Water Street Parking Garage Public Art Project

Putting the PUBLIC in Public Art!
Please Fill Out Our Community Survey HERE

PROJECT INTRODUCTION

In 2014 Art in Public Places (APP), the City of Jacksonville, the Downtown Investment Authority, and the Office of Public Parking posted a national Call to Artists for a multi-site public art commission located on the Water Street Parking Garage.

It is desired to have two and three dimensional artworks affixed to the building’s exterior and surrounding property. Artworks will improve the parking facility by making it visually appealing, distinctive, and welcoming to patrons who utilize the parking garage, businesses adjacent to the parking garage, and visitors of Jacksonville.

177 artists from 35 states responded to the Call to Artists. An Art Selection Panel, consisting of site representatives, art and design professionals, and City officials used a set of criteria that included artistic and design excellence, sustainability, and demonstrated experience to jury each application. Based on the aforementioned criteria, the Art Selection Panel narrowed candidates down to three semi-finalists: Haddad Drugan, LLC (Seattle, WA), David Griggs (Denver, CO), and Ray King (Philadelphia, PA).

To inform their concept design proposals, the semi-finalists made site visits to Jacksonville and will study responses from the Water Street Parking Garage Public Art Stakeholder Questionnaires.

As the second part of the application process, artists will use the information gained from their site visit and meetings to develop a conceptual design proposal. All proposals are due to the Art Selection Panel in February 2019. In addition to the criteria utilized when reviewing the initial 177 applicants, the Art Selection Panel will use the following criteria to assess the conceptual design proposals:

Artistic Excellence: Artwork is appropriate in scale to the site and complements its surroundings
Iconic: Artwork serves as a gateway feature, night and day, 365 days a year
Maintenance/Sustainability: Artwork is appropriate for outdoor public space, can be easily maintained, and is safe and lasting
Feasibility: Artist demonstrates evidence of past experience in large-scale projects and an appropriate budget
Community Engagement: Artist demonstrates the ability to collaborate with project design teams and community stakeholders
Project Performance: Artist demonstrates the ability to complete the projects on time and within budget

The contract for commission will be awarded to one artist in March 2019. Work will commence in April 2019 after the contract is executed. Artwork will be installed in September 2020 with a dedication ceremony tentatively scheduled for November 2020.

FINAL RFQ

Download the final RFQ HERE

Meet the Semi-Finalists

Huddad Drugan, LLC

Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan’s collaboration as an artist team began in 2001. The team has designed and completed more than 20 innovative public art commissions throughout the United States. Haddad Drugan, LLC operate at the intersections of art, architecture, landscape, and theater. The duo specialize in creating conceptually driven site-specific art that is often integrated into large-scale infrastructure projects. One of their most popular large-scale artworks is “Bayview Rise” (2014) in San Francisco.

Photo by Haddad Drugan, LLC

“Bayview Rise is an illuminated mural on the grain elevator and silos of Port Pier 92, at the north entry to San Francisco’s Bayview Neighborhood. The large scale 187’ façade makes the artwork visible from surrounding hillsides and freeways, creating a landmark for the Bayview. Its geometric pattern weaves together symbols of the neighborhood’s changing economy, ecology, and community as well as its past, present, and future, symbolizing a community in transformation.”

David Griggs

David Griggs has completed over 60 public art commissions throughout the United States. As a site-integrated designer, Grigg’s work is specific to the architecture and other formal elements of the site, or responsive to other factors, whether they are social, cultural, environmental, or historical. Griggs involvement in the arts doesn’t end at designing and building public art. He is also highly involved with public art planning, strategizing, and advocacy. He has participated in over 15 master planning and design team projects.

In 2006 the City of Stockton, California commissioned Griggs for a public art project integrated in to a City parking structure. The artwork is titled “Lightstalk” (2006).

Photo by David Cornwell

“This public art design consists of three distinct elements integrated throughout a parking structure in downtown Stockton, California. Most prominent is the 5-story entrance column at the northwest corner of the building. With the application of fiberglass column covers and integrated LED light strips, this column element is the entrance feature of the building – a landmark for the use of the facility and a beacon for patrons of downtown Stockton. The column begins with vertical “flutes” that evolve to become organic “fins,” acknowledging the agricultural history of Stockton while referring to the City’s historic roots. The column covers are shaped so as to appear to grow up and out of the fluted column, revealing the emergence of botanical forms. The LED light strips, hidden inside the translucent reveals between column fins, cause the column to glow from within.”

Ray King

Ray King has been a working artist since the early 1970s, and has exhibited his work internationally since 1976. King uses light as it interacts with glass and optics as an art medium. By creating dynamic interactions with the sun and refracting light into colors, rainbow like emanations shift and change as the viewer moves or the light source changes. King has designed and built commissioned artworks throughout the World. All artworks are site-specific and have been inspired by the surrounding space and landscape to create a unique sense of place and identity.

Photo by Ray King

In 2012 King was commissioned by Utah State University’s USTAR Innovation Center to create “Split Spiral” (2012).
“SplitSpiral is an exterior wall-mounted sculpture that consists of a metal armature of curved stainless steel pipes and holographic glass discs arranged in criss-crossing Fibonacci spiral pattern that wraps the South East corner of the façade of the USTAR Innovation Science Center. The visual transformation of light into color represents a dialogue or communication between the artwork and the power of the sun.”