Minutes
Public Art Commission
March 16, 2012
Regular Meeting
 
Attendance
Commissioners: Davis, Friend, Pugh, Bussell, Garrington, Capovilla (student liaison), Seltzer (staff liaison
 
Absent
Lemhouse (Council liaison)
 
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 8:15 a.m.
 
Guests
Dave Kanner, City Administrator
 
City administrator Dave Kanner, introduced himself and explained that he was visiting all the City Commissions to meet the commissioners and to introduce himself. 
 
Minutes
Minutes from the February meeting were approved.
 
Enders Alley Mural
The mural for Enders Alley has been approved.  City staff will assist the artist with placing necessary safety cones and signage on Enders Alley.  Artist Nicole Shulters will contact the City when she is ready to begin her work.  Davis commented that all AHS senior projects must be completed by May 9.
 
Hardesty Memorial Pedestal
Bussell has received three bids on constructing a pedestal to be located at the Library for the Hardesty memorial.  The lowest bid is $1,100 but the contractor is busy and Bussell is not sure when he will be able to do the work.  She will continue to work on this project.
 
Fire Station No 2 Call for Artists
Bussell passed around the list of contacts she compiled and asked for assistance contacting the organizations to alert them to the Call for Artists for Fire Station No. 2.  Garrington has already emailed a number of organizations.  Commissioners divided up the list of contacts and will follow up with an email.
 
Davis stressed the importance of developing a strong selection panel and Seltzer encouraged the group to develop their criteria based on the Call for Artist.
 
 
 
Gateway Project
The commission briefly discussed the progress made on developing the RFQ for the Gateway project and agreed that they will focus on that project after the process for Fire Station No. 2 – probably sometime in the fall.
 
Commissions & Committee Operations Guide
Seltzer passed out copies of the Commissions & Committees Operations Guide recently adopted by the City Council.
 
Update to City Council
Commissioner Davis agreed to do a written update to Council, with information similar to the gallery guide.
 
We Are Here Sculpture
In 2004 the City Council accepted the We Are Here sculpture as part of a land use action.  The sculpture is carved from a tree that had to be removed to accommodate a new building.  Property owner Lloyd Haines contracted with Native American woodworker and artist Russell Beebe to carve the piece.  The piece honors the tribes of the Shasta and Takelma Nations and upon completion was donated to the City of Ashland.  Because the piece is wood, it is subject to the elements and needs annual maintenance and repair costing the City approximately $1000 each year.
 
Seltzer informed the group that Lloyd Haines has proposed casting the “We Are Here” wooden sculpture in bronze (at his own expense) and requests the City then donate the wooden piece to the Siletz Tribal Museum, the museum of the native people for whom Agnes Baker Pilgrim is the spiritual advisor.  The PAC supports this action as it will preserve the work of art in bronze and provide the original work to the Siletz Tribe. 
 
Caldera Update
It was reported that Caldera Brewery will remove the current logo art from the door facing Bluebird Park and intends to contact the original artist to do a new non-advertising mural for the door.  Caldera understands that the it must proceed under the guidelines of the Public Art Commission and will contact the PAC if it decides to do a new mural.
 
New Member Recruitment
Commission members will continue to recruit new members.  Friend indicated that Kerry KenCairn may be interested.
 
Meeting adjourned at 9:25 a.m.