Homer Public Arts Committee
Thursday,
August 21, 2008 11:00 am
Cowles Council Chambers
Meeting Synopsis

 

Session 08-09 a meeting of the Public Arts Committee was called to order by Co-Chair Wolf at 11:00 am on August 21, 2008 in the City Hall Conference Room located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer Alaska.   


Present: Co-Chair Gaye Wolf, David Anderson, Hope Finkelstein, Karin Marks

Staff:  Dru Corbin

Absent:  Trina Fellows, Angie Newby

APPROVAL OF AGENDA – Approved as presented

 

APPROVAL OF SYNOPSIS – Approved as presented

 

VISITORS – none

PENDING BUSINESS

1.       Refurbishment of Art Wall:  Gaye stated the project was wonderful and worth every penny spent.  It was proposed to approve paying Tom Reed the additional $158.03 for extra work done over the contract to cover expenses.  Passed unanimously.

 

Gaye mentioned that Tom had the help of some volunteers in the project.  He used most of his own equipment for the job.  Hope asked where the rest of the supplies were.  She will contact him to see if there is left over supplies that we should have and that we could use on future projects.  The paint colors will be given to Parks & Rec and also in the Public Arts file for future reference.  It will be discussed more at the next meeting if there are supplies left over where they should be stored.

 

Hope brought up the idea of having the committee write a point of view to clarify some misconceptions about the art wall project and publish it in the paper. She will write it up.

 

Bushes are the last part of the project. That last thing that Tom said is the bushes need to go, and most everyone on the committee agrees. The mural is being obstructed and it takes away from the artwork.  Hope stated it needs to be dealt with as part of the maintenance plan.  The project was entered into on the agreement between Angie and Tammy that the bushes would be transplanted.  In future projects we need to make sure everything gets written down for clarification. 

 

Tammy will feel more comfortable if the bushes are trimmed back in the fall, if there is going to be pruning it should be fall. Hope asked whose authority it is. In terms of finishing this up, this is a bigger issue.  If city advisory committees are going to be staffed by willing volunteers, the recommendations need to be taken under consideration.  It was mentioned that just because it is a recommendation, it does not have to be accepted and accomplished, it is only recommendation.  It was suggested by Dave for the committee to take a close look at the wall and identify what needs to be done and why and present our recommendations.  This should be completed at the next meeting in September and Angie should be in on this as she held the original meetings with the city.  Then we need to invite Walt to the meeting in October and ask for what he thinks should or shouldn’t be done and for his reasons. 

 

2.       Baycrest Signage:  We will pursue it but it is not on the front burner.

 

 

3.       Artists Feedback Form:  This is follow up from the RFP process.  The form presented is a draft and Dave will clean it up and send it to Dru to put on letterhead and get ready to send to people who have participated in the RFP process at the Library and to get feedback from Tom Reed on the wall.

 

4.       Term dates:  It was decided to accept the arrangement as follows:

Angie, Gaye Dave, Trina – term will expire 10/1/08

Hope, Karin & new person – term will expire 10/1/09

 

Each term is for 2 years.

 

5.       Recruitment of New Members:  Karin apologizes for missing meetings during the summer and if in the future, maybe the month of July could be recognized as a busy month and the committee may want to consider taking it off.  It would be important to tell a new person that and it may make a difference to them.  It does create issues if members cannot attend. The guidelines state that 3 absences are excused. 

 

Applicant does not need to live in the city limits to serve on the committee.  Karin will talk to someone who has an interest in art as a citizen.  She believes it would be nice to have a person on the committee who could bring another perspective as citizen not artist.

 

Gaye mentioned that she is a part-time artist and other than that, there are no other artists on the committee.  She would like to see maybe another artist.

 

6.       Categorized Art:  Dru has received forms from Dave and Angie, try to get them other to her so she can begin the process for the web page.

 

7.       Website:  The site is developed but not uploaded.  Waiting on art catalog forms and content. 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

1.       Salmon Art Display – Angie had information to share, she has an interest in bringing a project like the Salmon in Anchorage to Homer. Gaye mentioned we don’t have the time, energy or support of corporate underwriting like large cities do. 

 

 

COMMENTS OF THE AUDIENCE - none

COMMENTS OF THE CITY STAFF – none

COMMENTS OF THE CHAIR – Gaye said she will no be attending next month’s meeting.

COMMENTS OF THE COMMITTEE:

Hope was excited, the mural looks great and it is great to be finishing up projects.

Dave thanked Tom for doing a great job. It is a real visible activity on behalf of the committee and the city.  There are other good projects in the works. He also appreciated getting through the entire agenda.  

 

ADJOURNMENT - Meeting adjourned at 11:45 am

 

NEXT REGULAR MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR:  October 16, 2008 11:00 am

Work Session October 16, 2008, 10:00 am all in Council Chambers