Public Art Committee Meeting Synopsis
February 9, 2006
Cowles Council Chambers
Present: Connie Alderfer, Ron Senungetuk, Asia Freeman,
Gale Parsons, Mike Yourkowski, Dave Anderson, Angie Newby
Absent:
Public:
Staff: Rachel Livingston
Minutes were corrected
striking the Ulmer’s conversation and the fact that
Ron and Connie were the only attendees at the Fred Meyer open house in January.
Fred Meyer update: Ron, Asia
and Mike attended the second Fred Meyer open house. Ron stated that he was not
impressed with this second meeting and it is clear that they are not concerned
about aesthetics and art although to their credit, they did say they would do
something about Public Art.
Asia agreed with Ron that
they did say they would consider Public Art but there was no commitment. Connie asked if there were any ideas on what
the next step should be regarding Fred Meyer.
Angie commented that we should write a letter. Fred Meyer has said they will consider art so
we could send them a letter simply letting them know that we are here and we
can help them. Asia agreed. Angie made a motion that we formally send a
letter expressing our thanks that they are interested in including art in their
project and offering our services. Ron
seconded the motion. Connie stated that
we need to run the letter by the City Manager.
Angie will draft letter and Rachel will help.
Parks and Rec update: Mike stated that the Parks and Rec commission
seemed to understand and be supportive of the Triangle Park Resolution. Angie mentioned that the minutes from their
meeting certainly indicated that they were pleased. Mike asked if the minutes from the Public Art
meetings could start being included in the Parks and Rec packet? He stated that Melissa and Rachel need to get
together to make sure the minutes are included.
Connie mentioned that it might be wise to confirm that the Parks and Rec
committee wants our minutes in every packet.
Connie stated that she would
put Triangle Park back on the next agenda so we do not lose track of our goals
for this project.
Town Square reso update: Rachel edited the reso with changes made by
the committee at last meeting and asked them to look over for any other
changes. Asia added a sentence to the 4th
whereas and the reso was accepted with changes and seconded by Angie. Dave questioned if we should limit this reso
to Town Center only or if the reso should include a wider area or possibly the
whole city. Asia stated that we are
trying to enforce Town Center at this point and the need to stay specific to
this project for the time being. Asia
and Mike agreed to attend the Planning commission meeting when the Town Center
reso is brought forward. Next planning
commission date is set for March 1.
Animal Shelter Art
update: Dave mentioned that he spoke
with Tarri regarding the animal shelter sign and it looks like April or May for
delivery of the sign. The date for an
animal shelter art celebration was set for June 2nd at 5:30pm. Dave will give Tarri May 1st as a
final deadline and Rachel will contact Public Works for sign installation in
May.
Asia filled in the committee
on author, John Vallani whose popular book now includes Homer as one of The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America. John is doing a national tour with a
presentation on what makes an excellent art town and to promote the book .He will
be here in Homer from July 1 to July 4.
He would like to do a one hour presentation and the committee discussed
details of this event. This included: sponsored by Public Art Committee, providing
refreshments, officially inviting council and commissions, book sales and
signing. There was discussion on where
to hold the event and the committee decided the Council chambers would be best
to symbolize the City’s participation and support for Art in Homer by making
the art presentation a civic event.
There was concern about the limited amount of room at City Hall. Mike asked Asia if the author, John Vallari
would include the benefits of art and economic development in his
presentation. Asia was not sure but she
will try to get an outline of the presentation.
Discussion on the positive aspects of making this a Chamber/City
sponsored event.
Connie stated that she and
Dave and Mike would like to present the Administrative Guidelines to the Public
Arts Committee for their consideration and that these guidelines are not in
there final form and the discussion today should revolve around the content and
not wordsmithing. She would like the committee’s
comments on the basic guidelines with the purpose being a useful tool for our committee
and future committees who have to administer the public art ordinance.
Connie asked the committee
about the first item in the Guidelines regarding the CM’s responsibility to
alerting the committee whenever the City receives authorization to construction
or renovating a building, a facility or a parcel of ground. This could be a list that appears as a regular
list and becomes a standard agenda item. Dave mentioned that the City Manager’s
office already has enough to do but Mike felt that it was good to make this the
City Manager’s job so he keeps these potential projects on his radar. Ron agreed that this would be a good addition
to the Administrative guidelines.
Angie mentioned fostering the
integration of art within the community rather than just making it sound like
we are purchasing or commissioning works of art, our vision is broad. Angie mentioned putting this in intro and
changing intro around a bit. Connie will
put in on last page for future discussion.
Mike mentioned the City of Stockton guidelines has a great intro and we
may want to think about integrating that paragraph. There was conversation on if the paragraph is
too controversial.
There was discussion on
exemptions and if a list of exemptions should be a part of the guidelines or
should exemptions be dealt with on a project by project basis. The committee agreed that there should be
some exemptions and they will discuss at a future meeting what those exemptions
should be.
Discussion on location of
art, type of art, themes. Who will be
involved in the early stages? Connie suggested that this committee could have
the job of meeting with the architect, project designers and members of the
user group early on to talk through where there might be suitable places for art
in the building or an alternative would be the job of the selection
committee. Ron felt the selection
committee should have this job and this committee should not be the overseers
of what the art will be in the next building. Gale and Angie felt that the selection
committee comes into play too late in the process and Connie agreed. The problem is if the selection committee is
picked very early in the process they must stay together for well over a year
and that is a very long commitment.
Discussion on who picked the art sites for the library: Building committee and architect identified
some locations but the artists through the RFP process chose locations no one
else had thought of. Ron feels that each
selection committee is unique and we cannot be experts on every building that’s
going to happen, the Public Art Committee does participate by one of our members
being a member of the selection committee. Ron feels most selection committee’s are quite
successful because of the focus on the particular project. This provides in the state of Alaska a great
variety of art not just one kind dictated by the State. The committee agreed with Ron’s assessment
and all also agreed that the selection committee needs to jump on board much
earlier in the process.
Connie asked the committee to
look over the rest of the guidelines for the next meeting and to concentrate on
the ideas rather than wordsmithing.
Connie also mentioned that the committee could focus on what they feel
their areas of expertise are or that they are particularly interested
in for example, Ron and his
knowledge of contracts for the contract section.
Dave felt the guidelines will
be very helpful and we should focus on a clear outline without getting into so
much detail that it does not leave room for creativity in the process.
Board Comments:
Angie has spent time in many
communities around the country and she has discovered that the highest property
values and most attractive places were cities that dedicated 1% to the arts.
Another notable observation was that there were only a few cities in each state
that had this focus on the arts but that this focus on art was critical to
these cities in terms of a destination to visitors within the particular state,
economic development, health, property values and good paying jobs.
Dave stated that he enjoys
working with this great group of people.
Connie thanked Gale for the
information regarding the artist’s registry and we would include this
information within the guidelines and talk in more detail about it at a future
time.
Next meeting date: March 23rd at 1:00