Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 - Art In Public Places Board - Work Plan ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2021 Annual Report 202 1 ANNUAL REPORT Page 1 2021 SNAPSHOT • Supported equity and inclusion practices: APP translated the first four calls to artists into Spanish and expanded promotion to community groups. • Completed 48 murals: 29 transformer cabinets (including 2 neighborhood murals), 12 pianos, 4 traffic boxes, one irrigation box, and 2 temporary bridge murals. • Created 14 granite Pedestrian Pavers sandblasted with youth drawings to be placed in City sidewalks. • Collaborated with Loveland Art in Public Places on Northern Colorado Law Enforcement Training Center art and with the Gardens on Spring Creek on a temporary art installation. • Accepted donation of The Hand That Feeds sculpture by Frank Garza. The APP goals and projects align with the City of Fort Collins key outcome areas: BACKGROUND Art in Public Places Board meetings started in July of 1995 because it was recognized that art is vitally important to the quality of life and an economic driver in the community . Meetings are held the third Wednesday of each month at 3:30 p.m. at The Lincoln Center. Due to COVID-19, meetings in 2021 were held virtually via Zoom. Members who served in 2021 were Miriam Chase, Sabrina Davies, Gwen Hatchette, Carol Ann Hixon, Kirsten Savage, Michael Short, and Sara Wade. Kirsten Savage served as Chairperson and Sabrina Davies served as Vice-Chair. PURPOSE The city recognizes that art is vitally important to the quality of life in the community. • Encourage and enhance artistic expression and appreciation. • Add value to the community through acquiring, exhibiting, and maintaining public art. High Performing Government Neighborhood Livability and Social Health Environmental Health Acumen by Mark Aeling and MGA Sculpture Studio Parkwood East Rocks! by Kristen Vohs, with neighborhood volunteers ClimateWise Murals by Gale Whitman ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2021 Annual Report 202 1 ANNUAL REPORT Page 2 GOALS • Enrich the public environment for residents and visitors through the visual arts. • Increase public access to works of art. • Promote understanding and awareness of the visual arts in the public environment. • Promote a variety of artistic expressions in the community. • Contribute to the community’s civic pride in its cultural diversity. APP BOARD AND STAFF • Advise City Council on projects and programs relating to public art, design, education, aesthetics, and APP funding. • Review and make recommendations to City Council on all APP projects and City art donations. • Generate ways to promote APP initiatives and mission. • Share best practices with other local and national agencies on the APP processes and projects. • Support the implementation of the FoCo Creates: Arts and Culture Master Plan. The APP artist collaborates with the project design team early in the process to integrate the art concepts with the project goals. This collaborative approach is a model for public art programs across the country. COMPLETED PROJECTS City Park Refresh, Phase I – Fort Collins artist Lisa Cameron Russell’s sculpture Western Snowberry Patch (right) is placed in the planting bed near the new restroom in City Park. The three-paneled metal sculpture celebrates the native vegetation found in City Park. ClimateWise 20th Anniversary Murals – Artist Gale Whitman created murals for three traffic boxes along the Mason Street Corridor (image on page 1). As a collaboration between the City’s ClimateWise program and Art in Public Places program, this project—through Gale’s murals—highlights the ClimateWise mission, the connection of the program to our unique city, and celebrates the 20-year anniversary of ClimateWise. Western Snowberry Patch by Lisa Cameron Russell ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2021 Annual Report 202 1 ANNUAL REPORT Page 3 Drake Water Reclamation Facility – Fort Collins artist Todd Kundla's sculpture Reclamation (top right) represents the inputs and outputs of the reclamation process at the Drake Water Reclamation Facility. Several hundred feet of decommissioned 4” steel pipe, from the reclamation facility, were reconfigured into a labyrinthine weave of steel conduits. This recovery of resources mirrors what is taking place on the inside of the facility. Gardens on Spring Creek Temporary Art Installation – Mountain Wildwoods: The Resilient Beauty of Juniper Trees is a temporary art installation by Montana artist Tom Benedict, through February 12, 2022, at the Gardens on Spring Creek (bottom right). The sculptures are carved from dead twisted Rocky Mountain juniper trees harvested by the artist in Montana. The trees likely lived for over 500 years before falling to the same elements of nature that caused them to twist and contour. To create his sculptures, Tom Benedict carves away the exterior of weathered wood exposing the tree's core. Harmony and Strauss Cabin Roads Traffic Cabinet Mural – A joint project between Engineering and a sponsorship from the adjacent development, Fort Collins artist Chelsea Ermer was selected to paint a mural on the traffic box at this intersection. Hoffman Mill Road Fueling Center –Fort Collins artist Shawna Turner created a mural attached to the fence behind the fuel pumps. It shows the foothills in the background and sunflowers in the foreground. These are separated by a band of mobile blue acrylic disks attached to the fence representing the shimmering Cache la Poudre River. Northern Colorado Law Enforcement Training Center – The prehistoric Ammonite, an ancient ancestor to the Nautilus that is found in fossilized remains all over the Front Range of Colorado, was selected by Florida artist Mark Aeling, as the inspiration for this work. The Ammonite chambers increase in size exponentially as it grows. Acumen (image on page 1) creates a visual metaphor between the Ammonite growth process and the intensive training methods required to develop exceptional law enforcement professionals, the purpose of Northern Colorado Law Enforcement Training Center. This is a joint project with the City of Fort Collins and City of Loveland Art in Public Places programs. Reclamation by Todd Kundla Tom Benedict’s artist presentation at the Gardens on Spring Creek ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2021 Annual Report 202 1 ANNUAL REPORT Page 4 Pedestrian Pavers – Since 2002, the APP program has been working with the Engineering and Streets Departments to incorporate granite pavers sandblasted with drawings by youth aged from 3 to 18 into City sidewalks. In 2021, fourteen selected drawings were installed, for a total of 272 pavers. Pianos About Town – Pianos were rotated to 16 locations in 2021. Due to COVID-19, the number of locations was limited in 2021. The Art in Action component of the program continued with 10 artists painting piano murals under the tent on Mountain Ave. and 2 artists painting inside at Foothills. The program has painted a total of 145 piano murals. Temporary Bridge Murals – Based on the success of the Transformer Cabinet Mural program, APP launched a new temporary mural program to help mitigate graffiti on concrete bridge walls (above right). Two bridges were identified by the City’s Engineering department and painted this year by Fort Collins artists Susannah Franklin and Cynthia Danielle. They will be repainted in the future when the murals deteriorate. Transformer Cabinet Murals – Local artists painted murals on 29 cabinets in 2021. This project has a high success rate in mitigating graffiti, saving the City money in abatement costs. Visitors to the area seek out the murals as they tour the City, contributing to the City’s economic development. In 2021, APP completed their first two Neighborhood Cabinet Murals. Artists worked with residents to create the murals near where they live. Artists have painted 377 transformer cabinets in the 16 years of the Transformer Cabinet Mural project. Traverse Park – Fort Collins artist Joe McGrane created Neighborhood Hammock (above right) as a social gathering space located next to the loop trail in the new Traverse Park. It is a sitting and lounge space to view the tree canopy and sky. Willow Street Plaza Utility Cabinet Mural – Fort Collins artist Beth Lighthouse painted a mural on an irrigation cabinet at the northwest corner of Willow and Linden Streets. Cottonwood Stream by Susannah Franklin (in progress) Neighborhood Hammock by Joe McGrane ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2021 Annual Report 202 1 ANNUAL REPORT Page 5 COLLABORATIONS • In its 12th season, Pianos About Town is a partnership with Bohemian Foundation and the Downtown Development Authority, and is administered by APP. • The 100th painted piano from Pianos About Town is currently on view at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery. • APP partnered with the Poudre River Library District to offer a walking tour of downtown as part of their Know Your City Series. • APP partnered with the Poudre River Library District to host a 10th Anniversary Celebration for the Rafael López mural in the Civic Center Parking Structure. • Fort Collins and Loveland public art programs collaborated on the public art project at the shared Northern Colorado Law Enforcement Training Center. • APP partnered with the Front Range Forum senior’s group to offer two walking tours of Downtown. • APP was interviewed by the Downtown Development Authority for its Art Talk series. • APP worked with the Downtown Development Authority to create a map of Public Art Downtown to enjoy during the monthly First Friday ArtWalk. • APP partnered with Larimer County's Event Complex and the Light and Power Utility to have artist Kristen Vohs paint a Transformer Cabinet Mural at the fairgrounds during the Larimer County Fair. • APP collaborated with Neighborhood Services to complete the first two neighborhood transformer cabinet murals. DONATIONS • Donated by the Mujeres de Colores, The Hand That Feeds sculpture was placed at Sugar Beet Park in an integrated plaza project paid for by the donors and designed by Park Planning & Development. The bronze sculpture, by artist Frank Garza, celebrates the history of the Hispanic and Mexican people who came to work in the sugar beet fields. The Hand that Feeds by Frank Garza ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2021 Annual Report 202 1 ANNUAL REPORT Page 6 CURRENT AND ONGOING PROJECTS Twenty-five projects are currently in progress including annual projects. Two of these projects are in fabrication. These projects are usually developed in conjunction with a larger construction project, so the art project timeline coincides with the construction timeline. All these projects have an artist working with the project design team to develop concepts that meet the goals of the project. • Bucking Horse Park and East Park Maintenance Facility • Drake Water Reclamation Facility • Glenmoor Pond Enhancements • Grandview Cemetery • Homestead Flood Marker • Laporte Bridges • Linden Street Improvements • North College, Bus Shelter and Canal to Hwy 1 • Oak Street Stormwater Improvements • Parking Structures • Power Trail and Harmony Road Crossing • South Timberline Road Widening • Stream Rehabilitation • Taft Hill Road Widening • Utilities Public Artist-in-Residence • Utilities Scavenger Hunt • Utilities Service Center Renovation • Vine Drive and Lemay Ave. • Water Treatment Facility Entryway • Water Treatment Facility Utility Cabinet Murals • West Elizabeth Improvements ANNUAL PROJECTS • Bridge Graffiti Mitigation Murals • Pedestrian Pavers • Pianos About Town • Transformer Cabinet Murals COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS APP staff gave in person and virtual presentations to community groups, including CSU Key Civics/CityWorksEdu Class, Front Range Forum, and Kiwanis. OUTREACH APP staff members continue to give support to private businesses in the community: • Staff provided information on acquiring art and facilitat ed contact with artists. • Staff promot ed APP projects to the community prior, during, and after installation with signs on site, and information in newsletters, online, and on social media. ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2021 Annual Report 202 1 ANNUAL REPORT Page 7 • Staff organized and hosted open houses for artists interested in submitting proposals to Pianos About Town and the Transformer Cabinet Mural Project. • APP website has information and images of project downloadable maps and walking tours. New online tours were added to the website this year. • Staff provided information to communities across the country, including Aims Community College, Greeley, CO ; Chipping Norton in The Cotswolds, UK; Provo, UT; Quad Cities, IA/IL; and Verona, WI. MAINTENANCE The program continued to use its artistic expertise and communication with the artists to maintain the APP collection. PUBLICITY • APP Brochures – APP promoted the program and the Transformer Cabinet Mural Project with brochures at the Visitor’s Centers downtown and at Prospect and I-25, the Lincoln Center, and available on the APP website. • City News – The program was featured multiple times in this online newsletter. • Facebook – The Pianos About Town Project invited the community to participate with @PianosAboutTown. APP projects were included on the City and The Lincoln Center Facebook pages. • fcgov.com/artspublic – The APP website continued to be updated with new projects, project descriptions, and current calls for art and artists. Additional public art tours were added to the website this year. • Instagram – The Visual Arts department page @focoart features public art projects. Pianos About Town is featured @PianosAboutTown. • Local Publications – The Fort Collins Coloradoan and Collegian printed various photos and articles of APP Projects throughout the year. • Natural Areas Explorer – The annual publication showed images and shared details about APP Projects in the Natural Areas. • Neighbors magazines – Staff contributed a series of articles for the local publications that are distributed through various Home Owner’s Associations. • Web – The local community and visitors to Fort Collins continued to include stories on APP projects in their blogs, websites, and on YouTube. 2021 APP PROJECT MAP View online at: http://bit.ly/APP-Projects Power Trail and Harmony Crossing Utilities Public-Artist in Residence and Scavenger Hunt