Rivals by Lars Stanley, 2011

Rivals Northeast Regional Park in El Paso
August 24, 2011 from10 to 11 a.m.

The City of El Paso Public Art Program invites the public to the dedication and unveiling of the public art installation, Rivals at Northeast Regional Park. Rivals, designed by artist Lars Stanley, is a hand-made forged steel sculpture. The Ribbon cutting ceremony will be held August 24, 2011 from 10 to 11 a.m. at 5951 RedStone Rim Dr., off of the Patriot Highway (between McCombs and Rick Husband).

About the Project

The City of El Paso approved the placement of Rivals, a public art piece in Northeast Regional Park as part of an aesthetic improvement to the quality of life in the city. The public art piece was designed and placed to welcome visitors as they enter the pedestrian gateway into the park.

About the Artwork

This public art project, entitled Rivals, consists of two sculptures, a large scorpion and vinegaroon, challenging each other in a competitive stance at the entrance to the park. These native rivals, found in the natural environment of the Chihuahuan Desert of the Southwest, suggest the spirit of competition that embodies the teams that come to the park to compete. The sculptures are hand-forged and fabricated from 1/8” plate steel and solid bar stock, with a 2” pipe frame inside.

About the Artist

Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, architect and artisan Lars Stanley translates his passion for the process of making into the making of place, embedding human energy and an awareness of art and craftsmanship into a diverse range of built projects.

His work as an architect and artist is rooted in understanding how the human spirit and impulse are manifested through materials as they are transformed by the work of the hand. His projects seek to nourish a richness of culture and place, cultivating an intimate, human scale. Lars’ approach is characterized by both the pragmatism associated with knowing the constraints of a material and the artistry associated with understanding its opportunities.

Stanley was selected to receive the first Texas Society of Architects Citation of Honor – Artisan’s Award, and in July 2009, he was named an Outstanding Alumnus, the highest honor bestowed upon former students by the Texas A&M College of Architecture. In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Rivals by Lars Stanley, 2011

Follow-up to recently released Creative Time report brings recognized innovators in art and architecture to Dallas

On February 1, New York-based public arts organization and Meadows Prize recipient Creative Time and SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts released a series of recommendations for fostering the arts in Dallas. The group identified 13 key elements necessary for the Dallas art community to thrive, and developed several recommendations for each element to further strengthen programs and structures and to create new opportunities.

In a follow-up to the report, the Meadows School will host a public symposium on Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. titled “The Freedom of the City: Models of Urban Engagement and Creativity in the 21st Century.” Through individual presentations and panel discussions, the conference will explore the relationship between artists, architects, activists and social justice struggles, and examine new models of public art practice and architecture in the urban environment. The aim of the event is threefold: to disseminate information on exemplary public art/architecture projects that have taken place or are in progress in cities throughout the United States; to discuss the relevance of such approaches to the city of Dallas; and to generate public feedback on these and related issues deemed crucial to the well-being of the community.

Participants will include socially engaged artists, SMU and UT arts and architecture faculty, and prominent Dallas community builders. The symposium will be moderated by Nato Thompson, chief curator of Creative Time. Guest speakers include the following:

• Dean Almy, Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the Graduate Programs in Urban Design and Landscape Architecture, University of Texas-Austin
• Brent Brown, Architect; Director of CityDesign Studio and buildingcommunity WORKSHOP, Dallas
• Mel Chin, Artist; projects include Revival Field (use of plants to remove toxic metals from soil) and KNOWMAD (video game based on rug patterns of disappearing nomadic people); investigates how art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility
• Wanda Dye, Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Texas-Arlington
• Tom Finkelpearl, Executive Director, Queens Museum of Art, and author of Dialogues in Public Art
• Rick Lowe, Artist; Founder of Project Row Houses, Houston, the Watts House Project, Los Angeles, and other community building projects nationwide
• Cheryl Mayo, Executive Director, West Dallas Community Centers
• Laurie Jo Reynolds, Artist; Soros Justice Fellow; projects include Tamms Year Ten, which led to prison reform in Illinois; fuses art with political activism
• Jason Roberts, Founder and President, Oak Cliff Transit Authority; co-founded Art Conspiracy and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff; “Better Blocks” project organizer
• Zoka Zola, Architect; winner of Architecture magazine’s Home of the Year Award

The symposium will take place in the Bob Hope Theatre of the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus. The schedule is below. Lunch and refreshments will be served. Admission is free, but registration is required. To register for the event, visit smu.edu/freedomofthecity or contact Leila Grothe at leilagrothe@gmail.com.

The symposium is an example of new initiatives at the Meadows School designed to help students discover myriad ways to use their artistic training after graduation, said Meadows School Dean José Bowen. “The Meadows School is pioneering a new model of art that connects social engagement and community relevance with employment,” he said. “As of fall 2010, all freshmen at Meadows are introduced to alternative models of artistic practice – which includes everything from our own programs in music therapy and our interdisciplinary ensemble, Point, to our community artist partnerships with Big Thought – AND to the basics of how the various arts businesses, both nonprofit and for-profit, work. We’ve also introduced the country’s first official minors in arts entrepreneurship and creative computing, as well as a new minor in arts management, and we will soon launch a new minor in cities and culture. All of this is designed to expose students to a broader array of art-making, which will prepare them both for community impact and jobs.”

About Creative Time and the Meadows Prize

In October 2009 Creative Time received one of the inaugural two Meadows Prize artist residency awards from the Meadows School. Creative Time’s residency took the form of a yearlong study of the Dallas art community to identify strengths and potential areas for growth. During the course of three weeklong visits to Dallas in 2010, Creative Time’s team met with a wide range of members of the art community, including artists, curators, collectors, gallery owners, visual and performing arts organization leaders, school administrators, philanthropists, writers, community organizers and city officials. The resulting report, released on February 1, presented some 60 recommendations for both individual and collective action to help the Dallas art community thrive. The full report and ongoing community comments are posted on D Magazine’s FrontRow site: frontrow.dmagazine.com/creativetime. The report is also available at smu.edu/creativetimereport.

Since 1974, Creative Time has presented the most innovative art in the public realm. The New York-based nonprofit has worked with over 2,000 artists to produce more than 335 groundbreaking public art projects that have ignited the public’s imagination, explored ideas that shape society and engaged millions of people around the globe. Creative Time seeks to convert the power of artists’ ideas into works that inspire social change and stimulate public dialogue on timely issues, while initiating a dynamic conversation among artists, sites and audiences. For more information on Creative Time and its projects, visit www.creativetime.org.

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

10:00 a.m. – Opening remarks Jose Bowen, Dean, Meadows School of the Arts

10:05 a.m. – Introduction Michael Corris, Chair, Division of Art, Meadows School of the Arts

10:10 a.m. – Keynote Speaker Rick Lowe – “Art and Social Justice”

Theme A: Art

10:40 a.m. -Speaker 1 Laurie Jo Reynolds – “The Worst of the Worst: Where DoThey Come From? Who Are They? Where Are TheyGoing?”

11:05 a.m. -Speaker 2 Mel Chin – “April Update: Operation Paydirt/FundredDollar Bill Project”

11:30 a.m. -Panel discussion Nato Thompson, Chief Curator, Creative Time; Noah Simblist, Associate Professor of Art, Meadows School ofthe Arts; and speakers

12:00 p.m. – Lunch Break

Theme B: Community

12:35 p.m. – Speaker 3 Cheryl Mayo – “West Dallas and the Arts”

1:00 p.m. – Speaker 4 Tom Finkelpearl – “Can Artists Actually Make a Difference in a City?”

1:25 p.m. – Panel discussion Nato Thompson, Jason Roberts and speakers

1:45 p.m. – Refreshment break

Theme C: Architecture

2:00 p.m. – Speaker 5 Dean Almy – “Colonization”

2:25 p.m. – Speaker 6 Zoka Zola – “Recent Works”

2:50 p.m. – Speaker 7 Wanda Dye – “Engaging the Everyday City: Observations and Interventions”

3:15 p.m. – Panel discussion Nato Thompson, Brent Brown and speakers

3:45 p.m. – Closing remarks Jose Bowen

Ms. Diachisin selected Lesli Robertson, a Dallas-based artist known for her fiber installation pieces that have a strong history and relation to numerous cultures, to design and help execute the creative side of the project. Together, Ms. Diachisin, Ms. Robertson and the DMA staff will work with over 20 community groups in North Texas and with visitors to the Museum to make small works of art. These will be incorporated into a larger textile-based art installation that will go on view in the Center at the start of the new year. Ms. Robertson will use the process of weaving to “connect” each participating individual and community’s work to the completed project.

“The Dallas Museum of Art and its Center for Creative Connections are delighted to bring the work of Lesli Robertson, an exciting and well-recognized textile artist, to the Museum and to our community,” said Ms. Diachisin, “With this new Community Partner Response project, we are giving participants the opportunity to see how they are a part of a larger community and how their contribution to it is vital.”

For the project, participants will make 1.5” x 1.5” personal collages out of everyday materials and preserve them in a concrete base. Each person is asked to use materials in their work that can reflect a part of themselves; electronic components, natural fibers and metal are a few of the choices. At the completion of their collages, they are asked to describe in writing how these materials represent them, along with a sketch of their collage; this documentation will be part of the final installation.

For the final installation, Ms. Robertson will weave strips of cloth into which the collages will be woven. Each element in the process of this project, from the community involvement, to the interaction of the collages within the cloth, to the amount of cloth that is woven will lead to the final outcome of the installation. A video will project the documentation gathered from the community collages onto the surface of a wall-sized loom. As the community weaves the cloth from various recycled materials on the loom, they will essentially be building the video screen.

Since the project’s launch over the summer, Ms. Diachisin and Ms. Robertson have worked with over 10 community organizations – ranging from ARC of Dallas, Tulisoma Learning Partnership Festival and an Ice House camp facilitated by the Museum — and created over 270 collages. Contributions by visitors to the DMA during its Thursday Night Live Make It Take It classes and monthly Late Nights are also included.

Over the next two months, 10 more groups are scheduled to participate at community events, including an afternoon at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Dallas Arts District; faculty from the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; and an activity at Avance, a Dallas-based organization that helps at-risk Hispanic families with parenting and education programs.

For details and dates on how members of the community can take part in this project, visit DallasMuseumofArt.org or call 214-922-1200.

About Susan Diachisin, The Kelli and Allen Questrom Director of the Center for Creative Connections

Susan Diachisin, The Kelli and Allen Questrom Director of the Center for Creative Connections (C3), moved from Massachusetts to join the Dallas Museum of Art in January 2008 to direct the C3 and develop its exhibitions and programs. For over twenty five years she has worked in all facets of nonprofit arts organizations in a multitude of positions and with people of all ages. The diversity of her past projects includes programming on the national, regional, and local levels. Since receiving her MEd. with a concentration in Arts in Education (Harvard Graduate School of Education), her programming achievements have focused on education in contemporary art organizations and museums.

Prior to joining the Dallas Museum of Art, she worked for seven years as Head of Gallery Learning at DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where the focus of her position was to direct exhibition interpretation, the museum guide program, and public educational programming. She also served as Education Director at the Fuller Museum of Art, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University and the New Art Center, where she initiated innovative programming that was nationally and locally recognized. In addition to her museum responsibilities, she has taught studio art, exhibited her own artwork, and been a loyal volunteer at many arts organizations.

About Lesli Robertson

Lesli Robertson is an active member of the Dallas arts community as a member of 500X (Texas’s oldest artist-run collaborative gallery), a curator and avid researcher, and a lecturer at the University of North Texas. She holds an MFA in Fibers from the University of North Texas and a BFA in Liberal Arts from Auburn University, and has completed additional artistic training at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Robertson’s current work stems from her ongoing research of African culture, which focuses on bark cloth from Uganda. Robertson is a recent recipient of The Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund from the Dallas Museum of Art, which supported her travel to Uganda for research. That research, culminated in a three-phase interdisciplinary project, Renewing Material and the Handmade: The Story of Ugandan Bark Cloth, exhibited at the University of North Texas Art Gallery in Denton, Texas. In addition to exhibiting artwork in a number of solo and group exhibitions, Robertson has published several articles in leading textile journals.

About the Dallas Museum of Art

Located in the vibrant Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) ranks among the leading art institutions in the country and is distinguished by its innovative exhibitions and groundbreaking educational programs. At the heart of the Museum and its programs are its encyclopedic collections, which encompass more than 23,000 works and span 5,000 years of history, representing a full range of world cultures. Established in 1903, the Museum today welcomes more than 700,000 visitors annually and acts as a catalyst for community creativity, engaging people of all ages and backgrounds with a diverse spectrum of programming, from exhibitions and lectures to concerts, literary readings and dramatic and dance presentations.

The Dallas Museum of Art is supported in part by the generosity of Museum members and donors and by the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas/Office of Cultural Affairs and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

The Catholic Foundation will announce the winner of the 4th Annual Catholic Foundation Plaza Artists Competition and unveil new larger-than-life artwork on the outdoor Art Wall during a public dedication ceremony in the Dallas Arts District on Oct. 11 at 3 p.m. As part of the week-long grand opening celebration of The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, the unveiling will immediately follow the blessing of the Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theatre.

“We are delighted to honor the talent of one of our local artists in conjunction with the celebration of this exciting time for the Dallas arts community and Dallas citizens alike,” said Edwin M. Schaffler, President and CEO of The Catholic Foundation. “The grand opening festivities of the new Dallas Center for the Performing Arts are truly a celebration of the growth and continued success of everything that the Dallas Arts District has to offer. We encourage visitors to enjoy the free public space of the Art Plaza nestled in the middle of this booming district.”

Earlier this year, the Catholic Foundation invited professional artists living in the North Texas area to submit proposal designs for consideration. A panel of highly respected members of the local arts community chose the winning piece. The grand winner will receive a $2,500 stipend and their artwork displayed on a 28’ by 9’8” wall for approximately one year at the Catholic Foundation Plaza located on the grounds of the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Dallas Arts District.

Former winners include Marty Ray for her work “Celebrate Life, Celebrate Art” in 2006, Ann Cushing Gantz for her work “Trumpeting Angels” in 2007, and Pamela Nelson for her work “Magic Carpet” in 2008.

The Catholic Foundation Plaza, dedicated in October 2006, was a gift from The Catholic Foundation to the Dallas community to commemorate the Foundation’s 50th anniversary. In addition to the art wall, the 3,900-square-foot public space is an oasis for Dallas citizens and visitors to enjoy.

Chartered in 1955 by a group of dedicated Catholic laymen, The Catholic Foundation is a donor-focused community foundation that guides benefactors in compassionate charitable giving endeavors, utilizing extensive expertise to carry out the various philanthropic goals of its donors. The Foundation’s planned giving programs connects donors directly with organizations they wish to support within the Diocese of Dallas and elsewhere, whether that is a home parish, Catholic school or a community-based charity. Thanks to the generosity of donors both past and present, The Foundation has provided approximately $22 million to local organizations through hundreds of grants over the past 53 years, and donor-advised funds maintained at the Foundation have accounted for even more grants amounting to millions of dollars.

For additional information about The Catholic Foundation, call 972.661.9792.

The Fort Worth Art Commission invites Fort Worth residents to a presentation and public hearing on the Draft FY 2010 Annual Work Plan (Public Art Fund) for the Fort Worth Public Art (FWPA) program.

The work plan is developed annually by the FWAC in conjunction with Arts Council staff and the city manager and staff, with input from City Council members and the community. The Art Commission strives to ensure that public art is visible for the benefit of residents and visitors, fulfilling the goals of the Fort Worth Public Art program.

The work plan lists ongoing and proposed new public art projects to be initiated between Oct. 1, 2009 and Sept. 30, 2010. The draft plan can be downloaded from the Fort Worth Public Art website: www.fwpublicart.org

WHEN

Monday, August 3, 2009, 5:30 PM

WHERE

Ella Mae Shamblee Library
Meeting room upstairs
1062 Evans, Fort Worth, TX 76104

Texas Public Art Opportunities

Austin, TX
Deadline: August 7, 2009

The City of Austin Art in Public Places (AIPP) program of the Cultural Arts Division, Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office seeks to commission an artist/design professional to design and construct a work of art that will contribute to the Danny G. McBeth Recreation Center located in Zilker Park. The City of Austin requests conceptual proposals (RFP) from visual artists/design professionals who live or work in Austin or the surrounding area within a 100 mile radius. The total public art budget is $32,000. To be considered for the project, applicants must join the AIPP Artist Registry and submit for the Danny G. McBeth Recreation Center project through the Application System for Art in Public Places (ASAPP!)

Corpus Christi, TX
DEADLINE: August 13, 2009

The City of Corpus Christi Arts & Cultural Commission has issued an open call to artists. One or more artists will be selected to design, create, and install two works of art on the interior of the Corpus Christi Police Department, located in the downtown area of Corpus Christi. For the complete Request for Qualifications click here. Visit cctexas.com for more information.

Austin, TX
Deadline: September 13, 2009

The City of Austin Art in Public Places (AIPP) program of the Cultural Arts Division, Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office seeks to commission an artist/design professional to design and construct a work of art that will contribute to the new Zachary Scott Theatre (ZACH) 500-seat theater complex adjacent to Lady Bird Lake. The City of Austin requests qualifications from professional visual artists who live and work in the United States. Up to three finalists will be selected from the submissions to be interviewed by the jury. One artist/design professional and one alternate will be selected for the project with a $150,000 budget. Read more at cityofaustin.org

Water Fountain by Cam Shoepp, 2009

Fort Worth Fire Station 38 will hold an open house to show off the new station including Water Fountain, a public artwork installation commissioned by the Fort Worth Public Arts (FWPA) program. Station 38 is located at 13280 Park Vista Blvd. The open house is from 3 to 9 p.m. on Friday, July 10, 2009.

About the Artist (From FWPA web site)

Artist Cam Schoepp’s installation at Fire Station 38 is a contemplative oasis comprised of surface-cut limestone slabs and bronze bowls as seating elements and drinking fountains. Through form and text the artist subtly invokes the theme of man’s relationship to one of the most important natural resources – water.

Text sandblasted into the stone and etched into the bronze bowls of the fountains, gently reminds us of the importance of water – not only in fighting fire, but also the impact of water use in communities and the manner in which water creates history by shaping and forming the earth. The artist intends for the text to become a sort of “time capsule of information,” dating the year of the installation’s creation with its consumption and use.

The entrance into the artwork connects to the community and invites visitors to the station in order to consider their relationship with water and the environment. Native, drought tolerant plantings enhance the installation and complement the department’s architecture. “A firehouse seems like a wonderful place to create a gathering area to think about the issues of water consumption,” says Schoepp.

Public Art Opportunity

Austin, Texas | DEADLINE: July 17, 2009

The City of Austin’s Art in Public Places (AIPP) program seeks to commission 3 artists/design professionals who live or work within a 100-mile radius of Austin to create sidewalk enhancement works of art to be integrated into the 2nd Street District at the northwest corner intersections of San Antonio, Guadalupe and Lavaca Streets. The budget for each of the three public art projects is $20,000 ($60,000 total), inclusive of all aspects of design, construction, installation and related fees.
For the complete Request for Qualifications or visit austin.tx.us