Public Art

The Allied Arts Council is represented on the City of Lethbridge Art Committee and also provides administrative and communication support for the City’s public art program as part of our leadership role. The City’s public art collection experienced substantial growth in 2018 with the realization of a number of projects as well as the approval of a number of projects that will be installed in years to come.

The year started on a high note with a public art selection committee meeting in February to select two major art projects for the new ATB Leisure Centre. Calgary artist Derek Besant’s work, Near & Far, a large mural which references multiple layers of water drops and a work by Toronto artists Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins, The Ball is in Your Court, a series of ten massive paintings on baffling material which reference the grid lines of a basketball court and a coaches playbook were selected and presented to City Council in March for final approval. Near & Far will be installed in the aquatics area and The Ball is in Your Court will be installed in the Galleria and running track areas. A selection meeting was held in September to short list artists for a third ATB Centre project. The Sports Hall of Fame project is an integrated project to create displays for both objects and digital information pertaining to the Sports Hall of Fame. A two member team from Vancouver, a three member team from Calgary and an artist for Winnipeg were shortlisted to develop final proposals for submission in 2019.

The final submissions for a major project for the Roundstreet Gateway were also adjudicated in August 2018 with a recommendation being presented to City Council on September 4. Council unanimously approved the project by Ontario artist Julie Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster. Their art work, which will be installed in 2019, is comprised of twenty-six multi-colour chairs of various heights

arranged in a maze like configuration. The chairs, a culturally common object, can be used interactively while representing the diversity of membership in the adjacent Cultural Centre.

The week of October 8-13, 2018, Quebec artist Marc Dulude was in the City installing his work Offrande migratoire / Migratory Gift adjacent to the Nikka Yuko Gardens parking lot. The work, comprised of four bronze flying geese who are tethered to a large granite rock which they are dragging across the grass, was commissioned to honour the 50 year twin city relationship between Lethbridge and Saint Laurent Quebec.

The City art program includes a Small Project Grant initiative. The program is designed to provide opportunities for local artist to execute projects with budgets up to $15,000. The City Art Committee met in April and approved three applications for 2018 projects. Garbage Party, by Arianna Richardson, was successfully executed at two sites during September. The project involved the artist constructing a highly decorative recycling station that was installed for one week in Galt Gardens and for a second week in Fort Whoop-Up Park. The project included a performative aspect with artist being present on site collecting and sorting garbage and engaging with community members during the installation. The curatorial team of Jane Edmundson and Tyler Stewart executed the first project from their multi-project proposal Into the Streets, a chalk art project featuring Eric Dyck and Carson Morton, held during the Wide Skies Festival on July 31 and August 1, 2018. Leila Armstrong’s project Backyard Wildlife which explores urban wildlife was also approved. The project is supported by research completed for Leila’s Masters in Fine Arts and will include the installation of images on Pattison billboards and the Casa Digital Gallery.

Another highlight of the Small Project Grant program was the installation on June 19, 2018 of the previous approved mural (Un)Still Life With Sports at the Sports Council Offices. The successful mural by artists Sue Wilkie and Linda Sprinkle incorporating bold graphic images of sports activities was commissioned in 2017 to improve the aesthetics of an otherwise bland stairwell.

The public art committee has included improving engagement with Indigenous artists to its roster of activities. A meeting was held with key participants from the Blackfoot community to discuss the best process to engage with the Indigenous artists in our region. The meeting was informative and provides the first step in developing processes for Indigenous public art projects that are respectful and authentic. Serendipitously, the downtown public library is engaged in a renovation project that will include an Indigenous space. Members of the committee also met with library staff to discuss the possibility of a public art project for the Indigenous space in their newly renovated downtown facility.

Administratively, the City Art Committee meet throughout 2018 to review the status of ongoing projects and to discuss potential updates to the Public Art Policy that will be recommended to City Council in the future. Meetings were held with the City of Lethbridge procurement department to discuss the procurement process and the evaluation meetings along with the Recreation and Culture staff to discuss aspects of the public art program and the role of the AAC in project processes. Meetings were also held with Andrew Rabyniuk regarding challenges with his window screening project for Casa which will be installed in 2019 and community members who are interested in the possibility of mural projects.

Members of City Staff and AAC staff completed site visits to all installed works in July to assess works for maintenance and to review public art signage. As a result, planning was completed for signage which will be installed in 2019 and maintenance work was completed on Aeolian Aviary at SAAG.

The AAC offered support for the public art programs, by responding to social media negativity regarding the Westside Leisure Centre public art projects by providing informative public arts facts on social media. AAC staff also led a public art Jane’s Walk on May 5, 2018. Approximately twenty individuals joined the tour of public art projects in the downtown core. Maintenance was also completed on Mirrored Earth at Casa which unfortunately continues to present challenges.