/Stack seems pretty well indestructible. But when you leave art in the open, anything can happen. That's what Mr. Cruise has learned as his public art piece at Spadina and Richmond has received a long-overdue finishing touch -- and an unauthorized addition in bright red paint.
Message in a 17th-story office window
Nina Katchadourian steps in front of the blue tourist telescope that’s part of “Office Semaphore,” her interactive, site-specific art installation that’s ending its two-month stay in the northeast corner of Chase Manhattan Plaza on Jan. 14.
Berd On a Wire
Millions of people see Browne’s art every day, which makes him one of the most exposed artists in Los Angeles. His work peppers the visual landscape of L.A. and is steadily eking its way up the coast to Santa Barbara, San Francisco and, now, New York. Browne doesn’t sign his pieces and they’re not for sale. He remains an anonymous public artist, biding time on the sidelines, gathering street credit and turning heads skyward while transforming the city into boundless gallery space, one telephone wire at a time.
Tracking public art a monumental task
"Pittsburgh likes to move its public art," said Renee Piechocki, who, with Ms. Donatelli and intern Stuart Naranch, has been helping the city get a handle on its total inventory.
"If people know of public art in their community, or have photos and dates of the installation or know who the artist was, or any information" relevant to the piece, "we want e-mails," said Ms. Piechocki.
Artists To Hash Out Ideas for Downtown Raleigh Plaza
Public art in downtown Raleigh didn't make it very far in 2006. The city hopes 2007 will be different, and members of the community will meet this week to brainstorm new ideas for a city plaza.
Artist Jaume Plensa's plan for the plaza had lots of lights and lots of critics. City Manager Russell Allen said it wasn't the right fit, and the City Council agreed.
'Gross Clinic' highlights art's place in city's life
The sale of the Thomas Eakins masterpiece The Gross Clinic, announced by Thomas Jefferson University six weeks ago, generated a spontaneous whirlwind of reaction and controversy around a central question - whether the city's cultural community could raise $68 million to keep the painting in Philadelphia. As it turns out, the money hasn't all been raised yet, but a deadline extension and financing option will allow the painting to stay here.
Although everyone concerned was probably fixated on the money, The Gross Clinic affair also threw into high relief the way people and institutions think about the way art fits into daily life.
Can city protect art treasures?
When the owners of Dream Garden, the showstopping mosaic in the lobby of the Curtis Publishing building, sought to sell their prize in 1998, the public controversy became so intense that the buyer, casino owner Steve Wynn, folded his hand and walked away from the deal.
He told his friend, then-Mayor Ed Rendell, that Philadelphia should have what it wanted so badly. Rendell promptly nominated Dream Garden to become the city's first certified "historic object."
Ultimately, after that designation and much litigation, the Pew Charitable Trusts stepped in with $3.5 million, allowing the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to acquire the mosaic in 2001. Dream Garden remains in the Curtis Building.
With art, money talks.
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Chinatown artwork prompts unusual public discussion
A brouhaha over new public sculptures on Northwest Davis and Flanders streets in Old Town/Chinatown has prompted an unusual public meeting to discuss and explain the works.
The full package has eight sculptures, but comment has focused on one at Northwest Fourth and Davis. Its use of a dragon and wok has rankled some Chinese residents and business owners.
College's "public art" class to dedicate outdoor mural today
Lipscomb University’s first “Art in Public Spaces” class is dedicating an outdoor mural from 4-5:30 p.m. today outside the lower level of the McFarland Science Building on the Lipscomb campus, 3901 Granny White Pike.
Come See Mesa Arts Center’s New Temporary Public Art Installation by Mary Consie December 16th
The Mesa Arts Center Temporary Installation program features two emerging Arizona artists each year who develop a site-specific piece for the campus to be displayed for approximately 4 months. The public is invited to watch as Mary Consie’s piece “The Stragglers” is installed this Saturday Dec 16 from 12pm-4pm.
Street art 1: The art of the streets
Radical artists have used public spaces to produce work that speaks to millions. Ben Windsor and Matthew Cookson look at the history and ideas behind their art.
Modern art in park challenges
This winter, the city of Winter Park has decorated its venerable Central Park with a different kind of holiday cheer: an installation of sculpture by seven world-class contemporary artists.
The city has declared this the "inaugural Art on the Green," timed to fill the span between Winter Park's two annual art festivals. It's an ambitious attempt at serious "public art" for a city justly reputed to be a bit stodgy.
Guest curator Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz has assembled works that range from massive to whimsical to downright quirky.
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Artworks stand alone as cameras lose perch
As suddenly as a pair of security cameras had appeared last month on Jaume Plensa's brightly lit glass-block towers at Millennium Park, they were gone Tuesday.
Anxiety over national security saw them installed atop one of Chicago's most visible public art installations. Uneasiness over their aesthetic impact had them removed.
Public art competition releases short list of designs for utility hole covers for new streets in Regent Park
Two hundred and seventy-five people submitted nearly 600 designs to the Grounds For Art public art competition and today the short list of design proposals were released for viewing on the City of Toronto Culture website, www.toronto.ca/culture.
The winning design from each of the three categories (sanitary, storm sewer, water valve) will be used to create custom-made utility hole covers that will decorate the new streets of Regent Park. The winning designs will be announced January 16, 2007 as part of a special exhibition of all 30 short listed proposals. The exhibition will run from January 16 to 21, 2007 at the Toronto Free Gallery, located at 660 Queen St. E. Each of the winning
designers will receive a cash prize of $1,800.
