Public Art Commission February Special Meeting Minutes - Approved
NOTICE OF SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING
Salem Public Art Commission
Thursday, February 27, 2020, 5:30 pm
City Hall Annex, 98 Washington Street, 1st Floor
MEETING MINUTES
Gachignard Called Meeting to Order at 5:32
Roll Call
Members Present: Norene Gachignard, John Andrews, Kurt Ankeny-Beauchamp, Carly Naik Dwyer, and Julie Barry Staff Planner for Art & Culture
Not Present: Janine Liberty, Emily Larsen,
Introduction to Artists’ Row Selection
- Barry informed the PAC and the Public that they were there to review applications for the 2020/2021 Artists' Row season. The PAC received nearly 30 eligible applications with approximately 1/3 of them being for artist row stalls while the remaining 2/3s were for the Public Artist in Residence.
- Barry explained that the PAC would only be reviewing the 4 finalists that were selected by the Sub Committee and that the subcommittee considered of past tenants of Artists' Row, members of the PAC, and members of the community. The opportunities that we were seeking to fill were two retail/maker spaces and two potions for Public Artist in Residence, one for 2020 and one for 2021. If for some reason the PAC decided that one of more of the 4 finalists were not appropriate or eligible then we had identified runners up that would be considered in their stead.
- Barry also explain that the PAC are evaluating the proposals based on the criteria set out in the RFP and were looking for high quality applications that exhibited strong artist merit, a quality project design, well-articulated business plan model and measure of success, and that could benefit from being on the Row while also benefiting the Row.
- Four finalist were presented via power point slide show presentation
Continued….
Artist Row Selection:
Barry:
First up for the 2020 public artists in residence is Gwyn Marathas. This is a synopsis of her proposal. She is a weaver and she is looking to create large scale woven and urban artworks using an earth loom. But I'll let you read the synopsis so you can see what she's proposing. This is her community engagement proposal. With the public artists in residences, again, we have a focus on the community coming first and the engagement with the community and how the art interacts with the community. The art is supporting that community engagement and a product of the community engagement. Here she talks about free workshops and demonstrations that she would be doing on the row and then a large-scale earth-loom. Her final culminating project that would happen on the row
Gachignard
You guys have seen all this stuff
PAC Members
Yes
Andrews
Big Fan
Barry
some examples of her work
Gachignard
How Big is that stick figure, looks about six feet but..
Barry
He's tabletop size.
Gachignard
Oh okay, he's great.
Barry
Other examples of her woven works and her sculpture
Gachignard
cool.
Barry
I had the lovely lady that just walked in help me with the layout of this PowerPoint and she did some lovely embellishments. (Speaking of Planning Department Staff Member Georgie Driver and her assistance in creating the PowerPoint presentation for the meeting and the slide transitions in said presentation as Barry moved on to next slide in presentation)
PAC
Yes.
Barry
Moving on to Jacob Deagle Lauren Smedley, for our 2021 pair of public artists in residences, these guys are looking to do some really interesting way to finding public art to help flow through the area
Gachignard
God. How many times have we talked about this?
Barry
It feels like it was hitting some high marks for what we've been looking for in the Derby Square/artists row/downtown area, that ‘marketplace corridor’. So they describe a process through which they are asking those questions’ like how can we use art to help move people through the spaces?’
Andrews
And the major discussion with this was we absolutely loved it. But we're not quite established with everything that we want to see. And this may connect better in a year from now.
Gachignard
Yeah. Well, that's the point. Right, of the row, to incubate.
Barry
Right. Thank you. Exactly. So as we're digging in this year with the new public artist in residence program and the new ideas that are happening at Old Town Hall. By the time that the 2021 public artist in residence would start we would be really well poised to take full advantage of the type of work that they're looking to do….. (gesturing to the screen)This is the community engagement portion, they talk about how they've done some workshops in Cambridge and they'd be looking to bring similar workshops here, that will culminate in people participating in the creation of the Wayfinding elements. There's art making workshop. They did provide a space layout diagram, which I did not include on these because there's just too much information. They did talk in detail about how they're going to lay out their space as sort of a workshop environment. A maker space where people could test ideas, try it out and try it again if it didn't work so well. Here are Some examples of projects they've done in the past…. really place specific place based work….
And so that concludes their portion. Are there any questions about the public Artist in Residence submissions?
Gachignard
Are the artists in the room?
Public
Yeah
Gachignard
For the previous project we talked about is the person also here,
Barry
Gwyn? No
Barry
Now we're on to our recommendations for the units on artists row. Stall number two which is where Ceramics by Sibel currently resides. Beverly bees is being proposed, here is a synopsis of their work, so basically this is an opportunity for them to launch their kitchen and laundry room based candle making business into a more concrete brick and mortar facility. They use all local sourced honey and create all their own handmade beeswax products. They have an extensive list of activities and workshops that they're hoping to host on the Row. And while this is not actually a requirement of our maker/retail spaces this year, it's nice to see that they're thinking about ways that they can engage with the public and interesting and meaningful opportunities. Here's some examples of their work. They also had a very well thought out, budget synopsis, staff plan, and organizational layout as part of their application.
Barry
And last we have Michaella Sheridan, and the actual business name is Shindig. This would be going into stall number four, which is where Grace & Diggs was residing. It's a mother-daughter-daughter team, creating upcycled clothing, they design their own art products that are then put on vintage and upcycle clothing. One of the questions that we asked was how the row would benefit the growth of their business. I think they articulated it nicely here along with how they would measure their success. Here are Examples of their work. They also upcycle and design on suitcases and other objects. They their own hand crafted items and sew then into existing upcycled items…. And that concludes the presentation.
So those are the formal recommendations from the Artists’ Row review panel to the PAC Are there any questions or thoughts?
Gachignard
I would entertain a motion to approve the for final
Andrew
So Moved
Naik Dwyer
Seconded
Gachignard
Under Discussion, Any public comment?
Public
Just a quick question. Was Beverly Bees at Old Town Hall in the summertime?
Gachignard
Yes…. any further discussion?
Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? The motion carries.
Andrews made a motion to approve, Naik Dwyer seconded the motion, Motion passes unanimously.
Barry
Wonderful, excellent! any other business that people would like to bring before the PAC tonight before we adjourn? Public comments concerning artist row or anything's public art related?
Gachignard
We're excited we never have public in our public art commission. So we like feedback.
Public
So how did you make the decision to reach the finals.
Barry
The decision was not an easy one. We had many, many quality applications and a new review panel consisting of past tenants on the row who knew how the row operates and best practices for being out on artists row, members of our community as well as 3 members of our PAC. They reviewed the applications in earnest, we gathered together in two separate gatherings for total of four and a half hours reviewing these applications. It wasn't an easy decision, but it was based on artistic quality, how being on artists row would impact the growth of that particular artist, and how the artists would impact the row. What benefit would that artists have to the community around them and the other members of the row? If they had a business plan model such as: how they were going to be operating in this space; their budget, did that make sense; were they thinking about actual numbers and what they could expect from income and expenses. It was a combination of all of those things that were posted as qualifications in the guidelines on the RFP, the call for artists. Reviewing all of that in tandem with some of the goals and aspirations that were again articulated in the call that the PAC has to help see artists row really thrive and flourish. We will be putting out another call in spring of 2021. There will be a new call going out for the 2022 and 2023 cycles. We would welcome you and any re applicants to have conversations between now and then. We'll certainly be keeping your information on file so that we can reach out to you when other opportunities for artists come up in and around Salem, not just the artists row program.
Public
If you had questions about an application did you reach out to the artist to ask?
Barry
Yes, if we felt like there was something that we couldn't decide or couldn't break out from the application, then we would reach out to the artist, but I don't think there were any cases where we felt like we needed further information. We all were confident that we received some really, really strong applications. There were a lot of really high quality, very competitive applications and it was not an easy decision.
Noreen
It is a grueling process every year. We have a lot of talented people in this town. This is a great opportunity people. It's never easy.
Barry
It’s never easy. If you have questions concerning your specific application and would like to hear some feedback around how you could have improved your specific application, I would be more than happy to sit down with you one on one and discuss that, provide some feedback from the committee and how we might be able to make that better, make it even stronger for the next time around if you're interested.
Gachignard
Anybody have anything else? Motion to adjourn as always in order.
Ankeny-Beauchamp made motion to adjourn, Andrew seconded meeting adjourned at 5:53pm
Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 30A& 18-25, and City Ordinance
Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033
This notice posted on "Official Bulletin Board" City Hall, Salem, Mass, on
MAR at 93984 in accordance with MGL Chap. 30A, Sections 18-25.