Collingwood Islands Project
Artist Mark Lere of Glendale California has been selected for the Collingwood Commission. Below are the preliminary images of the artwork that Mark presented.
10/13/2011
RFQ
The Arts Commission, acting as administrator of the City of Toledo’s One Percent for Art Program, will commission a new work of public art to be installed in coordination with the City of Toledo’s planned infrastructure and repavement project along Collingwood Blvd. The new artwork, which has yet to be designed, will be sited along Collingwood Blvd utilizing a series of new and existing islands/medians.
In October of 2011 a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was launched for the project. The request was circulated locally on our website and Facebook page. It also went out to an international audience via the Public Art Listserv and a number of other regional listservs. The RFQ gathered over 100 submissions from artists from almost every region in the United States (including Northwest Ohio), as well as submissions from the UK, Canada, Philippines, Australia and Scotland. CLICK HERE to view the RFQ that was circulated for this commission.
The selection process for this commission is currently underway. A Design Review Board has been appointed by the Arts Commission’s Art in Public Places Committee to manage the review process and select the artwork to be commissioned for this site. This governing body has reviewed the pool of qualifications and selected 3 finalists for the commission. The Design Review Board model is the national standard for selecting artwork for the public domain. It is successful because it relies on a collaborative process that involves a cross section of community stakeholders, local citizens, and design professionals. CLICK HERE For more information about the Design Review Board process. The Design Review Board for this commission includes the following individuals.
Robert Zollweg (OWE Resident, & Creative Director, Libby Glass)
Mike Duket (President, Duket Architects)
Claude Fixler (Exhibition Designer, Toledo Museum of Art)
Paula Hicks Hudson (OWE Resident, & Toledo City Councilwoman District 4)
Jemma Hostetler (OWE Resident, & Graphic Designer)
Steve Day (Chief Landscape Architect, City of Toledo, Engineering Services)
Ken Thompson (Local Artist, & Owner, Flatlanders Sculpture Supply)
To assure that the greater community has an opportunity to help shape the project, The Arts Commission has coordinated a community forum where interested citizens can meet the 3 artists who have been selected by the Design Review Board as finalists for the commission and provide input that will help establish the design criteria. The community forum will take place on March 12 at 5:30pm in coordination with the Old West End Historic District Commission meeting. The meeting will take place at the Collingwood Presbyterian Church, 2108 Collingwood Blvd, Toledo, OH 43620 and is open to the public. CLICK HERE for more information about the Community Forum.
The three finalists for this project are;Sheila Klein of Bow, Washington, Scott Murase of Portland Oregon, and Mark Lere of Glendale, California. Below are examples of works from these artists' portfolios.
Once the community forum has taken place, the 3 finalists will return to their studios and begin designing their proposals for this commission. The proposals will be presented on May 14th in a second community forum (more information about this meeting is comming soon). The input that is gathered from the community in this second public meeting will help the Design Review Board make its final decision about which proposal to commission.
The installation of this new artwork will be coordinated with the City of Toledo’s infrastructure project along Collingwood. Presently, the Arts Commission anticipates that the selected proposal will be completed in the 2014 calendar year.
This project is funded by the City of Toledo's 1% for Art Program. The 1% for Art Program is administred by the Arts Commission through its Art in Public Places Committee. For more information about this program CLICK HERE
