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Vaughn Bell selected as Seattle Public Utilities artist-in-residence

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The Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has commissioned Seattle artist Vaughn Bell to be the Green Infrastructure and Waterways artist-in-residence at SPU for a six month period starting in January 2016. Bell will work closely with SPU staff to develop an art master plan to guide future public art commissions to be integrated into SPU Drainage and Wastewater projects (e.g., combined sewer overflow prevention, pollutant reduction, water quality improvement).

Vaughn_Headshot_2Vaughn Bell creates interactive and immersive artwork projects that deal with how we relate to our environment. She has exhibited her sculpture, installation, performance, video and public projects internationally; completing commissions for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the Edith Russ Site for New Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany. She received her MFA from the Studio for Inter-related Media at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA and her undergraduate degree from Brown University. From 2008 – 2012, Bell worked as the SDOT/ARTS Liaison in the Seattle Department of Transportation, where she worked to integrate art and the ideas of artists into projects in the public right-of-way.

SPU’s Plan to Protect Seattle’s Waterways is a strategy to control combined sewage overflows and reduce stormwater-related pollution in Seattle’s waterways. SPU will implement projects to control combined overflows in 11 neighborhoods and address stormwater runoff in areas that are not part of the combined sewer system. Stormwater projects are focused on reducing the amount of pollutants entering local waterbodies and include building roadside green stormwater infrastructure projects, expanded street sweeping of arterials throughout the City and installing a stormwater treatment facility in the South Park neighborhood. Visit SPU’s Sewage Overflow Protection for more information for more details about The Plan to Protect Seattle’s Waterways.

Bell was selected by a panel of artists, community members, and SPU staff. The project is commissioned with SPU 1% for Art funds.

Photo: Vaughn Bell with her Village Green installation by Tim Bell

Weekly Art Hit: Seattle Public Utilities’ artist-in-residence Peter de Lory

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De Lory SPU99.113Cityworks: Seattle Public Utilities Revealed is a series of 66 artworks comprised of 170 black and white photographs by Peter deLory, who was the artist-in-residence for Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) from 1998 to 1999. He explored SPU facilities and operations including Water, Drainage and Wastewater and Solid Waste, talking with staff and observing their work, and created diptychs, triptychs and individual artworks that cover a wide range of subject matter. According to de Lory, the body of work served as a mirror that reflects the “the various De Lory SPU99.109activities and work places, individual and team efforts” that make up SPU, and as a window into “the workings of a large city utility” and a “behind-the-scenes viewpoint for the public.”

The series takes the viewer through all SPU’s various lines of business and projects: Urban Creek Restoration and Salmon Recovery; sewer and drainage; maintenance and repairs; the processing of recycled paper, glass, metal and yard waste following the solid waste of Seattle from its curb-side collection De Lory SPU99.100into containers that are shipped by rail to a landfill. De Lory’s photographs show us how SPU employees balance competing demands and bring their own professional creativity to bear in preserving and maximizing resources. Some photographs commemorate the amazing natural resources the utility manages, including forested watersheds and bodies of water.

According to former Seattle Arts Commission Director Susan B. Trapnell, “de Lory’s residency…brought an De Lory SPU99.099artist’s eye to the utility’s work, reflected it back to the people who work there and to a far wider audience: the citizens of Seattle who use Seattle Public Utilities every day.”

Portable artworks – paintings, drawings, small sculptures and glass works, as well as a large number of black and white and color photographs- make up a large portion of the city of Seattle’s art collection. In addition to the public artworks that are found in Seattle’s public spaces, the city maintains a collection of portable artworks that are displayed throughout city offices and facilities.

The artworks are in the Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art Portable Works Collection.

ArtsCulture_40yrs_Med[BlackBlue]Weekly Art Hit is featuring artworks every week from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the city’s public art program.

 

IMAGES (top to bottom): Peter de Lory, Salmon Egg Hatchery, #3, 1999, black and white silver gelatin, 30”H x 29”W; Waste Water Pump Station #10, Servicing, #19, 1999, black and white silver gelatin, 24”H x 56”W; Harbor Island Bridge, Deck D, #10, 1999, black and white silver gelatin, 24”H x 56”W; Tolt Pipeline 2, #9, 1999, black and white silver gelatin, 24”H x 56”W.

 

Adam Frank City Light artist-in-residence

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Adam Frank will work as artist-in-residence at Seattle City Light, where he will study the utility’s energy conservation programs and develop a series of innovative projects to bring awareness to energy conservation. The conservation and sustainability residency will begin in November and run through December 2012.

One of Frank’s first major projects will be to develop an interactive artwork designed to educate and inspire people to incorporate sustainability into their lives. It will be unveiled at Seattle Center in April 2012 as part of The Next Fifty celebration. Frank will also work with City Light partner programs such as the Seattle Office of Sustainability’sCommunity Power Works program in Seattle’s central and southeast neighborhoods.

Frank is a New-York based artist whose work involves an ongoing investigation of light, interactivity and the perception of nature. His projects are site-specific, customized and bring a mix of technology, with performance qualities that involve the spectator and reach a broad audience. Recent installations include Performer at the Times Square Alliance in New York, N.Y.; Spectator in Rochester, N.Y.; Sunlight in Denver, Colo.; and exhibitions in Sweden and London.

A peer-selection panel chose Frank from more than 60 applicants from across the country. The residency is funded with Seattle City Light 1% for Art funds administered by the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Image: Adam Frank; Sunlight; 2011; projector, computer, and solar panels. Each night, as the sun sets in Denver, a projected sun rises on the Minoru Yasui building downtown. As the night progresses, a shining star climbs up to the top of the east façade. The projection continues through the night and sets as the actual sun rises. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Seeking artists for roster, artist-in-residence for Seattle City Light

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We currently have two calls for artists open! The  application deadline for both calls is 11 p.m., Monday, Aug. 29 (Pacific Daylight Time).

We’re seeking approximately 50 to 75 artists for a juried roster of professional artists eligible for consideration for future public art projects. The projects will be at city utility facilities, parks, in the street right-of-way and at other locations. The roster will include pre-qualified artists who can create free-standing or integrated, site-specific artwork for locations managed by Seattle City Light,  Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Parks and Recreation and other city of Seattle departments.

We’re also seeking an artist-in-residence to highlight Seattle City Light’s conservation projects. The residency will begin this fall. The artist will study the utility’s energy conservation programs and develop a series of innovative projects to bring awareness to conservation.  The artist will then develop his or her own projects and identify conservation-related art projects for other artists.

Both calls are open to individual artists residing in the United States. Click here for more information and for a link to the online application.

Our August eNews is now online

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Seattle Public Schools just announced a $1 million planning grant to enhance arts instruction in the schools. We opened two calls for artists. The 2011 Mayor’s Arts Awards are coming up soon. The Seattle Mural at Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheatre is getting a facelift. And Pioneer Square’s Occidental Square has turned into an experimental art gallery.

Read about all this and more here.

Artist-in-residence sought for Seattle City Light conservation programs

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We’re seeking an artist-in-residence to highlight Seattle City Light’s conservation projects, beginning this fall. The artist will study the utility’s energy conservation programs and develop a series of innovative projects to bring awareness to conservation.  Seattle City Light, the first carbon-neutral utility in the nation, released its 2010 annual report this week.

The artist-in-residence will develop his or her own projects and identify conservation-related art projects for other artists. The artist will also address City Light’s partner programs, including the Office of Sustainability and Environment’s Community Power Works Program – a neighborhood-based building-upgrade program to achieve energy savings and create “green” jobs.  The artist will also create a project illuminating City Light’s conservation and sustainability efforts for display at Seattle Center’s Next Fifty anniversary celebration in 2012.

The call is open to individual artists residing in the United States. The budget is $15,000 for the initial three-month residency, with additional funding to extend the residency up to a year. Approximately $140,000 is available for implementation of artwork projects by both the artist-in-residence and other artists. Fees are all-inclusive of travel expenses, taxes and other project costs.

Application deadline is 11 p.m., Monday, Aug. 29 (Pacific Daylight Time). Click here for more information and to apply.