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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018 - Art In Public Places Board - Annual ReportART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2018 Annual Report 2018 ANNUAL REPORT Page 1 BACKGROUND Art in Public Places Board meetings started in July of 1995. Meetings are held the third Wednesday of each month at 3:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Center. Members who served in 2018 were Miriam Chase, Sabrina Davies, Gwen Hatchette, Carol Ann Hixon, Kirsten Savage, Renee Sherman, and Michael Short. Miriam Chase served as Chairperson and Kirsten Savage 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 Fort Collins community through acquiring, exhibiting, and maintaining public art. Goals: The principal goals of the app program are to: 1. Enrich the public environment for residents and visitors through the visual arts. 2. Increase public access to works of art. 3. Promote understanding and awareness of the visual arts in the public environment. 4. Promote a variety of artistic expressions in the community. 5. Contribute to the community’s civic pride in its cultural diversity. APP Board and Staff • Develop collaborations and outreach. • Advise and make recommendations for changes to rules, regulations, guidelines, policy, and administrative and budgetary matters pertaining to the APP Program. • Advise City Council on projects and programs relating to public art, design, and aesthetics related to the City. • Review and make recommendations to City Council on all APP projects and art donations to the City. • Share best practices with other local and national agencies on the APP processes and projects. • Review the APP art collection to consider deaccession for specific pieces. • Promote the program with the APP website, marketing opportunities, and project maps. ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2018 Annual Report 2018 ANNUAL REPORT Page 2 The APP goals, projects, and Work Plan align with the City of Fort Collins key outcome areas: COMPLETED PROJECTS College and Horsetooth Intersection – Fort Collins artist Tim Upham’s Horsetooth Towers is a series of light towers created with stainless steel frames and a river rock gabion bases that act as beacons on the Canal Bridge on Horsetooth Road. These vertical elements bookend and accent the railing design that alludes to Horsetooth Rock that also appears to be waves. The upper portion of towers create a pattern with buff and dark red sandstone while other sections are translucent with polycarbonate and crushed glass. Crescent Park – Artist Carolyn Braaksma created sculptural stone seating for this new neighborhood park in the Maple Hill subdivision near Maple Hill and Bar Harbor Drives. The sandblasted designs reference animal, insects, and plants that were part of the landscape when it was farmland. Culture and Recreation Neighborhood Livability and Social Health Safe Community Top: A community member playing the Pianos About Town piano painted by Kyla Novak, Bottom: The 100th piano mural painted by Karina Branson on display at FCMoD Crescent Park — stone seats by Carolyn Braaksma Transformer Cabinet Mural – Amy Heyse ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2018 Annual Report 2018 ANNUAL REPORT Page 3 Pedestrian Pavers – Since 2002, this APP program has been working with the Engineering Department to incorporate granite pavers sandblasted with drawings by community members aged 3 to 18 into City sidewalks. In 2018, 15 selected drawings were installed in City sidewalks, for a total of 198 pavers. Pianos About Town – Pianos were rotated to over 22 locations in 2018. The Art in Action component of the program continued with 11 artists painting piano murals in Old Town Square, along with 2 artists painting inside during the winter months. Riverside Bridge – Artist Carolyn Braaksma created concrete wall surfaces along the Spring Creek Trial beneath the Riverside Bridge. She chose different fish and water animals for their relevance to the creek area near the bridge. Their appearances have been altered to reference to the sports and games played in the fields nearby. The background on the wall surface has an undulating pattern that mimics the waves of the creek as well as the rolling hills in the surrounding sports fields. Transformer Cabinet Murals – Twenty-one local artists and one non-profit group were selected to paint murals on 33 cabinets in 2018. Artists have painted 296 cabinets in the 13 years of this project. 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. COLLABORATIONS • In its 8th season, Pianos About Town is a partnership with Bohemian Foundation and the Downtown Development Authority, administered by APP, combines art and music. • Worked with the International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival to have a performance by visiting international pianist on two Pianos About Town Pianos on Old Town Square. College and Horsetooth Intersection — Tim Upham A sample of 4 of the 15 Pedestrian Pavers created this year. Riverside Bridge — Carolyn Braaksma ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2018 Annual Report 2018 ANNUAL REPORT Page 4 • Worked with Elderhaus to create a Pianos About Town scavenger hunt for their participants. • APP is working with Utilities to create a library of images from local artists to be used as vinyl wraps to act as a temporary protective coating on transformer cabinets when needed. • Museum of Art (MOA) featured an exhibit of APP youth Pedestrian Pavers. • The 100th painted piano from Pianos About Town is currently on view at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery. CURRENT AND ONGOING PROJECTS Twenty-six projects are currently in progress including annual projects. 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. • City Park Refresh • Downtown Transit Bike Shelter • FC Moves City Park Bike Lanes • Flood Marker • Foothills Underpass • Fort Collins Museum of Discovery • Fossil Creek Trail • Gardens on Spring Creek Butterfly Pavilion • Gardens at Spring Creek Great Lawn • Harmony and Straus Cabin Roads • Mulberry Gateway Project • North College - Canal to Highway 1 • Northside Neighborhood • Poudre River White Water Park • Poudre River White Water Park II • Streets Park • Twin Silo Park II • Utility Scavenger Hunt • Water Reclamation Facility • Water Reclamation Facility Reuse • West Elizabeth Underpass • Willow Street • Willow Street Plaza ANNUAL PROJECTS • Pedestrian Pavers • Pianos About Town • Transformer Cabinet Murals ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2018 Annual Report 2018 ANNUAL REPORT Page 5 COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS APP staff gave presentations to community and visiting groups, including Leadership Fort Collins; Redeemer Lutheran Church, Faith Church, and cohosted a walking tour of Transformer Cabinet Murals for the Utilities One Planet Program. OUTREACH APP staff members continue to give support to private businesses in the community. • Staff assisted with providing information on processes for acquiring art and facilitating contact with artists. • Staff is promoting project information to the community prior, during, and after installation of new artwork with signs and handouts on site, as well as information in newsletters, online, and on social media. • Staff and Board members attended the Public Art Network/American for the Arts Conference and networked on behalf of the program. • Staff organized and hosted open houses for artists interested in submitting proposals to Pianos About Town and the Transformer Cabinet Mural Project. • APP and Visual Arts staff presented a panel for artists at Startup Week in March. • Staff provided information to communities across the country, including: Klamath Falls, OR; Macon County, GA; Newnan, GA; and Trinidad, CO. MAINTENANCE The program continued to use its artistic expertise and communication with the artists to maintain the APP collection. • The APP program cleaned their bronze sculptures in the collection this year. • Maintenance was also required for artworks that were hit and damaged by cars. PUBLICITY • APP Brochures – APP promoted the program and the Transformer Cabinet Mural Project with informational brochures at the Visitor’s Centers downtown and at Prospect and I-25, the Lincoln Center, and available for download from the APP website. • City News – The program was featured multiple times in this newsletter that goes to all Utilities customers. • Denver Channel 7 News – Reports about the Pianos About Town Season and 100th piano. • Facebook – The Pianos About Town Project invited the community to participate with the project’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/PianosAboutTown. Staff also included APP projects on the City’s and the Lincoln Center Facebook Page. ART IN PUBLIC PLACES BOARD 2018 Annual Report 2018 ANNUAL REPORT Page 6 • fcgov.com/artspublic – The APP website continued to be updated with new projects, project descriptions, and current calls for art and artists. The website also included printable maps of the Pedestrian Pavers, the Transformer Cabinet Murals, and APP art locations throughout the city. • GIS Maps – Staff worked with the City’s GIS department to update maps and make new maps for printed handouts. • Instagram – The Visual Arts department Instagram page @focoart regularly features public art projects. • Local Publications – The Fort Collins Coloradoan, Loveland Reporter Herald, and Rocky Mountain Collegian printed various photos and articles of APP Projects throughout the year. • Web – The local community and visitors to Fort Collins continued to include stories on APP projects in their blogs and websites. Pianos About Town was featured in numerous YouTube videos. City News November 2018 Coloradoan, May 2018 The New Scene, May 2018