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"Broadly Appealing": where public arts meets personal practice
essay for module "arts project management", MA 'Arts in a Social Context'.
From Lisa Temple-Cox
COUNCILDATE
5/12/09
AGENDA ITEM
7A
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Olympia, WashingtonMay 12, 2009
Artist/Proposal Recommendations for “Here Today” __________________________________________________________________
CITY MANAGER’SRECOMMENDATION: Option 1. Move to approve public art design proposals for thetemporary summer public art program “Here Today,” asrecommended by the Olympia Arts Commission.ARTS COMMISSIONRECOMMENDATION: Option 1.STAFF CONTACT
: Stephanie Johnson, Arts & Events Manager, Parks, Arts & Recreation,sjohnso1@ci.olympia.wa.us, 709-2678
ORIGINATED BY
: The Olympia Arts Commission, Trent Hart, ChairSigne Feeney, Art in Public Places Chair
PRESENTERS ANDOTHERS NOTIFIED
:
Presenter:
Stephanie Johnson, StaffSigne Feeney, Art in Public Places Chair
Others Notified:
Olympia Arts CommissionConnie Lorenz, Olympia Downtown AssociationRecommended projects/artists:Casey FullerThemba Lewis and Sarah UtterWilfried Lippman and Readers Theater UnlimitedMary Nelson and RADCO (Random Acts of Dance Collective)Larissa PodzalineLisaNa Red BearJason TaelliousLeslie Zenz
ATTACHMENTS
BUDGET IMPACT/
SOURCE OF FUNDS
: $16,000 has been approved for this project from the Municipal ArtFund.
PRIOR COUNCIL/COMMITTEE REVIEW
: Funds for the project were approved in the 2009 Municipal Art Plan onJanuary 6, 2009.
BACKGROUND:
Through the
Here Today
Temporary Public Art Project, downtownOlympia becomes the venue for 8 projects of temporary public artduring the month of August. Physical sculptures and time-based/performance pieces capture the interest of visitors and citizensalike and allow viewers to see facets of our community through theeyes of local artists.This project is projected to meet various community needs:
•
Providing opportunity for local emerging artists to engage increating work in a public venue for public consumption. Inaddition, each artist will learn quite a lot about our organization,becoming community ambassadors about how our municipalityworks.
•
Bringing vitality to the downtown core during the summer (tourism)season, and bringing visibility to our community as an arts town.Past projects have brought press from areas as diverse as SeattleUniversity Magazine, as participating artists use the opportunity topromote their work in the project to their lists of contacts andassociations.The proposal for 2009 is again for the City to contract with 8 localartists to create site-specific temporary artwork in downtown Olympia.The work will incorporate visual, literary and performance disciplines,and will last anywhere from an hour or two to one month.
•
January 6, Municipal Art Funds approved for the project
•
March 10, 2009, A total of 15 applications were reviewed by a juryincluding Audrey Henley, Founder of Pioneer Music, TheaterManager of Capitol Theater, Jim Lynch, Author of
The Highest Tide
and Dana Squires, Artist and
Here Today
Alumni
•
March 12, Technical review of the recommended proposals wasconducted with the City’s Risk Assessment Manager. Approval hasalso been secured for projects proposed for downtown park spacemanaged by the State of Washington
•
March 12, 2009, The eight recommended proposals were reviewedby the Olympia Arts Commission. By unanimous vote, the proposalswere accepted and the motion made to move forward in theprocess
•
April 14-28, Public view of the proposals took place at The OlympiaCenterSynopsis of the eight proposed projects (in alphabetical order by artist)are as follows:
Proposal by Casey Fuller
As a time capsule into the view of a life lived in downtown Olympia,the artist proposes a public reading and distribution of a small bookletbased on 54 of the 365 anonymous postcards sent to the editor of TheOlympian over the past two years. A Do-It-Yourself art project, thepostcards consisted of poems, letters, flyers to rock shows, emails fromfriends and notes intended to provide the editors with a glimpse from aperspective differing from the regular reported news. Playful, serious,ridiculous, sad – the hand stitched, letterpress covered books will beavailable at a public reading and in multiple downtown locations.
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Olympia History Poster Project by Themba Lewis and Sarah Utter
Olympia is literally shaped by its history. From its earliest days, to thedredging of the sound to make heavy shipping viable, through earlypushes for women’s suffrage, to internationally renowned music andcurrent efforts for ecological preservation and sustainabledevelopment, Olympians have remained energetic contributors tocreating a city that is active and vibrant. In recognition of this history,the artists have proposed an installation of 10 letter pressed prints onview in several downtown locations the month of Augustchronologically exploring the extremely diverse and lesser-knownhistorical contributors that have informed life and landscape in thedowntown core.
Proposal by Wilfried Lippman and Readers Theater Unlimited
Entertaining audiences with funny plays, and showing that seniors arecapable of providing this sort of entertainment, the group ReadersTheater Unlimited plans eight performances throughout August for allaudiences involving a variety of humorous plays, ranging from a fewminutes to one half hour. When performing plays the readers arerestricted to a minimum amount of props and physical acting whilethey display emotions and actions mostly by facial expressions and therise and fall of their voices. Readers Theater Unlimited endeavors toperform a series of skits and plays in locations near the downtown coreand Percival Landing.
Umbrella Delight by Mary Nelson and RADCO (Random Acts of DanceCollective)
Working from the belief that dance is our native language and the baseupon which all other languages and arts are built, the artist proposestwo performances exploring the public spaces of Capital Lake andPercival Landing. Dancers will use natural body movements inspired bythe sounds and shapes of umbrellas. Emphasizing individual creativitywithin the framework of a cohesive dance group, the artist intends toinspire the viewers to realize their own limitless potential forspontaneous everyday creative movement and celebrate Olympia’s rainforest of “liquid sunshine”.
Proposal by Larissa Podzaline
Transforming a vacant lot of rocky soil to a magical garden filled withbirdfeeders, birds and song, the artist proposes creating a small groveof trees for the month of August in the former Department ofTransportation lot (now city-owned) on State Street. Composed of wirearmature covered with book pages to form the bark, the trees willmimic local trees – birches, cherry and dogwood. Mixed throughout thestand of manufactured trees will be a variety of birdfeeders to attractthe greatest variety of songbirds, refreshing people’s spirits and givingthem food for thought.
Beauty Swimskins by LisaNa Red Bear
Building on the coinciding of the Here Today timeframe with theSeason of Salmon’s return to waters of Puget Sound, the artist proposesan installation of 20 mosaic glass salmon arising from the waters ofCapitol Lake for the month of August. Designed to share the joy ofcelebrating beauty and sustainability with a community alreadyrespectful and observant of the gifts of Northwest Salmon, the artist
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| Upload Date: | 05/09/2009 |
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