Public Art Network

Public Art Tours (Friday)

• Case Study/Tour: Building a Civic Framework, Arlington, VA
• Case Study/Tour: King Street Gardens, Alexandria, VA
• Case Study/Tour: Metro Art
• Case Study/Tour: Bethesda's Public Art and Private Development Initiatives
• Public Art and Cultural Planning: Prince George's County, MD
• Contemporary Art and Design: Washington, DC

Building a Civic Framework, Culture, Place and Civic Space in an Urbanizing Community: Arlington, VA

Case Study Leaders:

• Angela Adams, Community and Public Art Administrator, Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division, Arlington, VA
• Todd Bressi, Brown and Keener ?Bressi, Philadelphia, PA
• Mary Miss, Artist, New York, NY

Arlington County, Virginia, is using public art to create a new sense of civic space and cultural identity in innovative ways. This session will review how Arlington’s recent Public Art Master Plan has provided a new lens for looking at public art and civic identity in the County, and will examine how the plan is already shaping projects in two main corridors.

The tour will include stops at projects featured in Arlington’s Public Art Master Plan, including the Arlington Water Pollution Control Plant, where participants will learn about the project led by Mary Miss and Powhatan Springs Park, where artist Jann Rosen-Queralt will discuss her work.

King Street Gardens, Alexandria, VA

Case Study Leaders:

• Buster Simpson, Artist, Seattle, WA
• Mark Spitzer, AIA, Mark Spitzer Designs, Seattle, WA
• Marlin G. Lord, AIA, Alexandria, VA

This is a must see project! Come and hear how a grass roots community effort built a collaborative art park project in the middle of a major transit hub in the City of Alexandria.

You will be arriving at King Street Metro, located in a vibrant urban city via river crossings through Arlington, passing Ronald Reagan National airport on the way. You will walk one block to the first collaborative art project in Alexandria which resulted from an international design competition. Following a brief visit to the park where you will see key design elements, your journey will take you into an adjacent auditorium at Regent University for a presentation by the project team tracing the history and struggles of the project.

KingStreet Gardens Parkwas sponsored by the Alexandria Commission for the Arts and the Park and Recreation Commission through the King Street Gardens Park Committee. Fund raising for the park was achieved through contributions from the developers of surrounding projects, grant awards from Federal ISTEA funds, Virginia Commission for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts and the City of Alexandria.

The project was built on City owned land. The guiding principle was that the entire process would be open for public review and comment. The objective of the project was to provide increased visibility for the City and to foster tourism.

You will meet the artists, designers, and some of the community leaders and supportive city staff who together overcame the political, financial and perception obstacles to make King Street Gardens a success. You will hear how maintaining community consensus and adherence to artistic design principles brought the project to fruition and how fundraising programs and grants built the park over a 10 year time span. You will also learn about how diverse programming keeps the park alive day and night throughout the year.

After the panel presentation, you will be treated to a reception organized by surrounding business and neighborhood leaders in King Street Gardens Park. You will also have time for short walking tour to view murals of historic Alexandria, followed by a visit to the African American Heritage Park and Sculpture Garden, and a full-scale scale sculpture of a seated Benjamin Franklin.

Metro Art: Helping Create Livable Communities Through Art in Transit

Case Study Leader:

• Michael McBride, Director, Art in Transit Program, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Washington, DC

This case study and public art tour explores the benefits of integrating artwork into transit projects. The presentations by architects, project managers, community leaders and builders, will examine how art in transit projects help support the cultural and economic vitality of communities. A tour of artwork commissioned by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority provides the backdrop for the workshop and tour.

While transit plays a significant role in creating livable communities, art in transit celebrates the spirit and vitality of neighborhoods. Art in transit projects that are planned with the help of communities encourage pride in neighborhoods and transit organizations, promote ownership of local transit facilities and build ridership.

Transit agencies have a long tradition of integrating artwork and inspired architecture to create compelling public transit facilities. Works of art installed in transit environments transform utilitarian spaces into public spaces that enrich the everyday lives of transit customers. Though many transit agencies realized the benefit of art in transit long ago, some agencies have just recently discovered the positive effects of artwork on transit customers and their communities

The session includes a seventy-five -minute presentation and panel discussion at WMATA Headquarters. The workshop will be followed by a ninety-minute tour of selected artwork in the Metrorail system. The workshop includes WMATA-commissioned artists, architects, project managers, community representatives and others involved in the planning and development of WMATA public art projects. Guests include John D. Thomas, Project Manager, Future New York Avenue Station; Barbara Grygutis, Commissioned artist, New York Avenue Station; Colin Myers, Project Manager, Future Morgan Boulevard and Largo Stations; Athena Tacha, Commissioned artist, Morgan Boulevard Station; Ray King, Commissioned artist, Largo Station; Edward Riley, Manager, WMATA Department of Architecture and Akili Ron Anderson, Commissioned artist, Columbia Heights Station.

Bethesda: Public Art as Amenity—20 Years Later Montgomery County’s Private Development Initiatives

Case Study Leaders:

• Francoise Yohalem, Public Art Consultant, Bethesda, MD
• John Carter, Chief, Community-Based Planning Division Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning Division, Montgomery County.

This session will begin in the Embassy Room with a 30 minute session, followed by a metro/walking tour of Bethesda.

The Optional Method of Development (OMD)—initiated in 1974—gave the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) the legal authority to review and approve Optional Method projects in all the Central Business Districts of Montgomery County. To qualify, developers have to set aside for public use a minimum of 20 percent of the net project site, and also provide a combination of facilities and amenities. Through this program, a developer can achieve increased density by providing parks, gardens, plazas, fountains, streetscaping, day care, and public art works.

Art approved through the OMD must be located in publicly accessible and visible locations on or near the developer’s site. These works of art are public in nature, but privately owned.

Over the last twenty years, about thirty PMD projects incorporating public art have been approved. They have yielded a great variety of public art projects which have become part of the urban fabric in the Central Business Districts of Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Silver Spring.

Francoise Yohalemhas advised developers on the selection of art for their OMD projects for over twenty years. Over the years, downturn in the economy, changes in ownership or in type of businesses, as well as lack of proper site plan enforcement, have affected some of the art projects installed in downtown Bethesda. While some of the works have become familiar landmarks in this now thriving urban district, other have been removed, relocated, altered or neglected. She will discuss some of the challenges encountered over the years and her role as an educator, facilitator and troubleshooter for both her clients and the artists.

John Carter, Chief of the Community-Based Planning Division of the M-NCPPC has been with the Agency since the creation of the Optional Method of Development.

He will discuss the intent of the original County’s zoning code and the process by which developers can satisfy their amenity requirements. He will discuss some of the concerns that lead to the appointment of a Public Art Review Panel, and how his agency is dealing with site plan enforcement issues.

The tour of Bethesda Public Art will include 8 to 10 projects within a short distance of Bethesda’s Metro. At each site there will be a candid discussion of some of the challenges encountered and how they were met.

The tour will follow “Betheda’s Discovery Trail” featuring works by some nationally known artists: Among them: Jim Sanborn, Ray Kaskey, Elyn Zimmerman, Steven Antonakos, Martin Puryear, Ned Smyth, Rockne Krebs.

Public Art and Cultural Planning: Prince George's County, Maryland

Case Study Leaders:

• Lauren Dugas Glover, Program Director, Prince George’s County Art in Public Places Program, Largo, MD
• Chris Belasco, ArtSpace, Minneapolis, MN

Prince George’s County is an excellent example of how the arts engage and energize a community. Learn how public art has been a civic catalyst, inspiring re-thinking and re-developing the County’s public places. The tour combines learning about the county’s cultural planning, visits to existing public art works, and visits to artist studios.

The tour starts off on the drive to the county, with a presentation about the Gateway Arts District by Chris Belasco, who served as a project consultant to the district. Chris will discuss how the private developer managing the project was inspired to include public art into the site.

The first stop in the County is Mount Rainer Round About where artists Tom Ashkroft and David Chung will present their project, which was funded by TEA-21 and now owned by the local municipality. The high-traffic location of the site had lead to discussions in the community about fund the long-terms maintenance of the work.

Next, visit the studios of two of the regions most well-known artists, Steven Weissman and Martha Jackson Jarvis. The studio visits are followed by a stop at Bunker Hill Fire station, where Atlanta sculptor Ayokunle Odeleye will present his newly installed commission “The Three Guardians.”

You will also have the chance to visit Hyattsville Justice Center, where you will learn about the sound sculpture “Hyattsville Horn Section” by artist Christopher Janney and the mural “Building and Sustaining Families” by Curtis Woody.

Finally, the tour will stop at Franklins for a bottle of their world-famous root beer before heading back to DC.

Contemporary Art + Design in DC

Tour Leaders:

• Jennifer Riddell, Public Art Curator, Arlington Cultural Affairs Division, Arlington, VA
• Sherry Schwecten, Art in Public Places Coordinator, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC

This tour will visit some of the hottest spots for contemporary art and design in the district. Highlights include Elyn Zimmerman’s installation at the National Geographic Building, Fuzebox Gallery featuring the work of Charles Juhaz Alvardo, an exhibiton of work by Samuel Mockbee and the Rural Studio at the National Building Museum, Nikki Lee’s exhibition at Numark Gallery, Capitol Hill Sculpture Project, Larry Kirkland’s lobby at the National Academy of Sciences, and Martha Schwartz’s plaza design at the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Affairs building. If you came to DC hoping to see what is happening in the contemporary art scene, this tour is for you!