HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-02-2019 Minutes City of Auburn Arts Commission
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 Meeting Minutes
Present: Anne Baunach, Cary Davidson, Patricia Judd, Eydie Leighty, Amy Sie, Sirichanh
Sisavatdy, Pam Smith, Kenneth Gregory Watson
Staff: Arts & Events Manager Julie Krueger; Arts Coordinator Allison Hyde; Arts Assistant Mary
Ellen Bowers
Excused: Kelley Kuhlman, Kelly Gordon, Charlotte Gollnick, Jan Jensen
Guests: Chuck Fitzgerald
I. Call to Order, Approval of Minutes and Introductions
a) Vice-Chair Leighty called the meeting to order at 4:36 pm.
b) Vice-Chair Leighty briefly welcomed Commissioners to the meeting, and asked for a
motion to approve the minutes from the March 5, 2019 Arts Commission meeting.
Commissioner Watson moved to approve the March 5, 2019 meeting minutes; the
motion was seconded by Commissioner Baunach. Vice-Chair Leighty called the vote,
the motion passed unanimously.
II. Review of Sculpture Gallery Applications
a) Arts Coordinator Allison Hyde went over the agenda for the meeting, reminding
Commissioners that they would be reviewing and selecting 10-11 sculptures for the
2019-20 Downtown Sculpture Gallery. Applications were accepted through the CaFE
system again this year. Hyde asked for feedback from Commissioners regarding the
jury process on CaFE. Commissioners generally expressed a positive experience with
the system. A total of 31 eligible artists submitted 67 eligible sculptures for the
Commissioner's consideration. Hyde reviewed the available locations, and the
limitations of each location, noting that the eligible sculptures had been sorted into
categories which matched the best possible placement for each category.
b) Hyde led Commissioners through a brief review of all of the eligible sculptures, asking
them to hold comments, but allowing time for Commissioners to take notes. Hyde then
asked Commissioners to indicate which sculptures in each category they preferred by a
raised hand vote. Discussion was had about the merits and concerns for the top scorers
in each category.
c) Commissioners identified ten sculptures to be invited to display in the downtown area,
and one sculpture to be invited to display on the large ground level pad at Game Farm
Park. Two additional sculptures were selected as alternates, to be invited to display in
the event of unavailability of any of the top ten selected sculptures.
d) Commissioner Watson moved that the slate of selected artworks be accepted, the
motion was seconded by Commissioner Davidson. Vice-Chair Leighty called the vote,
the motion passed unanimously.
e) Staff will work to contact and invite the identified artists. De-installation of last year's
sculptures and installation of the new selected sculptures will be scheduled for Early
September.
f) During related discussion commissioners suggested sites to explore for additional
display opportunities for the Downtown Sculpture Gallery and the City's permanent
Public Art collection. Locations suggested included Clark Plaza and the round-about on
Lea Hill.
Ill. Updates/Upcoming Events
a. Arts & Events Manager Julie Krueger announced the near-completion of the City's
newest public art piece "Crow with Fries." Plans are underway to celebrate the "landing"
of Crow with Fries. Events will include:
• April 9-July 9, 2019: Celebration of the Crow, an art exhibition curated by local
artist and crow-lover, Greg Bartol. This event will include an Opening Reception
on May 1St featuring an artist talk by "Crow with Fries" artist Peter Reiquam, as
well as a presentation by renown crow researcher and author, professor John
Marzluff, of the University of Washington.
• "Crow with Fries" Landing, a celebration of the installation of this iconic artwork.
This celebration festival will include free food, souvenir give-aways, ribbon
cutting, art making opportunities, and more.
b. Krueger announced the City's efforts to secure funding from the State for the future Arts
& Culture Center. The current House Capital Budget proposal contains $500,000 for the
project. Staff have been in touch with elected officials from the Senate who are working
to include this amount in the Senate's Capital Budget proposal as well. Budget
consideration is still underway, but staff are hopeful that funding will be forthcoming.
c. Hyde announced two calls to artists that are closing soon. The first is a call, closing April
5, 2019, for artworks/designs that can be reproduced as a vinyl wraps and applied to up
to 16 utility boxes throughout Auburn. The second call is a request for artist or artist
team to create a mural on the two surfaces on the underpass of the bridge located on F
Street SE between 4th Street SE and 5th Street SE. This call closes April 26, 2019. Both
projects are in collaboration with Auburn's Public Works department.
d. Hyde updated commissioners on the jury process for this year's Mary Olson Farm Artist
in Residence. Four finalists have been identified and staff are in the process of
interviews to determine the successful candidate.
e. Hyde announced the success of the City's recent grant request to 4Culture for the
Creative Consultancies program in collaboration with artist Kathleen Fruge Brown. Hyde
was delighted to announce that the Auburn Arts Alley project was awarded $20,000 to
fund artistic elements for alley improvement. Hyde noted that staff from 4Culture
mentioned that the award was the largest in this grant cycle, and that the project was a
committee favorite.
IV. Adjourn
There being no further business, a motion was made by Commissioner Baunach to adjourn,
which was seconded by Commissioner Watson. Vice-Chair Leighty called the vote, and the
motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 6:14 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Mary Ellen Bowers /�
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