To: Members of the Public Art Commission
From: Kristin Zagurski, Town Liaison
Title
Discussion/Direction: Art Wrap Project
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Discussion
June Update: In May, the Commission approved the concept for the art wrap project at Philip S. Miller Park. While obtaining the high-resolution image needed to produce the wraps, the Public Art Collective discovered the image the artist submitted for the Town’s call was an altered image and not true to the original piece for which the high-resolution image was obtained. See Attachment G for a side-by-side of the submitted (left) and original (right) images.
The issue with the two different images is that the altered image has significantly more sky and prairie than does the original. Given the planned installation consists mainly of sky and prairie, this could be problematic. Staff and the Public Art Collective are attempting to work with the artist to resolve this - either through obtaining alternate high-resolution images of the work, or by having the artist complete another original that includes additional sky and prairie.
Staff is seeking Commission direction whether to simply proceed if/when a resolution is reached, or whether to bring back the final image to the Commission for approval.
Late May Update: In May, the Commission discussed of the Public Art Collective’s recommended concept and arrived at consensus regarding further feedback. Staff supplied that feedback to the Collective, which generated a final “mock up” based upon the feedback for the Commission’s consideration. Mock-ups of the “front” and “back” of the cabinets are included in Attachments E and F. The Collective included that including as much “prairie” as in the mock-up will incur 2-3 hours of graphic design time, at $65/hour.
If the Commission elects to move forward with the wrap project, production and installation can be expected to take 5-6 weeks, so the installation could be expected to occur by mid-July.
May Update: Following the Commission’s April selection of “Spirit Buffalo” as the preferred piece, staff worked with the Public Art Collective to have a more detailed image “mocked up” of what that art would look like on the electrical cabinets. Additionally, staff worked with the artist, Linda Fitzgerald, to see if she had any additional images that might be used in the array. She supplied several images, but the Public Art Collective ultimately recommended against using more than one image. The Collective’s recommended concept is in Attachment D.
April Update: Following the Commission’s March selection of two finalist submissions, staff worked with the Public Art Collective to have images “mocked up” of what the art would look like on the electrical cabinets. The mock-up of “Spirit Buffalo” is in Attachment B, and the mock-up of “Warm Aspens” is in Attachment C.
Original Memo:
At its December meeting, the Commission discussed options for future public art projects at Philip S. Miller Park and decided to pursue art wraps, including for the cabinets near the Amphitheater at the park.
The Commission directed staff to prepare a call for artworks to be considered for the project(s). The call ran January 2 through March 2. The images submitted in conjunction with the call are attached.
The Commission should review the images to determine whether to proceed with any of them; to proceed with an image available through the Public Art Collective as previously discussed; or to not proceed with an art wrap project at this time.
Financial Information
The proposed cost for the Public Art Collective to cover the 15 electrical boxes in question was $8,491, if using artwork available through the Collective. (The cost is expected to be about $7,800 if using our own artwork.) The Collective’s wraps can be expected to last seven to 10 years.
Staff bid production and installation of art wraps with two other printers. One quoted $9,000-$11,000, with an expected wrap lifespan of three to seven years.
The other quoted about $3,600 for printing and installing the art wrap portion only. Assistance with artwork layout/design would be at $50/hour, and any labels that would need to be reprinted on the boxes would cost $35/each, plus $5 per square foot to print and install. From this information, it is difficult to determine what the total cost would be using this vendor, whose product has an expected life span of three to five years.
Attachments
Attachment A Images Submitted to Art Call
Attachment B Spirit Buffalo Mock-Up
Attachment C Warm Aspens Mock-Up
Attachment D Public Art Collective Recommended Concept
Attachment E Updated Concept for Front of Cabinets
Attachment F Concept for Back of Cabinets
Attachment G Submitted and Original Images