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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Public Art Selection Committee - 05/16/2019 South Burlington Public Art Committee 575 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 846-4107 www.SouthBurlingtonVT.gov facebook.com/CityCenterSouthBurlington Meeting Minutes for the Thursday, May 16, 2019 6:00 PM meeting in the Champlain Room, 575 Dorset Street In Attendance: Trice Stratmann (Chair), Jennifer Kochman (via phone), Jean-Sebastien Chaulot (Vice-Chair), Penne Tompkins, Amanda Holland Also in Attendance: Ilona Blanchard (Staff), and via Go to Meeting/Conference phone: Amy Baur, Brian Bolden, Madeline Wiener, Philip Godenschwager, Suikang Zhao 1. Call to order Trice Stratmann called the meeting to order at 6:20 PM. No changes were made to the agenda. 2. Minutes No minutes were presented for approval. 3. Public Comments No comments were made. 4. Public Art Selection Process – 180 Market Street Finalist Interviews Trice Stratman introduced herself and then everyone went around the table to introduce themselves to the artists. She then asked the artist team In Plain Sight Art to make their presentation. In Plain Sight Art Interview: Amy Baur and Brian Bolden provided an overview of their piece Bloom and the thought behind it. For them, Bloom is the idea of community, and each piece within the whole is representative while unique. The pieces use indigenous plants and represent the languages spoken in South Burlington. As part of the community involvement process, Amy and Brian will ask the community for languages spoken by members. Each element is meant to project on the wall. The material is printed glass so the color is integral, while the ceramic is also printed. Jean-Sebastien Chaulot asked if the committee could review the images before they are finalized? A: yes, you would have final approval on the deign at the end. JSC asked how they would be kept clean of dust? A: They would need a feather duster every once in a while from above. No liquid should be needed, just to dusting the top, which would be glass. JSC – how does the glass attach to the ceramic? A: it is a two-part epoxy, UV light cured. We use 3M products and consult with them (3M). The epoxy will not yellow with age. JSC: Will the epoxy last? It is Hexol and archival quality, should last a while but we can look up the life span. Amanda Holland: Some comments were concerned about scale, if we wanted larger pieces would that be achievable? A: IPSA can work with the committee to ensure that the presence of the individual pieces is appropriate. Jennifer Kochman – the pieces seem like they would work well as a mobile is that possible? A: IPSA was concerned about the structural issues of supporting the ceramic and glass from within the light well. It seemed to require cross bars and other structural additions. Trice Stratmann then invited Phil Godenschwager to present. Phil Godenschwager always wanted the piece to be a clock and the clock to be a sculpture made out of Vermont and community specific items. He wanted to represent the idea of change and growth. The piece would not be smaller than 4.5 feet and likely 5 feet wide. It would be located on the landing, pointed down towards the 1st floor. The front leaf spiral symbolizes time, cycles, and seasonality of Vermont. The spiral starts in the State of Vermont tied to the location where South Burlington is located. The sides would have a starry sky background with silhouettes made from images created from photographs provided by the community of local activities. Jean-Sebastien Chaulot asked if the material would be opaque? A: No. It would be all glass, but would be a mix of opaque and transparent, would be all translucent to allow the clock to glow (with LED lighting inside) even when it is light outside. Cleaning? A: it should be easy to clean. Penne Tompkins asked if the white would be opaque. A: yes. Jean-Sebastien Chaulot asked will the sky and pictures be layered? A: no, many pieces will come together to make the background and pictures. Question: Will the spiral be visible enough? Philip Godenschwager is thinking of putting additional lights behind the spiral to illuminate. The artist works closely with LED Dynamics, located nearby. Penne Tompkins ask what the material would be for the roman numerals – A: thin aluminum and then gilded. JSC asked will there be light controls to adjust for the amount of ambient light? Ilona Blanchard noted that the building had many daylight sensors so that something might be engineered to connect the lighting in the clock with the building controls. Madeline Weiner then presented her concept for “Check it Out”. She explained that the marble that she had selected was very similar to Vermont Proctor. She would be starting with a piece of marble that weighs approximately 12,000 lbs in her studio, which made shipping marble to Colorado and then back expensive. She showed examples of her work and how she fits the emotional content of the face to the site, and also works to meet the needs of the committee for ethnic representation. She builds the sculpture so that they do not collect water, at an appropriate height to be sat on. She finds the public generally engages with bench people immediately and is very creative in how they sit or lounge on them. For the City’s piece, it would likely have a variety of textures – pebbled surface for the shirt and file marks for the skirt. Often she will work with the community to develop the title of the book for that portion of the sculpture. At the installation of the project she gives everyone a chip from the carving of the sculpture and invites the children to polish the sculpture so that they understand how hard it is and also feel ownership in the creation of it. Penne Tompkins asked if there was a reason why the book and people were connected or not. A: They could be connected to make a large bench area. The books are located on the inside of the piece (towards the building) to protect them from skateboarders who are attracted to straight edges. Suikang Zhao next presented his proposal. The way he uses 3form is unique; he works directly with the manufacturer to create a product that responds to light, changing from moment to moment. His concept includes a triangle in the main stairs and replacing the glass in all stairwalls with 3form. Penne Tompkins asked if the stair rail and the triangle would both have words or just the triangle. A: the artist would collect words from people and there would be words on both. Words would be more recognizable and readable on the railing. Zhao said he would need help from the committee to conduct outreach to collect words and will need help with events. Part of his process is that he would need writing from people in order create the piece; the public contribution was an important part of the art and the community taking ownership of the art. Penne Tompkins asked for the long piece, is it flexible? A: Yes. A small piece like the sample is rigid, but a large piece like the one proposed is very flexible. Trice Stratmann asked how would it be attached? A: it would be attached to the space by aircraft cable. Overall, it is very light, and the cable holds the shape of the work as well as the weight. Trice Stratmann asked is the writing always packed? A: this is just a concept, but for the triangle the letters need to touch to give the piece color that changes with the light. Jennifer Kochman asked if the text would be on the stairs or both? A: on both. Jennifer Kochman asked if he would use text and graphics or just text? A: It can be both but because it is a Library, it should definitely have words. Amanda Holland asked if the proposal was just for the monumental stair or if it was for all three stairs. Ilona clarified that only the monumental stair has glass railing. A: The proposal if for the monumental stair, with the option of replacing railing on the other stairs with 3form using the glass budget. The Public Art Committee held a brief discussion, including first impressions on each artist but no in- depth discussion. There was no obvious choice and the committee would need to meet again. Staff was asked to obtain additional information from a few of the artists. 5. Next meeting The committee will schedule a meeting for the 2nd week of June. 6. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 PM.