Posts tagged with “public art”

Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity supporting the conservation of heritage buildings and structures in recognition of their contribution to the city’s economy, sustainability and culture.

Help us celebrate local artist Paul de Guzman who is our 2013 artist for the WALL. Paul was selected from a list of very impressive candidates to create and install on the 30′ x 40′ concrete wall above JJ Bean at 700 Hamilton Street, the CBC Outdoor Stage. Paul’s work utilizes an archival image and text from the CBC Archives. Titled “the people are the city…” the work comments on the social responsibilities of architecture to build communities and contribute to our historical memories.

We’ll be celebrating Paul’s achievement with an official launch on Wednesday April 17th from 12pm to 1pm, at the CBC Outdoor Stage. Paul will speak about his work and the process of creating for such an expansive space, plus we’ll have tasty treats for all. Stop by on your lunch break and support public art in your city!

The WALL is a public art initiative made possible by a partnership between VHF, CBC Radio-Canada and JJ Bean Coffee Roasters. A portion of all sales from the JJ Bean CBC location kiosk, goes to funding The WALL art installations.  So every time you purchase delicious JJ Bean beverages from this spot, you are helping public art which beautifies and enlivens our city.

Every day we share a single photo from our Flickr Pool shot by one of our faithful and talented readers (that’s you!)

Ha! Awesome photo of the A-Maze-ing Laughter public art installation down at English Bay promoting Water Safety Week/Month (I think).

The sculptures have been given personal floatation jackets. Awesome.

Enjoy Laughing in the Rain from HereInVancouver

John

Did you see the V-Pole concept that Douglas Coupland unveiled with Mayor Gregor at the New Cities Summit in Paris last month? Essentially it was a simple idea to address the issues of electric vehicle charging stations and cellular data – both of which will need to increase hugely in the years to come – with more energy-and-cost-efficient LED street lighting. And it was brilliant. Below is a simple diagram of it.

Now coming up with a simple, brilliant idea is one thing, but bringing it into the real world is another. Coupland presented the concept with some basic ideas and connections to technology that could help to make it a reality, and I am happy to report to you that just today Vancouver City Council approved a viability assessment whereby the City will be launching pilot projects, reviewing and updating policy for this sort of infrastructure and, hopefully, finding a way to bring the V-Pole to life!

Learn all about this exciting idea at V-Pole.com and keep your fingers crossed that you see it on your block in the not-so-distant future.

THE OPENING is all about introducing the fascinating, quirky and wonderful people working in and around the visual arts in Vancouver. Each week, we’ll feature an artist, collective, curator or administrator to delve deep into who and what makes art happen!

Bryan Newson is the Manager of the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program. He and his staff have been responsible for bringing you everything from Ken Lum’s Monument for East Vancouver to Rodney Graham’s Aerodynamic Forms in Space, and hundreds more. I met with Bryan a few weeks ago to discuss how he got involved in the creation of the program, what it does, and where it’s headed in the face of budget cutbacks.

Inges Idée ‘Drop’

Can you tell me about what the Public Art Program does for the City of Vancouver?

The Public Art Program is designed to bring artists forward in planning and development processes that are in this city’s jurisdiction. This includes finding ways to incorporate artists, their artwork and contemporary art practices, into new facilities such as libraries or community centres. It also provides a mechanism for requiring major private developments such as the larger of the new condos and things coming into the city, to commission new artworks in association with their new developments.

Additionally, it looks after things like what do you do when the government of the Northwest Territories wants to donate an Inukshuk for English Bay. What’s the process for handling that, who needs to be consulted? That’s actually a gift of state… you just accept those. But if somebody just wants to donate an artwork, and we spend quite a bit of time wrestling with this issue, we go through a few things: What is the artwork? What is its artistic provenance? Is it a good artwork (by which we simply mean does this work merit long-term placement on city land)? The real issue being, there is nothing more valuable than public space or public land. There’s tremendous pressure on that land, all sorts of agendas for it. I like to think of this part of the Public Art Program (the part that’s not dealing with commissions either for the city or for the private sector, but the part that’s figuring out what to do with donations), I see that as a way of protecting public space, or at least bringing some rigor to the discussion about what should go up on public space.

Do you get a lot of art by donation or is most of it by commission?

We used to. When the program started there was a whole tradition, and most of the artwork that was out in the city was donated by somebody.

The Vancouver Biennale (which is I believe three non-profit entities working in some relation to each other), bring in some major artworks and site them around the city. They have approached us seeking permission to site the works on a long-term basis. Up to 30 years was the original request, but I think we’re talking about 20 years now. We’re coming to an agreement with the Biennale about that. The downside is it means we would take a piece of public space, there would be an artwork there for up to 20 years that people would become familiar with, and then it would disappear. Or it could actually disappear at any point if the Biennale decides to take it elsewhere. The good side is that we’ll go through a process of determining the appropriateness of the work and whether it merits the space it’s in (and I think in most cases we’ll be determining yes it does), and the public gets, at no cost to the city, an artwork for 15-20 years to look at.

At no cost to the city other than the upkeep of the land I’m assuming?

The upkeep of the artwork will be at the cost of the Biennale, because it is selling and fundraising work. They’re fundraising right now to try to raise $1.5 million for a piece. If we owned the work, we would be responsible, but if they own the work they are responsible for its upkeep and maintenance and its insurance. Most of these works would be surrounded by a mowing strip. Some of these works are so popular that the grass does not grow! So it is easy for the Parks people to continue to maintain the space around them.

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas ‘Abundance Fenced’

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THE OPENING is all about introducing the fascinating, quirky and wonderful people working in and around the visual arts in Vancouver. Each week, we’ll feature an artist, collective, curator or administrator to delve deep into who and what makes art happen!

Rachel Rosenfield Lafo is a recent transplant to Vancouver from Boston, MA. With a long career as a Curator in a couple of different institutions in the United States, she expected to have little problem finding a similar position here. I chatted with Lafo at Everything Cafe in Chinatown recently about what she’s done before, what she expected in Vancouver, and how she’s overcoming a lack of institutional art positions in the city.

Lafo leading Public Art Tour of Coal Harbour during Vancouver Art Hop, April 30, 2011

Before you moved to Vancouver you worked at the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum for 24 years in Massachusetts, first as Senior Curator and later as Director of Curatorial Affairs. Can you tell me a bit about your roles and what you did during your time there?

The DeCordova was, at that time, a regional New England museum. It had a collection of modern and contemporary American art focused primarily on New England artists, as well as a 35-acre sculpture park. In the Sculpture Park we exhibited artwork from all over the United States. The Museum’s focus has changed since I left but that’s what the mission was when I was hired.

As first Senior Curator and then Director of Curatorial Affairs I was administrative head of the department. I organized exhibitions, wrote catalogues, recommended works for acquisition for the collection… basically all the things museum curators do. I was very active in the local art community going on studio visits, seeing shows, giving lectures, serving on art juries, leading art trips, and meeting with collectors and other colleagues. I also traveled to see art outside of the area.

Which artists did you work with while you were there?

Many, especially after being there for that many years. You probably will not have heard of these artists who are well known in the New England and New York art communities – Gerry Bergstein, Mary Frank, Scott Prior, Gregory Amenoff, Tabitha Vevers. They all had New York gallery representation and so are known there but I don’t think they are known here. I organized a one-person show of William Tucker’s sculpture – he’s a well-known British artist now living in the US, and another of bronze self-portraits by Robert Arneson, a well-known California artist who died in the 1990s. I also curated many group exhibitions on themes such as self-identity, humor, photographs of children, highly detailed mark-making, and animals in art. I worked with a range of artists from younger emerging artists to older more established artists.

At the time, what was your impression of Vancouver as an art community?

I don’t think I had much of an impression, frankly. It wasn’t really a scene that was discussed in Boston. Now the Boston art scene, although quite lively, is not well-known outside the area because Boston lives in the shadow of New York. Years ago I lived in Portland, Oregon and worked as a Curator at the Portland Art Museum. I did visit Vancouver then. So I had some idea about the Vancouver art scene, but that was a long time ago! Things were much different then. I remember going to the Vancouver Art Gallery… I don’t think the Contemporary …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Nicholson Road is an ongoing photo project aimed at sharing and celebrating the different communities in Metro Vancouver. Each week Vancouver Is Awesome will be featuring an image from the previous week, shot in one of the many ‘hoods around town in order to draw your attention a little bit outside of the hyper-focus that we usually have on the City of Vancouver. Metro Vancouver Is Awesome, and you should get out and explore it!

Today is going to be short and sweet, since I’m sure many of you are too stuffed up with turkey and Thanksgiving goodness to have any time for some Metro Vancouver tidbits!

So here’s a shot of Alberto Replanski’s Multiples of Three, installed in 2002 near the Fleetwood Booster Pump Station out in Meagan Anne MacDougall Park, in Fleetwood. As a bonus, in the background you can see the huge Canadian flag waving from the world’s tallest free-standing flagpole (or at least it was when it was created for Expo86!) reaching up about 85m into the sky.

If you’re curious to learn more about the public art around Surrey, check the Surrey Arts Centre page!

You may now pass out from turkey overload. Happy Thanksgiving!

Archives of the Nicholson Road project can be found HERE.