April 2017 the Roster Provides a Pool of Highly Qualified Artists, and Increases the Efficiency of the Selection Process
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April 2017 The Roster provides a pool of highly qualified artists, and increases the efficiency of the selection process. creating an art plan for a site; collaborating on early design along with having a budget to create artwork(s); identifying opportunities for other artists to provide design elements within the construction budget and/or complemented with public art funds; or, for creating a distinctive artwork for a site. MARYJO ANDERSON Nehalem, OR mjandersonsculpture.com I am interested in spatial relationships, materials and human interactions within public spaces. I am interested in producing work that has energy, meaning, metaphor and multiple layers of understanding. The collaborative lends itself to work that has sincerity and integrity. I believe art should not mimic architecture but enhance architecture, that public art need not please everyone but rather respect the diversity of a community. Although primarily a stone sculptor, I have spent many years working with other art forms and materials such as bronze, cast iron and temporal installations. I believe in making art that provides access and insight into the human experience - artwork that elicits personal emotion while at the same time speaks to a public audience. Since 2003 I have been exploring the role of smaller more intimate presentations of art in the public arena, a result of my continuing research of niches in public spaces in Italy. I have experience working with landscape architects, architects and committees on designs for urban space Top to bottom: To Scale the Scales of Justice, 2010, Salem, OR; Eyrie, 2013; La Grazia, 2011 JILL ANHOLT Vancouver, BC jillanholt.ca Throughout my 18 years of practice, I have created more than 30 works in public spaces ranging from smaller scale functional works with modest budgets to large-scale highly integrated civic works with budgets of $1.5-$3.2M in cities throughout Canada and the US. My installations explore the relationship between nature and infrastructure, body and place; revealing layers of personal and cultural memory and experience. My work also explores the way that the body relates to and inhabits space and how human perception is transformed by position and movement. Understanding and working with context and multiple scales of engagement are my strengths. And, synthesizing the many complex layers of a site into a conceptual framework further embodies meaning for the work. My art installations try to engage people who encounter them not only as spectators, but often also as participants in the work in some way. Environmental sustainability plays a generative role in the conceptual development, form and material expression of my art installations. For every project I undertake, I begin with an intimate reading of the site, and then expand my observations to ever-widening arcs of investigation that include explorations of historical, geographical, cultural, and environmental layers. The concept, form, materiality and experiential qualities of my work emerge from these very site-specific beginnings. Top to bottom: Clearing, 2015, Aberdeen, WA; Lost Stream Found, 2013, North Vancouver, BC; Line of Work, 2009, Vancouver, BC GABE BABCOCK Corvallis, OR gabebabock.com My work sheds light on the tension between humans and nature by creating work that has both a presence and coexists with a specific environment. Using natural materials, my work is easily visible but subtle in order to improve but also respect the natural quality of the site. My work is broken down to the simplest elements, to reduce impact as well as be appreciated by a diverse group of people. I am competent with all materials and capable of overcoming obstacles. At this point in my career I am looking for more experience in working with committees, architects and engineers, taking on larger budgets and projects. Nature’s process is nothing short of phenomenal and is often taken for granted. My expectations are high; to use site-specific art as a form of education to preserve the quality of natural spaces. I am personable, and a peace keeper, always positive and always up for new challenges. I developed these skills from working with clients one on one, because inevitably they need to be happy with the piece. But at the same time, it is my piece so I help them find the common ground. RON BARON Brooklyn, NY ronbaron.net Over the past 20 years I have created 25+ site-specific public artworks and have worked in various capacities as a lead artist, collaborating with committees, architects, locals and art consultants for a wide variety of locations ranging from wall-reliefs to plazas. My creative process begins with a great deal of research to gain a broad understanding of the site, city and the desires of the local community. Key to an artwork’s success is creating an artwork that complements the scale and style of the architecture, landscape and the function of the space. Each of my projects is created through a close working relationship with community groups, public art consultants, architects and design professionals. The following core principals are my manifesto for creating art: • Establish a sense of place • Holistically integrate the work into the site, architecture and community • Reflect the function of the building • Create gathering spaces where individuals can congregate around art and ideas • Create work that is engaging, playful and strives to be examined and explored and accessible to a diverse population Top to bottom: Lost and Found: An Excavation Project, 2005, NYC MTA; You Are Here, 2012, Providence Park, Portland, OR: Baggage Claim, 2008, Indianapolis International Airport LYNN BASA Chicago, IL lynnbasa.com While I have a number of public art commissions under my belt, I would like to transition to work that is more proactive. To put it another way, I’m more interested in making art that does something rather than only being about something. For example, I’d like to find a site to create sculptural sanctuaries for native plants, birds, and insects. It could be miniature -- such as in a pocket park, median strip or vacant lot -- or monumental, such as in tangent to an urban walking trail. These would be living, site-specific self- maintaining and self-contained installations to bring Nature more into harmony and proximity with urban life. Other ideas I’ve been looking for opportunities to do: • Sculptural rain and sprinkler water catchments that would create small oases for urban wildlife. • A naturalistic sculptural wall made of rammed earth or native stone that incorporated places for plants, shade, seating and play. • An intimate, spoken-word amphitheater for small audiences. • An outdoor reading room with book exchange. • Covered seating areas designed to encourage socializing. • A wall made of recycled local brick that demonstrates the lost art of fancy masonry. • Neighborhood time capsules. • Milkweed seed bomb project to increase habitat for Monarch butterflies. All of my projects have been collaborative in two principle ways. First, in order to develop my concepts the input of the client, end user, architect, engineers, GC, etc. are critical. Second, I am committed to using local labor and materials whenever possible in order to create jobs and return the majority of the budget to the economy that generated it. Third, because I adapt my approach to the conditions of each site I use a wide variety of materials and know how to work professionally with subcontractors. In addition to my studio and public art practice I’ve begun a residency in the storefront of a building I own in Chicago where, for over a year, I’ve been commissioning artists whose work is experiential and engages the community. In the process it’s changed my attitude towards what art can accomplish in the public realm. For one thing I’ve become more convinced of the value of taking art to the people rather than waiting for people to come to the art. Top to bottom: Trimet Orange Line windscreens, 2015, Portland, OR; Coursing Through Life, 2010, University of Northern Iowa; Cornucopia, 2014, Chicago, IL Portland, OR petebeeman.com Art must engage its viewers. Whether kinetic or static, my sculptures are big and gestural, yet rich and variegated to intrigue on closer inspection. I work most frequently with metals - stainless, aluminum, bronze - and also with wood. As I see the world through an engineer’s eye, my work is rooted in the capabilities of engineering: to make the improbable stand up, to harness the untamed, and to make the static, dynamic. By building useless objects with efficient functionality, I am questioning the meaning of utility and functionality. The characteristics created by the elegant and unexpected motions in my sculpture form a tension with the industrial structures, materials, and scale of the work. This tension is a metaphor for both human experience and human potential: the human machine, with the potential for a state of grace, constantly struggling with its own limitations. To engage in this struggle is to succeed. In particular, several elements of my background make me well suited to designing and building public art: site- specificity (example, “Alphabet Soup” in Albuquerque connects the various sites of a campus); collaboration: a real strength of mine is coordinating with all stakeholders to satisfy the constraints of the project, while providing one-of- a-kind art; durability: I am well-equipped to deal with technical issues of designing integrated, interactive artwork with a constant eye on longevity; sustainability: incorporating environmental concepts when possible; I have a proven record of meeting budgets and reliability. The vast majority of my projects involve collaboration with design professionals and community stakeholders. Top to bottom: Alphabet Soup, 2005, Albuquerque, NM; Star, 2015, Tainan, Taiwan; Runner, 2013, Taipei, Taiwan VAUGHN BELL Seattle, WA vaughnbell.net My work looks at the paradoxes and possibilities of our relationships to the places we inhabit.