Keep League City Beautiful Citizen Committee

Keep League City Beautiful Committee Meeting Minutes for August 3, 2021 At 6:03 p.m. League City Communications Director Sarah Greer Osborne officially called the meeting to order. Committee members Jackie Liddell, Beth Sears, Jill Reason, Nina and Jason Makepeace, and Dave Bowman were present. There were no citizen comments to the board. A motion was made by Dave Bowman to accept the minutes from the July 12, 2021, meeting. Jason Makepeace seconded the motion. Everyone who was present voted yes. Lori Betz, from the Betz Art Foundry, made a presentation highlighting her sculpture work as well as the process for creating a custom, bronze piece. Betz Art Foundry specializes in monumental public sculptures as well as veteran memorials. Owner and artist, Lori Betz’s sculptures have been featured in national and international venues, as well as locally, including commissions for the City of Houston, Pearland, and Pasadena. Her most notable local public art piece is the Allen Brothers sculptures in front of City Hall in Downtown Houston. Lori discussed the timeline for the process of creating a seven- foot statue of J.C. League, including the mold making and the “lost wax” casting. The process would begin in October of 2021 with various sketches and renderings. Sarah Greer Osborne talked about how the “research” the City provides on Mr. League to Lori would impact the sculpture, and that the Helen Hall Library was working with the Rosenberg Library in Galveston to get more photographs of Mr. League as well as any details or information about his life that could be incorporated into the statue. Committee member Beth Sears addressed the group to share what she learned by taking part in the Keep Texas Beautiful Virtual conference in late June of 2021. Beth talked about a variety of grants that League City can apply for, and that we can even request to have a “mentor city” guide us through the process of being a relatively new Keep Texas Beautiful city. Osborne gave an update on the mini-mural project with Up Art Studio and identified the seven artists selected by members of the KLCB committee. Each committee member voted for their top ten picks from a selection that included: local artists approved by Up Art Studio’s application process earlier in the year, a list of maybe-artists selected in the Up Art application process; and Up Art’s master mural list which includes artists from all over Texas. Of the seven artists that received the most votes, two live in League City, one lives in Kemah, one lives in Bay Cliff, one lives in Clear Lake, and the other two are from Houston and Magnolia, Texas. Next, Osborne gave an update on the new League City Public Art Gallery grand opening and kick-off event scheduled for August 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Civic Center. The group then began a discussion surrounding the ten teak benches located on Main Street and whether or not they should be painted. After much discussion, it was decided that the benches should be left as is, and that benches located at a League City park would be better served being painted with art. The group then talked about the use of the Blue building and the progress that was being made with facilitating meetings and classes at the building. Dave Bowman mentioned that his stamp club is now meeting at the building and Jacki Liddell mentioned that the local chapter of the National Society of Artists was going to start holding meetings there as well. Osborne gave an update on the Public Art and Community Engagement Coordinator position and stated that the new person would start before the end of the month. She also reminded the committee that EcoFest was coming up on September 18 and that everyone on the committee was invited to take part and host an informational booth at the event. The meeting adjourned at 7:56 p.m.