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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPAAC Agenda 7-6-17 Public Art Advisory Committee Thursday, July 6, 2017 3:30 PM Lobby Conference Room 410 E Washington St AGENDA Call to order Public discussion of any item not on the agenda Consideration of minutes of the May 4, 2017 meeting Update on Prairie Box installation at Black Hawk Mini Park – Nancy Bird Discussion regarding allocation of funding of the FY18 Public Art funds Committee announcements or Committee reports Staff reports Adjournment If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this program/event, please contact (name, host department) at (phone number, e-mail). Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. MINUTES PUBLIC ART ADVISORY COMMITTEE MAY 4TH, 2017 – 3:30 PM LOBBY CONFERENCE ROOM – CITY HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Sayuri Sasaki Hemann, Juli Seydell Johnson, Wendy Brown, Ron Knoche, Erin Fitzgerald, John Engelbrecht, Tam Bryk NOT PRESENT: STAFF PRESENT: Marcia Bollinger PUBLIC PRESENT: Stanzi Vaubel, Tammy Neumann, Chad Dyson, Betsy Potter PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was no public discussion of items not on the agenda. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES OF THE APRIL 6TH 2017 MEETING Engelbrecht moved to approve the April 6th minutes. Brown seconded the motion. PUBLIC ART MATCHING FUND DISCUSSION WITH VAUBEL The committee had a Skype conversation with Stanzi Vaubel regarding her project. The committee inquired about Vaubel’s interest in Iowa City. Vaubel explained her time spent in Buffalo changed her work to become very community based, whereas in Brooklyn, where she grew up, her work was never community oriented. Upon completion of a current project, she looked into working with other communities that had sympathetic approaches to art-making and community practice. She discovered PS1 and saw that it interfaced with the community the way she had in Brooklyn. She saw it as a way to build bridges and connect community art practices. Sasaki Hermann inquired if the outcome of the artist work depended on the community visited. Vaubel said yes, that the people involved transformed the work because of their interest, needs, and concerns dealing with the thematic structure as well as the desire to tie concepts back into their own community. Bryk inquired about past installations. Vaubel said she did iterations in Buffalo at the north campus and the art museum and that she had an upcoming week-long festival of music and dance. Brown asked if Vaubel planned to do it in other communities this summer. Vaubel said yes, at the Flint public art project in August, the Kaneko Art Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and that she was finalizing with the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival. Sasaki Hermann inquired at the start of each workshop, if the artist had a structure established or if the base materials were provided and then the structure was created. Vaubel said she brought structures to provide examples and also as a plan b, but that the focus of the workshop was creating the structures. Brown questioned the assembly of structures. Vaubel said they were held together with poly tape, a specific kind of adhesive tape. Fitzgerald inquired about the lighting element. Vaubel said there was a chance she had light utensils, but thought it was something to be brought by someone with that specific interest. Fitzgerald inquired about electricity. Vaubel said ideally there would be a generator to run a certain degree of power. Fitzgerald asked how long the structures would be established. Vaubel said the structures did not deflate easily and were resistant to collapse even when the power was shut off. Bollinger asked what happened with the structures after they were done being used. The artist said they would be kept in storage. Bryk inquired if this project was the artist’s thesis. Vaubel said, essentially it was part of her dissertation research. Bollinger said committee would make a PRELIMINARY decision after speaking with other applicants. Mercer STEAM wall Chad Dyson presented the project designed by Jo Myers Walker for installation at the Mercer Park Recreation Center. The work is a depiction of the actual recreation center with play, park and community themes throughout that would be very interactive for kids. Engelbrecht inquired about the desired life of installation. Dyson replied that the material was durable and projected a 15-20 year life span with maintenance and repair as needed. Fitzgerald inquired about structural logistics of the mural. Seydell Johnson replied it would be 18 inches wide, framed, secured to the wall, with the paint on the attachment rather than the wall. Sasaki Hemann inquired about the budget breakdown. Dyson said they did not have an itemized breakdown, but that the $5,000 would cover pay for the artist and cost for materials. Farmers Market Mural Tammy Neumann introduced a mural project to provide a visual buffer between the Chauncey Swan Parking ramp and the park due to the construction that was occurring. Neumann explained that the mural would be painted by the public during the upcoming downtown block party on June 24. She explained an artist would outline a mural, the public would be invited to participate through a paint by numbers idea, and the artist would make necessary modifications at the end. She explained they want to put out a call for local artists to tie into the idea of the farmers market being local and expected the mural to be on display at the location from late June until October, finding a more permanent location after the Farmers Market season ended. Sasaki Hemann inquired about the dimensions. Newman specified it would was 4 feet tall and 60 feet long. Brown inquired about the feasibility of project based on prior experience. Newman responded she had done a project like it before that was successful, but the key was to have the artist do the final touches. Brown asked if there would be volunteers present. Newman stated yes, just to make sure the colors were going in the right places. Sasaki Hemann asked Newman if she had approached the construction company about providing a budget. Neumann responded, yes she had, but financial assistance was denied. Bryk inquired about the pay for the artist. Seydell Johnson stated the $5000 listed, was the amount the artist had put down on the application. Sasaki Hemann clarified that the artist responsibilities consisted of design creation, mural outline, and final touch ups. Brown asked if the artist would be painting the mural twice essentially. Neumann stated no, that the artist would paint an outline, the community would paint the image, and the artist would do final touch ups. Brown asked how the community would know how to paint the mural. Neumann said possibly swatches or a guide sheet right next to the wall. She also stated the Downtown District was confident the mural would be finished the night of the block party, but if it was not, the Parks and Recreation Department would be available as a resource, drawing kids from the summer programming. Knoche asked where the mural would be placed. Neumann specified it would sit on the concrete, connected to the fence, with an added bar secured with bolts on top of the fence for extra stability, The committee then discussed the three applications to determine funding. Engelbrecht stated there was kinship between PS1 and Vaubel and that he liked how she answered every question. Brown inquired about how the project would get people to participate. Sasaki Hemann said through the downtown district and the promotion of PS1. Sasaki Hemann stated she liked that there were many levels of anticipation, such as the creation of the structure itself as well as the content of what happened in the structure as a way to participate. She concluded anyone walking by would go in and take a look, planned or unplanned. Brown asked Engelbrecht about a similar project PS1 hosted a while back. Engelbrecht replied it was a magnet; 1000 people came through. Seydell Johnson asked if it was part of the block party to which Engelbrecht replied yes. Seydell Johnson stated the entire intent of the block party was to have people interacting outside with a lot of unique opportunities. Knoche asked what matching funds were available. Bollinger stated that out of $8,000, $3,000 was committed and that for all three proposed projects $5,800 was requested. Sasaki Hemann asked if any money needed to be saved. Bollinger said there were only two time periods for call for matching funds and this was the second time period. She concluded that if the committee decided not to use it all, a decision would have to be made on what to do with the extra money. Bryk said she thought the committee needed to save some money in case any projects needed to be repaired. Bollinger responded that there was about $2,000 to $3,000 money set aside for that. Engelbrecht stated he had a problem with making an area look better after a construction company destroyed the park and being a multimillion dollar project couldn’t pitch $1,000 to help the mural. Bryk said the company was not the one to approach, but rather the developer. Sasaki Hemann stated it was an eye sore and that the mural was a good idea, but that the source of funding should not come from the public art committee. Knoche asked how this project was any different than the Washington Street project they funded last year. Engelbrecht said it was a problem that people were looking toward the committee as a band aid and didn’t think that the Washington Street project was that successful. Bryk agreed the committee couldn’t be a source to clean up construction areas. She stated she liked the idea, it was easy to accomplish by handing out paint by numbers ahead of time and that people would understand it, but really thought the developer or construction company needed to provide funding. Seydell Johnson said the mural would add to the farmer’s market atmosphere, which was a public gathering space and community event. Bryk stated she thought it could be a successful community project, but that she could do it and it wouldn’t cost $5,000. Seydell Johnson said the committee should leave the money part up to the Parks and Recreation Department, who would figure out what to do if there wasn’t quite enough money. She said she knows the project was controversial, but that it was a high visibility sight and would sincerely hope to replace it somewhere after. Brown liked the idea of seeing if they could make it last forever. Fitzgerald was concerned about the timeline. Seydell Johnson stated the Farmer’s Market had started already and the time line was based on the festival happening. Engelbrecht stated he wanted an outlined budget. Brown stated she was reluctant to do it without an artist already established. Fitzgerald said there were issues with the project, but that it definitely needed to happen. Knoche said that without an artist, he didn’t know how the project would come together. Seydell Johnson said she believed they had someone in mind. Fitzgerald suggested they tap into a younger artist who cares more about building a portfolio. Brown inquired how the process of finding an artist would work. Bollinger stated there shouldn’t be a formal call. Engelbrecht suggested the committee make a contingency plan. Engelbrecht motioned $2000 for Jo Myers Walker project at Mercer, $1900 contingent on Seydell Johnson and Thomas Agran, the Iowa City Downtown District Art Coordinator, coming up with an artist and a plan for the Farmers market mural, and $1100 to Vaubel. Knoche second. Motion passed unanimously. BLACK HAWK MINI PARK PROPOSAL Betsy Potter of the Iowa City Downtown District stated she was partnering with the City to program Black Hawk Mini Park for short term events and public art installations. She stated she had met with Hannah Givler, who was referred by Public Space One. Givler came up with three public proposals, which were narrowed down to two and presented to the committee. Potter stated their hope was that it wasn’t only a temporary public art installation, but that it served a purpose for the space and concluded that both proposals served as a shade structure. The women stated that the programming schedule was set, so the installations would fit around the programming. Bryk asked what temporary meant in terms of length of time. Potter responded from July to October, but this time frame had to be approved by the City Manager’s Office to overcome the 30 day limit rule for public installation. Bollinger asked if ultimately she needed the committee to say yes to both or just one or the other. The women said she was looking for opinions. The committee discussed both installations in the same space and how each contrasted. Bollinger asked if seating would be provided. Women said she has been speaking with an instructor from University of Iowa Design department, who has agreed to work with them to build wooden pieces that could be outside and foldable. Engelbrecht stated he liked both designs. Bryk said she did as well, however she saw no issues with the prairie box and red flags with the Triaxle. The committee agreed the Triaxle was a liability due to the moving structure and climbing risk. Potter stated she would tell Givler the news that they were moving forward with the Prairie Box and would be back with an update in June. Knoche motioned to recommend to the Iowa City Downtown District to move forward with the Prairie Box. Motion passed unanimously. SOUTHEAST JUNIOR HIGH MURAL PROPOSAL: The Committee discussed what had happened during the meeting at Southeast Jr. High and the disorganization that occurred. They discussed the need to make expectations more clear for next year and the need for a preliminary design and a final design. The committee decided the design was up to the students. STAFF REPORTS: Knoche stated that the art piece at the Iowa Avenue pedestrian bridge was owned by the City. Bollinger stated she spoke with the artist who did the stairs at College Green and that the artist was interested in restoring the piece. Bollinger mentioned Kidz Tent was approaching. Seydell Johnson motioned to adjourn. Knoche seconded. Motion passed. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned 5:32 pm. 5 Public Art Advisory Committee Attendance Record 2016 - 2017 Name Term Expires 3/3 5/5 8/4 9/15 11/3 1/5 2/5 3/2 4/6 Bodkin Bryk, Tam 01/01/19 O/E x x O/E x X x O/E O/E Brown, Wendy 01/01/20 -- -- -- -- -- -- x x x Engelbrecht, John 01/01/18 X x O/E X X X x x O/E Hemann, Sayuri Sasaki 01/01/18 X X X X X X x O/E x Erin Fitzgerald 01/01/20 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- x x Knoche, Ron X X X X X X x x x Seydell-Johnson, Juli X X X O/E x x x x x Key: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused --- = Not a member