Public Art Committee

Public Art Committee SUMMARY MINUTES Wednesday, August 22, 2018 Office of Economic and Workforce Development Committee Members Present Calvin Brett Kyesha Jennings Katie Seiz Marcella Camara Caitlin Margaret Kelly Wade H. Williams Mya Castillo-Marte Chris Ogden, Chair* Chantal Winston Margaret DeMott* Charlene Reiss * Cultural Advisory Board member Caroline Dwyer Laura Ritchie Guests Present Rachel Wexler,* DDI City of Durham Staff and Representatives Present Brian Smith, Office of Economic and Workforce Development Stacey Poston, General Services Department Cason Whitcomb, General Services Department I. Call to Order Brian Smith called the meeting to order 10:01am. II. Approval of Minutes July meeting minutes approved. III. Adjustments to the Agenda IV. Presentations i. None V. New Business i. None VI. Updates/Old Business i. Re:Site: Durham Police Headquarters Brian Smith, OWED updated the public art committee on the current status of the public art installations at the Durham Police Headquarters. Last month, Norman Lee and Shane  Public Art Committee Albritton of the artist team RE:Site gave concept presentation to PAC. Their presentation and installation design concepts are inspired by the “common threads” of what unites the Durham community. RE:Site is exploring the theme of quilting, which is a uniquely American tradition with a strong Durham connection, in all three of their design options. RE:Site is using the threads of police department badges as design starting point. RE:Site is looking to connect community, police, and Hayti through art with the police badge as a motif of the piece. The public art project budget is $200,000. The team is exploring exterior, interior, and combination options within budget. Option 1 – Woven Shield (exterior option) This option consists of a twenty-two foot tall sculpture resting on a six foot plinth. The shield would be constructed with hydrographic painted metal rods Option 2 – Sewing Peace (interior peace) This installation uses the Oath of Office and reimagines it as a 3D installation. The letters installed perpendicular the wall and are threaded, evoking a quilted motif. The words of the oath can be read when viewing the piece from directly below. The glass of lobby will actually have bird-deterrent dots, which isn’t represented in the rendering. Glass also gives off a bit of a glare during the day due to sunlight. In order to fully experience the piece during the day viewers would need to be inside the building. Artists did not provide a rendering of the piece at night. Caroline inquired about the accessibility of the lobby. Brian responded that the lobby is fully accessible to the public, there are controlled access doors are further down the hall along the Main Street corridor, and there is also a conference room accessible to the public. Margaret asked if there are plans to light the installations. Brian responded that conduit has been run to the exterior for an installation if needed but there is no extra lighting in lobby for an installation. Option 3: Soaring Peace & Woven Shield (Interior and Exterior option) The interior installation is constructed of wood and also incorporates the Oath of office in a design inspired by the sunray quilted pattern. Soaring Peace would be installed in the center of the lobby wall. Woven Shield would be rendered in the same design but at a smaller scale (12ft + 6ft plinth). Colors of installation are still be determined. Wade: How is the light source for the interior piece orientated? Brian: There is no specific lighting designed for the interior installation.  Public Art Committee Mya: Is there room to put something on the plinth? Brian: Yes, will explain further momentarily Option 3b: City has asked the team to revisit “Soaring Peace” and attempt to create it in a different shape, maybe the shape similar to “Sewing Peace” Committee stated the importance of an interior and exterior installation After the PAC meeting in July City staff took the concepts to Durham Police Department Executive Command. They were happy with all of the pieces. DPD also stated that they’d like to see some type of inscription on the plinth. DPD Exec staff appreciated the connection between the shape of the exterior installation and the police badge and would be interested to see some sort of rendering of the badge and connecting to the Oath on the plinth itself. Charlene: Does the Oath ever change? It might be a good idea to check. Brian: We will ask. Mya: this piece could be a connection to the past with looking towards the future. The Oath is part of the fabric of their department in this time. Charlene: True, but sometimes Oaths change language to reflect times. Can we make sure that there is no plan to update the oath before it is carved in stone? Caroline: I agree, if there is something controversial about the Oath it would need to be examined before we carve it in. Brian: Our next steps will be show the concepts to City Administration. We will be meeting with City manager next week to show concepts. Caitlin: Who is making the ultimate decision? Brian: The ultimate is the City Council. The PAC makes recommendations to City Council and Council has the final say. Our goal is to make sure we have as much consensus around the art as possible. Laura: What is the timeline? Brian: We will be bringing new concepts back to PAC at the September meeting. The goal is to have final approval by early October so RE:Site can begin fabrication. The team is contracted through Jan 2019 with three months allotted for fabrication. Margaret: when the concept returns to PAC can they be altered? Brian: If comments are relatively minor, then yes. But ultimately the concepts presented 9/19 will be in their final form. Laura: Is there a place I can look to see the history of this project? Brian: We will share our project sheet with PAC. Community engagement took place in May – June 2018 in the form of community engagement sessions over a four-week work shoppingwhat peace looks like in Durham. These sessions informed this installation and the installation on Main Street by David Wilson. Though these sessions were not open to the general public, the artists teams created a very intentional targeted community engagement sessions groups. The City also worked to selected an intentional artist selection committee of diverse stakeholders.  Public Art Committee ii. Pixel Patch Creative: Pixel Wall at Liberty Warehouse Brian Smith, OEWD gave the committee an update on the Pixel Wall at Liberty Warehouse Wall at Durham Central Park. Pixel Patch has selected their final color palette. Caroline: How was this project chosen? Brian: When Liberty Warehouse was build the owners East West gave $25,000 and Durham Central Park matched it. The building was sold to Duck Pond Reality, which added a label of complexity to the project. Designs are being certified with a structural engineer. There was an open RFQ, Artist selection jury process, artist interviews, and artist selection. The original RFQ was published September 2017. Artist selection committee of twelve members selected Pixel Patch team from about 100 applications. Caitlin: Can you please share the jury for this? Brian: Yes, the members of the artist selection committee were Morgan Haynes, Chantal Winston, Sanjeev Patel, Stacey Britt, Leon Grodski De Barrera, Cecelia Henaine de Davis, Erin Kauffman, Justin Watson, Helena Cragg, Sherry DeVries, Michael Waller, Alicia Lange, Alice Sharpe, Katie Seiz, Thomas Dawson, and Jillian Johnson Mya: Have the artists confirmed that the plastics are recyclable? APV plastic is not recyclable in most recycling centers. Have the artists replied that all of the plastics they are using are fully recyclable? I don’t want to include in the minutes if the plastics are not fully recyclable. Brian: We will confirm with the artists and we will not use the term fully recyclable if that is the case. Mya: These plastics are not recyclable, they are trash. The installation in Chattanooga, TN was in an alley but this is Durham Central Park. These blocks will likely disappear and it is on the merit of the citizens to use the blocks as they are intended. Personally, with all of the other efforts we are making to keep the plastic out of our water systems I don’t think we should use these materials. Caitlin: We have come in to this project to far in to change the materials. What we can do is figure out how we can incentivize people to return the blocks. What would that be and what would that look like? How do we get people, when they find these things, to return them? Caroline: The first step could be awareness, such as a “bring me back to my art” campaign. Caitlin: We could use humor. Wade: Who is responsible for putting the blocks back in their place? Brian: There are over 3,000 spaces that won’t be filled with blocks. Durham Central Park, INC is the primary responsible for maintaining the blocks. GSD and Parks will also be aware of them. Katie: If they are in fabrication now it might be a good idea to mention this to the artist. Mya: If all we can do is try to get them back then we need to try and get the public responsible, which I think is highly unlikely. Caroline: I think that when you charge people it can be successful. Mya: But we have employees who are  Public Art Committee paid to clean and that’s why it’s clean. Charlene: There is some research about public art and people taking ownership of public art and how public art effects defacing public property. Public art can catalyze ownership and improvement within the community. Public art can decrease the instances of trash because people feel ownership of their space. Mya: Where is this study? Brian: We can share this research on Creative Placemaking. A good example is Black Wall Street Gardens. We installed moveable furniture but a year later not one piece has walked away. We will have as many precautions as possible but I think people will take ownership. Calvin: Are we expecting the art to fall apart? Marcella: Drunk people and babies will take them by accident or on purpose. At my university we had something similar and they did walk away but people brought them back. I feel like they will be gone but if there is budget we could fix that. Laura: Is there signage? Brian: Yes, there will be signage with the information iii. Durham Mixed Use Parking Garage Brian Smith from OEWD updated the committee on the status of the Morgan and Mangum Street Garage, which is still expected to be completed Early Jan 2019. The City team is currently attempting to resolve a budget issue with the artist team stemming from the dramatic increase of materials’ costs due to national tariffs. The current solution would be to shrink down scale of piece. The City and artist team are working to resolve the budgeting issues within the overall project timeline. City staff will give the Public Art Committee a further update at the October meeting. Margaret: Would it shrink on all sides? Brian: yes, it would likely be shrunk proportionally. Placement is also being played around with. Mya: would they consider just installing along one side of the building to optimize height? Brian: there is an option to heavily skew the installation to one side with a small wrap around the corner Mya: Based on the budget constraints are they still considering the 3d cut powder coated metal mesh? Brian: Yes, though the artist team found that doing in flat panels does not create a significant cost reduction Katie: Do you have a sense as to how much over budget? Brian: Yes, best case it was $225,000 with an additional a $50,000 credit so about $75,000 over budget. Material costs are having a huge impact. Mya: Is there any ability to do it in not a metal mesh and achieve the same result? Brian: I would say no, not at this stage. Mya: how much time before the project would need to be completed? Is there time to fundraise? Brian: The cost would be elevated if it went beyond the construction timeframe to re-rent equipment. Mya: what is the lead-time for when they need to install? Brian: Two to three months. We need to figure out budget issues by September in order to stay on track.  Public Art Committee iv. Traffic Signal Box Art Project Brian Smith, OEWD updated the committee on the status of the current Traffic Signal Box art installation. Five Durham YouthWorks members with the team name “the Durham Mural Crew” were paired with Brenda Miller Holmes to design and install murals on four traffic control boxes. The YouthWorks project will be fully completed by the end of September and photos of finished boxed will be shard next meeting. The Durham YouthWorks boxes are located at the intersection of North Point and Broad Street, Lawson and Merritt streets, Main and Corcoran streets, and Main, Chapel Hill, and Foster streets. Project locations are selected based on City right-of-way, which ensures a lifespan of around ten years. City of Durham Transportation Department has been working with OEWD and GSD to determine suitable boxes for murals. Smith was able to get a Certificate of Appropriateness to install murals on any box downtown. Artist Candy Carver and Bethany Bash will be installing murals on traffic boxes located at the intersections of Morris, Chapel Hill, and Main streets and Trinity, Foster, and Washington streets, respectively. All traffic box mural designs are based on direct community feedback. To inform their designs, the Durham Mural Crew set up a tent in each neighborhood and asked community members for feedback. Each community engagement event is site-specific and is locally-based. Margaret: Brenda is well versed in community engagement Caroline: I would have liked to participate in the community engagement events and so I would like to figure out how we can create more visibility for these engagement events. Brian: The Durham Mural Crew utilizes social media to promote their events. The Public Art Program is working primarily on developing our communication. Caroline: I am interested in helping disseminate information regarding community engagement Katie: We can look back on the core projects to determine best practices. Charlene: Three years ago we had one project, the Civil Rights Mural and very little funding. In just three years we have grown and developed the Public Art Program. We’ve got a very steep learning curve. Mya: Do we as a committee, or is there anywhere we have documented every single project? Brian: Yes, at least the projects after March 2017. We are now in the communication process to make this archive of information accessible. The PAC will likely be tasked with this, too. v. SmART Corcoran Garage Banner Wrap Margaret DeMott updated the committee on the status of the SmART Cocorcan Garage Banner Wrap project. The ribbon cutting was last Wednesday and over one hundred people were in attendance. Attendees included representatives from both local and state government. The SmART team hosted a parade from American Tobacco up a section of  Public Art Committee the SmART corridor to the installation along the Corcoran Street Garage. The overall goal of the SmART Initiative is to make the corridor a destination and promote movement throughout Durham. This intersection serves to draw people from American Tobacco up and in to Downtown Durham. Lek, the artist who designed the piece, incorporated iconic elements marching across the banners that take people in to Downtown. Mya: How long did this piece take to create? Margaret: The SmART Vision plan was completed 2015. The RFQ was published fall 2016, the review process went through a few iterations before finalists were selected. Finalists were then interviewed and the selection committee determined the need for concepts in order to select an artist or artist team to the project. Olekan Jeyifous was selected fall 2017. He completed community engagement early 2018, final design approved spring 2018, fabrication of hardware and dimensions of banners took a lot of iterations because of the grade of the garage. The overall budget was close to $200,000. Hardware was $70,000, printing and installation of banners $120,000, artist fee $50,000. Funding from NEA was $100,00 and DAC, NCAC, and private funding matched $100,000. Submitted summer Art Works grant to NEA about next phase. As Brian explained, there are a lot of different approvals that have to be gathered for a project like this. One of the things that dictated this project was that there were banners already on display, so we had precedent. We were confined to the structure and format of the existing banners. Caroline: Is there a plan to advertise the SmART corridor? Margaret: At the moment there is a website. We want to do more with lighting. One possibility for a next phase is a portfolio of artistic amenities, which could be a great opportunity for local artist to create. Caroline: In the future it would be so cool to have an app. Nothing I hate more is advertising great art but not offering accessible information about it. Mya: Is there an art tour? Maybe in conjunction with 3rd Friday? Because an app takes developer money. Caroline: We could also do a paper map. Margaret: We have a lot of information about existing public art and the Durham Public Art Collection. This mapping fits in with Brian’s communication mission. Mya: We could utilize the website and a Google map. vi. The Fence Durham Chair Chris Ogden and Brian Smith, OEWD gave updates on the FENCE: Durham. The FENCE: Durham 2018 has been installed Wednesday and Thursday of last week. This is the second year Durham has participated and hosted the FENCE. One hundred and thirty people attended opening ceremony. Mayor Steve Schewel spoke. The installation consists of about 1000 linear feet of artwork wraps Magnum, Orange, and Chapel Hill Street. Art is also displayed in Black Wall Street Gardens. Eight of the fifty artists are Triangle-based artists. It will be installed through December 2018. Chris is working with Boys and Girls Club and KOMPLEKS Creative to explore youth engagement opportunities.  Public Art Committee A petcha kutcha will take place around 3rd Friday in October. Visit www.TheFENCEDurham.com for more information on events and programming. There are lots of opportunities to be docents or to volunteer. Thank you to all of those PAC members who helped install the piece. It has been brought to our attention that Photoville made a few mistakes at the production level but they have been communicated and will be fixed as soon as possible. vii. DDI Public Space Project Rachel Wexler, Special Projects Coordinator with DDI and member of the Cultural Advisory Board gave the Public Art Committee an update on the DDI Public Space Project. The Public Space project is a pilot program launched in spring 2018, offering small scale grants up to $2,000 for artists to do public art installations in public space. Installations will launch on 3rd Friday and continue depending on project proposal The Public Space Project was inspired by a few programs throughout the country. In order to get details set Rachel went did a lot of community engagement talking one on one with key connectors within the artist community including visual artists, dancers, multimedia, and intentionally reaching out to artists within marginalized communities. Applications were due June 1, 2018. DDI received around 30 submission. The selection committee included Margaret DeMott, Laura Ritchie, Sandy Hanes, Kim Register, and Angela Lee. Four artists were selected. Public Art Committee member Marcella Camara and with her team did a public art installation on August 17, 2018 titled “Amethyst, Psalms, and Florida Water” which ran from Friday – Saturday. The installation created a community space within downtown Durham. Other PSP artists are Wendy Spitzer and Douglas Vuncannon, Ashley Swindoll, and Kamara Thomas. Marcella: It was a really good experience. My installation consisted of six panels, two of which created for artists of color. We held a yoga class on Saturday afternoon. We reached out to folks to help us put together a free-standing installation. Mya: What is your feedback about it? Is there anything you would have done differently? Is there anything we can learn from it? Marcella: It was a learning experience for me, doing something at this scale. There could have been better support around it. I think that public art is often used as Band-Aid or function for gentrification. I think with projects like this you have to be very intentional with you engage the community. Overall, it was a humbling experience. Mya: What do you mean by humbling? Marcella: It is personal. It is just me on my team, even though I consider the whole community as my team. I had to learn how to install, take apart, and take care of attendees. Make sure materials were used responsibly, weren’t going to damage, get damaged, or create excess waste. It was a lot to process but overall, it was great. We received an overwhelming positive  Public Art Committee response. I want to bring this installation to other neighborhoods and other communities of color. Some of the panels are going to go to local area nonprofit organizations. If you know anyone who wants one they can foster for the next six months. Kyesha: do you plan on doing the grant program again? Rachel: Yes, we will adjust the program to better serve the artists and do it again Mya: Where did the grant come from? Rachel: It came from the Business Improvement Funds, which is county and City funding. A small percentage of BIF goes to special events. Brian: There was a nice article in INDY about the project viii. New Member Orientation (5 minutes) Reminder for the committee to attend the New Member Orientation meeting on Wednesday 29th at 6pm. There will be information and pre-reading materials about public art, committee structure. We will have a call-in number and if possible we will do an abbreviated version as a make-up. Parrish Street Forum flooded and so we will determine a new location. ix. Other Updates: Banner Design Contest The Banner Design contest is still in the contracting phase and will be announced at the September meeting. Thirty-four applications were received and the Public Art committee selected five finalists. Please visit DurhamNC.gov/PublicArt to view the top five finalists. New Chairperson of Public Art Committee The Public Art Committee is a sub-committee of the Cultural Advisory Board. The CAB is voting later this afternoon as to whom they wish to appoint as the new PAC chairperson. Chris Ogden has served as Chair for the past four years and Katie Seiz is being recommended as the next Chair of the Public Art Committee. Her appointment will not be confirmed until the CAB votes. There is also a plan to explore having a Vice Chair of the Public Art Committee to assist the current Chair. Emerging Artist Grants Emerging Artist grant applications are due 9/21. The Durham Arts Council will share the flyer with the committee. VII. Adjournment Meeting adjourned 10:24am.  Public Art Committee Respectfully submitted, Cason E. Whitcomb, GSD