HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - PAC Meeting Minutes 08/02/22PUBLIC ART COMMISSION, CITY OF AMES
MEETING MINUTES – June 7th, 2022
AMES CITY HALL, ROOM 135
Present- Erica Briest (Chair), Kyle Hauswirth (Secretary) Taylor Carlson, Sahar Kaissi, Angie DeWaard,
Joseph Merchant, Brian Phillips, Candace Zwank,
• Call to Order @ 5:30
• Consent Agenda
o Motion to Approve: Kyle Hauswirth
▪ Second: Angie DeWaard
▪ Passed with Unanimous Consent
• No Guests/Public Forum
• Chair Report
o Excited to have quorum tonight.
o New time works better for 4 out of 7 people present than the old Noon time.
▪ But the current time might be having more time issues as well.
▪ More people resigning recently, but that probably has more to do with life.
▪ Questions on if moving to another night would make things easier.
▪ If a time change were to happen it would need to happen fast, as the mayor is
currently looking to fill vacancies in the commission now.
o Looking forward to Octagon Art Festival- September 25th
▪ Last year we did chalk thing, but we don’t know how many entries we got, and if
it is a persistent thing.
• If there were a lot of entries, we should look at doing it again.
• 23 entries- so a lot of visibility.
• Entertain idea of doing farmers market booth on August 20th.
o On the Consent agenda, so that passed
o Damaged Art-
▪ South Dakota damaged by wind, Spiky Smooth
▪ Airport Road Roundabout damaged by a drunk driver- Monolith
• Sculpture is essentially totaled- per the artist
• Information has been passed to legal department
• Monolith is gone
• Do we want to put a new sculpture in this spot?
• Will need to get a big piece to go in this spot.
• Question was asked if we could seek a donation?
o Deemed that we should pay people for their work.
• If we do this as a special call, we could work it to be a more special
reveal.
• Tie in an unveiling for this “Special Piece” with a festival in the park near
Workiva?
• Make it part of the call, to have the piece have “Built-in” protection?
• Was this place supposed to have a pedestal or something that would
display the art better?
• Getting a pedestal could be difficult because of future scaling.
• This roundabout isn’t currently set for a landscaping change, so that
would need to be factored in as well.
• If we do a call we could set conditions on the art, as well as the budget.
• Artists would provide conceptualizations of what would go in the spot,
or PAC could buy “off the rack” art.
• If protection would need to be incorporated into the art, the piece
would need to scale correctly.
• Motion was made to put aside $25,000 to replace the Monolith piece
with solar lighting by Joseph Merchant
o Second by Angie DeWaard
o Motion discussion-
▪ Question was raised if this was moving too quickly, and
it would be more prudent to wait and ponder the
question.
▪ We might be forced to take action, due to the drunk
driver.
▪ Timeline on the legal action was questioned.
o Friendly Amendment- Same motion- but removing the dollar
amount to make things more of a statement.
o Motion- The PAC will research and set aside some amount of
money to replace the Monolith sculpture with a new sculpture
with solar lighting.
o Motion passed unanimously.
• Movement to Recommend Deaccession of Monolith- Taylor Carlson
o Second- Candace Zwank
o Motion passed unanimously
• City Liaison Comments-
o None
• Status Updates-
o Revamping Art in the Parks-
▪ None
o “What to do with public art”
▪ Taylor will draft, Kyle will double check after.
▪ QR Codes-
• New service that would have no scan limits and no expiration
• Static Service
• New and Continuing Business-
o Riding High
▪ Purchased out of AAOSE
▪ Location Requested has a sculpture- Prayer Torso
▪ Intersection of Top-O-Hollow and Dawes Drive
▪ Riding High could go along Dawes Drive and along Grand Ave.
▪ Calhoun Park is another option
▪ Put it where Prayer Torso is now
▪ Or another location in the list that was given by Brian
▪ Historically, “Friends of Ada Hayden” were who Parks and Rec had worked with
to decide art, and they wanted only natural sculptures.
▪ Ada Hayden was mentioned as a good option, as biking fits in with the theme.
▪ Downtown was offered as another good option, as kids enjoyed engaging with
this sculpture.
▪ Near Dog Eared Books was offered, as we could use their store to
▪ Motion to put Riding High downtown, with the exact location to be determined
after a survey of appropriate pads- Joseph Merchant
• Second- Angie DeWaardd
o Motion passed unanimously.
o Ice Arena Mural Request
▪ Ice Arena Management is still trying to decide if they want to do a mural, so it
would probably be safe to take this off the agenda.
▪ Question was raised if we should look more into establishing art in indoor park
areas
o Decommissioned Fire Hydrants-
▪ Extended Deadlines, and we got 5 entries from 2 different people, but more
entries have been submitted.
▪ After decisions made they will be decorated and installed.
o Glowforge laser cutter-
▪ No objections or concerns from Octagon, so if we were to move forward with it
they probably wouldn’t have a problem with it.
▪ Pro Model is still at 6995, but they have adopted a payment plan.
▪ Air Filter would be necessary to avoid ventilation.
▪ Ship in 3 days according to website.
▪ If we want to move forward, we would need to motion to approve Ames staff to
approach Octagon with an agreement to go in on the cutter.
▪ Motion was made to authorize city staff to approach the Octagon with a draft
agreement to purchase a Glowforge Laser Cutter in a partnership with PAC.
▪ Motion by Candace Zwank
• Second by Joseph Merchant
• Motion Passed Unanimously
o Priscilla Sage Pieces in City Auditorium-
▪ $3000 to frame each piece.
▪ The pieces will be very protected and be able to hang anywhere.
▪ Damage will be fixed from behind and not be visible in the frame
▪ Brian mentioned that he would like to circle back with Craig at the auditorium to
make sure that the cabinets would still be viable in the locations they were
previously in.
▪ Question was asked if Tom Jackson should be asked about this as well
▪ Motions should be made to approve the creation of the cabinets/frames and
verify the fixes with both Craig from the auditorium and Tom Jackson.
▪ Motion was made to frame the Priscilla Sage pieces from the auditorium with
the caveat that Craig from the auditorium is checked with that they will fit in
their old location, and Tom Jackson from Town and Gown is checked with to
verify the solution is acceptable to them.
• Motion by: Sahar Kaissi
• Second Taylor Carlson
• Motion passed unanimously
▪ Solar Lighting-
• $78,000 was the bid.
• Is this something PAC wants to pursue?
• This dollar amount means it becomes a much more formal process.
• We would need to hire a firm to develop a spec to fit what we need.
• Then it becomes a separate process to bid out the lights.
• Question was asked about Solar power run throughout the city and if
we can piggyback off of those for our lighting?
o This would potentially tie into public utilities and we would
need to be careful.
• The cost is fairly high, but is the tradeoff worth it?
• Firms might take on one or two projects, and should we test it?
• Question was asked if we should do a test case, and do a few sculptures,
or do a long term project and look to set aside money to do it correctly
in the long term.
• Question is if we want to pursue this as a project?
• Long-term project would make more sense in the long run.
• Decision was made to keep this on the agenda, and move forward with
it next meeting.
o Damaged Art
▪ Spiky Smooth was under warranty, and the artist has been contacted.
o Discussion of Next Project
▪ Adopt-an-Intersection
• Local “Art Critic” has suggested art in the middle of the intersection in a
mocking way.
• Is a program in city code for certain residential areas where painting in
intersections is allowed
• Art doesn’t last long, and it can only be in certain low-traffic areas.
• Only on residential areas, no arterial streets.
▪ Art going on in Ames that we don’t hear about, due to newspapers going out
the door, and social media is siloed.
• There should be a marquis somewhere that lists local art that is going
on in Ames.
▪ Discussion was made on the farmers market scheduling and people signed up
for certain time slots.
• Ballots and brochures will be present for the farmers market.
• Motion to Adjorun- Kyle Hauswirth
o Second- Candace Zwank
o Adjourned at 7:17