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THINKING BIG: Unveiling Public Art Projects January 14 – April 7, 2012 Exhibition Reception: Saturday, January 14, from 2 - 4 pm
Developing a public art project from concept to final unveiling, can be an elaborate, complicated, sometimes frustrating, and potentially rewarding process, for the artist(s), for the owner or sponsor, as well as for community groups or the general public. Competition for public art projects can be stiff. Juries, whatever their decision, inevitably disappoint most of the competing artists. Each successful project needs to be brilliant, feasible, buildable, on budget, on schedule, safe, durable and acceptable to a jury. Each project also needs to reflect, inform or engage its audience, satisfy its supporters and funders, and appease its detractors whether art critics or irate taxpayers. Each project can generate public and media attention which can range from supportive to indignant.
So why do artists subject themselves to such risk and rigor? Artistic exploration is probably the paramount motivation. But, sense of accomplishment, career growth, peer recognition, media and public attention, and money all factor into the decision to enter a competition. What is the story behind some of these public art projects - these new “monuments”? How do they happen? How are the imagined, built, funded, maintained? Thinking Big uses sketches, technical drawings, models, material tests, photo and video documentation, artists’ journals, and media coverage, to explore the creative energy, technical expertise, and hard work involved in public art projects. Thinking Big runs January 14 – April 7, 2012 in the Feature Gallery at the Alberta Craft Council, 10186 – 106 Street, Edmonton AB. Participating Artists: Manola Borrajo Giner, Tony Bloom, Margie Davidson, Matt Gould and Glynis Wilson Boultbee, Janet Grabner, Jamie Gray, Jane Kidd, Brenda Malkinson, Jim Marshall, Keith Turnbull and Ritchie Velthuis, Claire Uhlick, Dawn Detarando and Brian McArthur, Keith Walker Exhibition Reception: Saturday, January 14
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Public
art can foster civic pride, enhance a community’s image, express
cultural identity, commemorate events and people, and encourage
artistic innovation. Alberta Craft Council members are increasingly
active in public art projects – submitting proposals to major competitions,
winning prominent commissions, exploring new creative and technical
territory, and attracting public, business, political and media
attention. 
For
an individual artist, developing a public art project can be a time-consuming
process requiring a delicate balance between creative vision and
attending to the competition process and issues such as budget parameters,
timelines, site conditions, production processes, cost control,
technical and structural concerns, cooperative suppliers or fabricators,
potential set-backs or delays, conservation matters, and general
administration including everything from meeting minutes and process
documentation to contracts and liability insurance. 