Newlandmarks Public Art Community and the Meaning of Place

New•Country•Marks: public fine art, community, and the meaning of place was a program of the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Clan for Public Art) that brought together artists and community organizations to program and create new works throughout Philadelphia. New•Land•Marks proposals incorporated public art into ongoing customs development, urban greening, public amenities, and other revitalization initiatives. These efforts celebrated customs identity, commemorated "untold" histories, and offered visionary, yet reasonable, ways to invigorate public spaces. The program was selected for a 2002 Place Planning Honour past the Environmental Pattern Research Association and Public Art Network's 2004 Year in Review, a guide to the best U.Southward. public art projects.

Sixteen proposals were endorsed by the participating communities, and the Art Clan then deputed five of these projects.

To begin the New•Land•Marks programme, the Art Association asked communities to volunteer their participation and simultaneously sent out a call to local, national, and international artists. To introduce the program, presentations and community meetings were held at branch libraries and cultural centers throughout the urban center, highlighting significant public fine art projects worldwide and the need for responsible stewardship. Communities were asked to call back nearly what they wanted to go out for future generations. From hundreds of "Requests to Participate," the Art Clan invited eighteen communities and twenty-five artists to work with the program. For artists, the selection process focused on how their ongoing work addressed the stated interests of the community groups. For almost a twelvemonth, community representatives and artists engaged in a dialogue and design development process.

Beneath: Pages from the New•Land•Marks brochure. View the full brochure here ››

Color scan of two pages from the brochure for the New Land Marcks program

The design development phase featured a serial of Public Fine art Workshops that addressed essential issues related to the creation of public art. The serial culminated in a New•State•Marks Symposium at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in May 1999. At this significant event, artists and community participants presented their proposals in a public forum.

Sixteen proposals were endorsed by the participating communities, and the Art Association so commissioned five of these projects. Other proposals moved into a research and evolution stage. During 2000, a community exhibition traveled to locations in participating neighborhoods, offering the opportunity to view proposal materials in the community contexts from which the work emerged. A major exhibition about the plan was on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from February–April 2001.

For communities, the New•Land•Marks program was an opportunity to have an active role in defining the unique qualities of their neighborhoods. For artists, the program represented a gamble to work directly with the public from an early indicate in the creative process. New•Country•Marks explored the central upshot in today's public art — namely, how to promote customs engagement and, at the same time, create a framework for the most creative artistic outcome.

New•Country•Marks was fabricated possible through the generous back up of the William Penn Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Samuel South. Fels Fund, the Independence Foundation, the Leeway Foundation, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, a grant programme of The Pew Charitable Trusts administered by The University of the Arts, Philadelphia.

ane.The Labor Monument: Philadelphia's Tribute to the American Worker (2010), John Kindness

"The Labor Monument: Philadelphia's Tribute to the American Worker" by artist John Kindness. Photo Gregory Benson for the Association for Public Art.
The Labor Monument: Philadelphia's Tribute to the American Worker past artist John Kindness. Photo Gregory Benson for the Association for Public Fine art.

Dedicated in 2010, The Labor Monument: Philadelphia's Tribute to the American Worker by artist John Kindness was developed for Elmwood Park with the Friends of Elmwood Park in cooperation with the City of Philadelphia'southward Department of Recreation.The Labor Monument commemorates the contributions of organized labor nationwide and Philadelphia's working grade history. Jubilant Philadelphia's pivotal and unique role in the American labor movement, the artwork transforms Elmwood Park into a community gathering space and an "outdoor history lesson."

Workers of before generations often wore blue denim clothing, a common denominator regardless of merchandise or skill, with metal piece of work buttons that bore a variety of images and slogans. Inspired by these buttons, the creative person created seven large-scale Work Button Tables in bronze. Each statuary relief sculpture represents an important effect in labor history. Located in the center of Elmwood Park, the Piece of work Button Tables are situated in a circumvolve surrounded by vii benches. Blue paving and brick detailing around the seating elements propose the denim and stitching on workers' clothing. Project supporters are identified and inscribed in a granite ring effectually the perimeter of the artwork. A pathway connects the central seating expanse with a small circular courtroom displaying the park'due south flagpole.

2. Mutual Basis (2009), John H. Stone, Lonnie Graham, and Lorene Cary

Photo Gregory Benson for the Association for Public Art
Common Footing(2009). Photo Gregory Benson for the Association for Public Art.

Common Footing is a permanent public art project developed in partnership with anti-homelessness organization Project H.O.Grand.Due east. through the Fairmount Park Art Clan'southward New•Country•Marks program. Created past artists John H. Stone and Lonnie Graham in collaboration with Lorene Cary and consulting architect George Claflen, the project is located at St. Elizabeth's Community Center at 23rd and Berks Streets in North Philadelphia on the "footprint" of St. Elizabeth's Church building, which was destroyed by burn down in 1995. Mutual Ground was completed and dedicated in June 2009.

Mutual Ground consists of three parts: the Sanctuary, the Inspirational Gateway, and the Common Room. The centerpiece of Common Footing is an open-air Sanctuary that rises where the altar of St. Elizabeth'south once stood. Surrounding the site is an Inspirational Gateway, a customized argue that incorporates the words "Hope", "Strength", and "Experience" – key concepts for many participants in Project H.O.M.Eastward.'s comprehensive programs. TheCommon Room, located within the quondam St. Elizabeth'southward rectory, is an indoor meeting infinite that has been redesigned past the artists and includes handmade calorie-free fixtures, photographs and quotes from elder customs members, and a white oak table crafted from a unmarried plank of wood rescued from a farmhouse in Pennsylvania. Together, these elements provide new coming together places for the Projection H.O.M.Due east. community to gather, reflect, and gloat the neighborhood'south history, people and ongoing revitalization.

3. Manayunk Stoops: Heart and Home (2006), Diane Pieri

"Manayunk Stoops: Heart and Home" (2006) by artist Diane Pieri. Photo Wayne Cozzolino for the Association for Public Art.
Manayunk Stoops: Heart and Abode (2006) past artist Diane Pieri. Photo Wayne Cozzolino for the Association for Public Art.

Manayunk Stoops: Heart and Home consists of nine mosaic "stoops" that heighten and translate the physical and natural environment of the Manayunk Canal Towpath. The artwork includes imagery inspired by the native flora, fauna, and industrial heritage of the Manayunk area. The stoops, situated in 5 sites between Lock and Cotton fiber Streets, serve as seating elements forth the Canal and are an interpretation of the front steps and entryways that mark the neighborhood's architecture and street life.

The artist selected the stoop motif as a "symbol of interaction and community." Residents of Manayunk, like those in many Philadelphia neighborhoods, traditionally sit on their forepart stoops to socialize. "By bringing the stoops to the Canal," says Pieri, "we hope to bring the language of the community to the Canal. The stoops are unpretentious nonetheless meaningful reflections of the people and social customs in Manayunk." As a metaphor for the ascension of the customs, Pieri'due south Stoops also relate to an existing staircase that runs from the bottom to the top of the colina.

Artists Diane Pieri and Vicki Scuri developed an initial projection proposal for the site by meeting with community groups including the Due north Lite Community Center, the Manayunk Development Corporation, and Venice Island Playground Customs Council. They investigated the Canal, neighborhood, local history, industry, and culture. With the Northward Calorie-free Community Eye, Pieri led several customs workshops where children shared stories, memories, and reflections of their experiences growing up in the neighborhood. Pieri has likewise revitalized a mural along the Towpath to complementManayunk Stoops.

four. Embodying Thoreau: dwelling house, sitting, watching (2003), Ed Levine

Ed Levine's "Embodying Thoreau: dwelling, sitting, watching" (2003) at the Pennypack Environmental Center. Photo Gregory Benson for the Association for Public Art.
Embodying Thoreau: dwelling house, sitting, watching (2003) by artist Ed Levine at the Pennypack Environmental Middle. Photo Gregory Benson for the Association for Public Art.

Artist Ed Levine worked with the Pennypack Environmental Heart Advisory Council to develop Embodying Thoreau: dwelling, sitting, watching for Pennypack Park in Northeast Philadelphia. The project was inspired by the nineteenth-century author of Walden, Henry David Thoreau. The artist was struck by the similarity between Thoreau'south values and those expressed by the park community: as Levine puts it, Thoreau "saw and expressed the dynamic relationship between culture and nature." The project features a series of wooden structures, "betwixt sculpture and architecture" that explore dissimilar aspects of humanity'due south relationship to nature. Located at different sites in the park, the structures are integrated into the educational programs of the Pennypack Environmental Centre but also invite contained exploration.

"Bird Blind" structure. Photo Gregory Benson for the Association for Public Art
Bird Blind structure. Photograph Gregory Benson for the Association for Public Art.

The start structure, Thoreau's Hut, emphasizes humans' place within the natural world. Echoing the dimensions of Thoreau'southward cabin at Walden Pond in Massachusetts, the structure is open to the elements and contains seating and a "symbolic hearth" to correspond the hearth in Thoreau's cabin. At another site nearby, 3 Benches place visitors in a social and personal relationship to the park. Facing i another, the Benches suggest a family unit. Ii of the three Benches are relatively large for their intended occupants, Levine explains, making "the sitter enlightened of the scale of the body in dissimilarity to the surroundings." Finally, a Bird Blind encourages visitors to investigate human relationships with other beast life. To convey both our connection with and our separation from other creatures, Levine used two structural systems for the Bird Blind: the interior or "human side" reflects standard architecture, but the outside is woven like a nest. "The two systems," he notes, "establish the different worlds we inhabit and the means through which we class these worlds."

5. I take a story to tell you… (2003), Pepón Osorio

"I have a story to tell you…" Photo James Abbott for the Association for Public Art.
I have a story to tell you… by creative person Pepón Osorio. Photo James Abbott for the Association for Public Art.

To respond to the changing needs of Philadelphia's Latino community, Congreso de Latinos Unidos relocated to a larger facility, a former industrial building in North Philadelphia. Through the Fairmount Park Art Association's (at present the Association for Public Fine art) program New•Country•Marks: public art, customs, and the significant of place, representatives from Congreso worked with artist Pepón Osorio to plan a public art project that has transformed the new headquarters into a customs landmark.

Osorio asked members of the city'south Latino community about the problems the project should accost. A common refrain was dissatisfaction with the media's portrayal of the community. Equally Alba Martínez, former executive managing director of Congreso, explains, customs participants "envisioned a landmark that would pay homage to our community's sacrifices and struggles and that would gainsay feelings of invisibility and 'outsiderness.' People wanted to see their history, values, strengths, and hopes for the future conveyed."

"I have a story to tell you…" Photo James Abbott for the Association for Public Art.
I have a story to tell you lot… by artist Pepón Osorio Photo James Abbott for the Association for Public Art.

To requite the customs an opportunity to stand for itself, Osorio proposed I have a story to tell you . . . To realize the projection, Osorio nerveless photographs from community members and sought images that reflected shared experiences and depicted local events that have impacted community life. "My principal concern," says Osorio, "is to return fine art to the community. My artistic process is one of listening to stories, uncovering histories, channeling collective experiences, and transforming these into artworks that tin serve every bit reflections of the grouping." Working with Joel Katz Blueprint Associates, Osorio enlarged the photographs, which were transferred onto drinking glass panels by Derix Glasstudios in Taunusstein, Germany. To create a sense of three-dimensionality, Derix developed a brand-new process through which mirror images of photographs were screen-printed with enamels onto ii glass panels. These panels were and so sandwiched together to create a single image with greater depth and torso that is besides extremely durable.

The panels were used to construct a casita or "picayune house" in the courtyard next to the Congreso building. The casita serves as a community gathering space, and the images are visible from both the interior and the exterior. At night, internal lighting makes the casita appear as a glowing "community photograph album." Working with the renovation project architects, Agoos/Lovera Architects, Osorio also integrated photographs into selected windows of the primary building. During the solar day, visitors inside the building can meet these images from the community superimposed on the sky or the local landscape. Illuminated from within at night, the artwork animates the Congreso edifice and makes it a distinctive landmark.

Through the New•Land•Marks plan, artists and customs organizations worked together to develop xvi proposals for new works of public art for neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia. 5 proposals were commissioned, with the other proposals proceeding with research and evolution and feasibility studies. Below are descriptions of all sixteen proposals. Detailed and fully illustrated descriptions of all sixteen proposals appear in the New•Land•Marks book.

The "Sanctuary," located on the "footprint" of the former St. Elizabeth's Church, destroyed by a fire.
The Sanctuary, located on the "footprint" of the former St. Elizabeth's Church building, destroyed by a fire. Photo: Gregory Benson.

The Sanctuary, located on the "footprint" of the former St. Elizabeth's Church, destroyed by a fire.

Common Footing, formerly titled Church Lot (completed)
John Stone and Lonnie Graham, in collaboration with Lorene Cary for Project H.O.M.E.

One time a valuable customs asset, St. Elizabeth'southward church building stood at 23rd and Berks Streets in North Philadelphia from 1883 until its devastation by fire in 1995. In cooperation with Project H.O.M.East., a nonprofit system that works in partnership with chronically homeless people and impoverished communities, writer Lorene Cary, photographer Lonnie Graham, and sculptor John Stone take adult Common Ground for the former site of St. Elizabeth's. The mixed-use community infinite includes a operation area and Sanctuary, a Common Room to house an annal of oral and photographic history, and an Inspirational Gateway. A fence incorporating the words "experience," "strength," and "hope" encloses the site, and quotations from customs residents, are incorporated throughout.

Proposal for Malcolm Cochran's "Grand Planter" (1999)
Mixed-media rendering of Grand Planter, an ironwork structure (with wisteria) proposed for a traffic triangle. Photo: Will Dark-brown.

Malcolm Cochran,
Grand Planter (1999)

Baltimore Avenue GEMs: Grand Planters, Earthbound Crow's-Nest, Midsummer's Fountain
Malcolm Cochran with Baltimore Avenue in Flower

Malcolm Cochran suggests a serial of functional artworks to unify the streetscape and enhance urban greening initiatives along Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia. Constructed of steel and atomic number 26, the elements would utilize a lattice motif that refers to historical Philadelphia ironwork. The works would include two Thou Planters, 1 performance equally a fountain; a series of trolley shelters; and the Earthbound Crow's-Nest, an observation point where people can congregate to watch for arriving trolleys. The sculptures would also serve every bit trellises to support flowering vines, which community gardeners, under the auspices of Baltimore Avenue in Flower, would constitute and maintain.

Theyareus," proposed for a location near Independence Hall. Photo: Will Brown." class="wp-caption alignleft"> Computer rendering of Gorny's "Theyareus" sculpture, which was proposed for a location near Independence Hall
Calculator rendering of "Theyareus," proposed for a location near Independence Hall. Photo: Will Brown.

Ap. Gorny,
Theyareus (1999)

Ap. Gorny with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community in association with the William Way Customs Center

Ap. Gorny proposes a series of sculptures to commemorate events of import to Philadelphia's gender-minority citizens. His multi-sited work, Theyareus, would celebrate acts of heroism and resistance and comport witness to incidents of repression. Stainless-steel sculptures of portrait calibration would be placed on granite pedestals carved with interpretive text. The bottom surface of each sculpture would accept a pocket-size bas-relief image based on a photograph of an effect from local gay history. The images would commemorate instances of "backbone, vulnerability, empowerment, or insight," while the sculptures' curving steel surfaces would reflect "collapsed" images of buildings, illustrating how the lives of gay individuals "both reverberate and shape the landscape."

Styrofoam and cardboard model of Bunk-za, and amphitheater stage and seating area.
Styrofoam and cardboard model of Bunk-za, and amphitheater stage and seating area. Photo: Will Brown.

Mei-ling Hom,
Bunka-za (1999)

Gold Mountain Bunka-za
Mei-ling Hom with the Friends of the Japanese House and Garden

Located in Philadelphia's West Fairmount Park, the Japanese Firm or Shofuso (Pine Cakewalk Villa) is a re-cosmos of a sixteenth-century Japanese residence. Creative person Mei-ling Hom has developed a proposal for a multipurpose performance space, a garden amphitheater, and a large sculpture as part of a new Visitors' Center proposed for Shofuso. The performance space would contain elements of traditional Kabuki theater. In the amphitheater, carved stone benches would be ready amid a rock garden to create seating niches. Golden Mount, a statuary sculpture reminiscent of a seated Buddha, would stand up on a crest of ground beyond the amphitheater.

Detail of mixed-media model of mosaic, plantings, and "shrine house" proposed for park's center.
Mixed-media model of mosaic, plantings, and "shrine house" proposed for park'due south center. Photo: Will Brown.

Martha Jackson-Jarvis and JoAnna Viudez,
Revitalization of Malcolm X Park (1999)

The Revitalization of Malcolm X Memorial Park Martha Jackson-Jarvis and JoAnna Viudez with the Friends of Malcolm Ten Memorial Park

This proposal focuses on the re-establishment of West Philadelphia'southward Malcolm X Memorial Park as a customs gathering signal. Drawing on the park's existing visual vocabulary, the proposal integrates sculptural and planted gardens into the landscape. Amongst the proposal's elements are symbolic entryways, a central performance plinth, and mosaics. The artists also proposed transforming an existing park house into a "shrine business firm" as a tribute to those who have worked to revitalize the site. A "Kwanzaa rock garden" would refer to guiding ideals of the Friends grouping—the Nguzo Saba, or seven principles of Kwanzaa.

Wood and cardboard model of "Bright Light Trail" – an aerial view of the proposed trail and environs.
Wood and cardboard model of Bright Light Trail – an aerial view of the proposed trail and environs. Photo: Will Chocolate-brown.

Zevilla Jackson Preston,
Bright Light Trail (1999)

Bright Light Trail
Zevilla Jackson Preston with The Allegheny Westward Foundation

To celebrate the neighborhood, unite disparate civic associations, and inspire customs identity, this proposal suggests the creation of Bright Light Trail, a footpath winding through the Allegheny West neighborhood in Northward Philadelphia. The Brilliant Lights, four illuminated shafts, would ascension at meaning points along the trail, honoring those who have demonstrated leadership in the community and alluding to the neighborhood's Bright Light Society for children who are achieving in school and in their community. Each Bright Light would characteristic granite benches around the base and inscriptions to celebrate the contributions of customs members.

Drawing of proposed design for "I am a Man" table top.
Drawing of proposed design for I am a Man tabular array top. Photograph: Will Chocolate-brown

John Kindness,
Piece of work Button Tabular array (2000)

The Labor Monument: Philadelphia's Tribute to the American Worker (completed)
John Kindness with the Friends of Elmwood Park

Developed for a park in a one time-thriving working-class neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia, this proposal memorializes the neighborhood's working class and celebrates the contributions of organized labor nationwide while building on community initiatives to revitalize the park. Drawing its symbolism from historic labor photographs and from the typical uniforms once worn past laborers, particularly the uniforms' metal work buttons, the proposal calls for 2 central seating areas. One is designed as a meeting place: benches will face round bronze tables with work-push button-similar images commemorating of import moments in trade spousal relationship history. In the other surface area, benches volition confront outward, with historic labor photographs in porcelain enamel mounted on the backs of the benches.

Model depicting "Thoreau's Hut."
Model depicting Thoreau'southward Hut. Photo: Will Brown.

Ed Levine,
Thoreau's Hut (2000)

Embodying Thoreau: domicile, sitting, watching (completed)
Ed Levine with the Pennypack Ecology Center Advisory Quango

This proposal for the Pennypack Environmental Eye, a 100-acre site in the northeast territory of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, consists of a series of pocket-sized wood structures described by the artist as "betwixt sculpture and architecture." Together these structures will explore the study and enjoyment of the natural world, also every bit the relationship betwixt nature and culture. Elements of the project include Thoreau'south Hut, which has the same dimensions every bit Henry David Thoreau'due south famous hut at Walden Pond; Benches, which provide a location for people to sit together in nature; and Bird Blind, a wildlife ascertainment construction that resembles a woven nest.

Mixed-media collage depicting May Street after proposed improvements.
Mixed-media collage depicting May Street after proposed improvements. Photo: Will Chocolate-brown.

Rick Lowe and Deborah Grotfeldt,
May Street: A Identify of Remembrance and Honour (1999)

May Street: A Place of Remembrance and Honor
Rick Lowe and Deborah Grotfeldt with the Manufactory Creek Artists' Collaborative

This proposal suggests an ongoing, multiphase, environmental project to transform May Street in West Philadelphia. The ane-cake street would be closed off, and empty buildings would be restored and converted into artists' studios. Weeds, trash, and abandoned automobiles would give way to gardens, landscaping, and benches. Murals and other artists' interventions would add color and meaning. While the Mill Creek Artists' Collaborative plans ways for the neighborhood's rich pool of artists to contribute to the project, local children and their parents would assistance develop the gardens and play areas. Annual festivals and exhibitions would unite local artists with those from outside the community.

Wood model of proposed Vietnamese monument.
Wood model of proposed Vietnamese monument. Photograph: Will Brown.

Darlene Nguyen-Ely,
The Vietnamese Monument to Immigration (1999)

The Vietnamese Monument to Immigration
Darlene Nguyen-Ely with the Vietnamese United National Association of Greater Philadelphia

Proposed for Penn'due south Landing Quay on the Delaware River, The Vietnamese Monument to Immigration would be a huge lantern-sculpture with shapes suggesting the mast and hull of a boat. Besides referencing the journey of the Vietnamese "boat people," the work would evoke other modes of travel. The structure would float in mid-air similar an aeroplane and be supported by cables like a pause bridge. As the artist explains, "the vessel is a symbol of travel, exploration, transformation, life changes—even a new life." Through its reference to lanterns synthetic during the Vietnamese holiday Tet Trung Thu, the proposal also addresses the community's want to link the cultural past, present, and future.

Mixed-media model of seating element proposed for Frankfurt Avenue.
Mixed-media model of seating chemical element proposed for Frankfurt Avenue. Photograph: Will Chocolate-brown.

Todd Noe,
Lid Bandstand (1999)

Perseverance
Todd Noe with the communities of Kensington and Fishtown

Named for the world's outset steam-powered ship, which was built in the surface area of Kensington and Fishtown, Perseverance offers a series of functional elements to reflect the neighborhoods' rich history. The elements are to exist located on reclaimed lots throughout the communities. The proposed works include Hat Bandstand, with a roof resembling the Stetson hats made by the world-renowned visitor that was located in the community until the 1960s; Baseball game Bench, a stepped bench topped by a giant baseball that evokes the A. J. Reach Company, which in one case provided baseballs to the American League; and the Fishing Dory Benches, Propeller Bench, and Sunken Schooner, which commemorate the neighborhood'due south heritage of shipping, shipbuilding, and fishing.

Mixed-media model of the casita illuminated at night.
Mixed-media model of the casita illuminated at night. Photo: Will Brownish.

Pepón Osorio,
I have a story to tell you . . . (1999)

I accept a story to tell y'all . . . (completed)
Pepón Osorio with Congreso de Latinos Unidos

This proposal focuses on the recently renovated headquarters of Congreso de Latinos Unidos in Northward Philadelphia. In the windows of the main building, the artist will install a serial of large-scale photographic images. A more intimate casita (little house), also fabricated with photographic images on drinking glass, is to be located in the side by side courtyard. To create this "community photograph album," Osorio has collected photographs from community members, seeking images that reflect "shared experience" and "describe local events that have impacted community life." Congreso is the leading provider of social, economical, health, and educational services to the Latino community of Philadelphia

Mixed-media model of a proposed stoop.
Mixed-media model of a proposed stoop. Photograph: Will Chocolate-brown.

Diane Pieri,
Manayunk Stoops (2001)

Manayunk Stoops: Heart and Home (completed)
Diane Pieri and Vicki Scuri with the Manayunk Development Corporation

This proposal suggests a series of landscaped stoops or "front steps" on the towpath of the Manayunk Canal along the Schuylkill River. The Stoops are designed to abut existing buildings whose arched architectural elements suggest doorways. Made of bandage concrete, the stoops would include custom iron railings, mosaic inset tile mosaic "welcome mats," and tiled planters to suggest the "folk landscaping" that surrounds a typical neighborhood stoop. Through art workshops led by Diane Pieri, local children would assistance develop motifs for the mosaics and railings. The artists envision a community-sponsored extension of the project. Proceeds from producing and selling additional planters tin can be reinvested in customs endeavors, such as maintenance of the landscape forth the canal.

Computer rendering of steel gazebo proposed for Fairhill Square.
Computer rendering of steel gazebo proposed for Fairhill Square. Photo: Will Brownish.

Jaime Suárez,
Glorieta del Gran Teatro del Sol (1999)

Glorietas of Fairhill Square: The Completion of a Neighborhood Creation
Jaime Suárez with the Neighbors of Fairhill

This proposal seeks to comprehend the diversity of Fairhill Square's North Philadelphia neighborhood while profitable efforts to rehabilitate the once-vibrant community and refurbish the park. Myths about the sunday and the moon are common to most cultures, artist Jaime Suárez notes, and Fairhill Foursquare already possesses an evocation of the moon—Rafael Ferrer'south sculpture El Gran Teatro de la Luna, currently in storage. Suárez therefore proposes the "completion" of the park's cosmological associations through references to the sun and air. The proposal includes two steel Glorietas (pavilions or gazebos): the Glorieta del Gran Teatro de la Luna, which would provide a new base for Ferrer's work, and the Glorieta del Gran Teatro del Sol. 2 nearby playgrounds would symbolize the third element, air. The Plaza of the Eclipse would be created at the park's middle. The Guardians of the Park, pocket-size totems covered with ceramic hands and optics created by neighborhood children, would stand at the park's four entrances.

Photographs and drawing from artist's working document.
Photographs and drawing from artist's working certificate. Photo: Will Brown

George Trakas,
Stepping Rock Bridge (1998)

Proposals for the Wissahickon
George Trakas with the Friends of the Wissahickon

George Trakas has proposed a series of projects for the Wissahickon Creek area of Philadelphia'due south Fairmount Park to accost the park's aging infrastructure while preserving its wilderness and historic character. Among the projects is a Stepping Stone Bridge at Livezey Dam, a series of stones set into the creek bed. Made of Wissahickon schist, this pathway would bring visitors into a dramatic physical relationship with the creek. For adults standing on the span, the water tumbling over the dam would exist at center level. By connecting two staircases from the Work Projects Assistants that atomic number 82 down to either side of the creek, the span would as well permit Park Rangers to respond more rapidly to emergencies. The proposal further calls for two short steel decks and a creekside terrace for visitors with disabilities.

Mixed-media model of "Open-Air Library" when open. Photo: Will Brown.
Mixed-media model of Open-Air Library when open. Photo: Volition Brown.

Janet Zweig,
Open-Air Library (1999)

Open-Air Library and Farmer's Market Plaza (commissioned)
Janet Zweig with the South of South Neighborhood Association

This proposal calls for the cosmos of an outdoor structure resembling a row house, minus the exterior walls, to role every bit a customs library. Constructed of bricks salvaged from a local demolition project, the work volition be located on vacant country created by the sabotage of abandoned housing. Inspired by the outdoor bookstalls of Paris and New York and developed with assistance from Drexel Academy's College of Informatics and Technology, the library will literally "open a cultural institution to the public." The small bordering plaza is designed to accommodate a community farmer's market.

New•Country•Marks: public fine art, customs, and the significant of place

Penny Bach, Editor
Bachelor on Amazon.com and at bookstores by special gild

Book cover for New Land Marks publicationA catalogue that accompanied a major exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, this publication illustrates how artists and community organizations can work together to plan new works of public fine art for urban neighborhoods. A diversity of proposals incorporate public art into ongoing community development, urban greening, public amenities, and other revitalization initiatives. Included are essays by Penny Balkin Bach, Ellen Dissanayake, Thomas Hine, and Lucy Lippard; site photography by James B. Abbott; xvi detailed proposal descriptions; and a comprehensive bibliography.

Grayson Publishing, Washington, DC, 2001
$29.95 hardcover with jacket; ISBN 0-9679143-4-v
160 pages; color and b&w illus.

New•Land•Marks Exhibition and Events

Pennsylvania University of the Fine Arts February ten–April 15, 2001

As part of its ongoing programme New•Land•Marks: public art, customs, and the meaning of identify, the Association for Public Art organized an exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts of the sixteen proposals that artists and community organizations developed for new works of public art for neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia. The exhibition featured drawings, estimator renderings, maps, and models created by New•Land•Marks artists to represent their proposals. Past examining the complex creative and community processes that can inform the development of public art, the exhibition suggested how artists and communities tin piece of work together to affect the appearance and meaning of our public spaces. A comprehensive volume well-nigh the New•Land•Marks plan accompanied the exhibition.

Together, the proposals tell a larger story –how communities and artists tin can come together to examine the meaning and appearance of our public spaces.

The exhibition included large-scale site photography by James B. Abbott, whose piece of work likewise appears in the New•State•Marks book, and was designed by Joel Katz Design Assembly, with Stuart Yard. Rosenberg Architects. Katz Design, an information and graphic design business firm, is well known for its "style-finding" projects that use signs, maps, and other directional elements to guide pedestrian and vehicular movement.

Educational programs and special events for children and adults accompanied the exhibition. The event series began with Customs 24-hour interval, a 24-hour interval-long commemoration of public art at the Academy. Throughout the exhibition menstruum, family art workshops and Sabbatum fine art classes offered children the opportunity to learn about and create designs for public art. New•Land•Marks artists discussed their proposals through the Academy'southward weekly Art-at-Lunch speaker series. Finally, the University'due south tertiary annual Frank R. Veale Symposium (March 2001) focused on public art in America and its unique function in Philadelphia. Co-sponsored past the Academy, Temple University, and the University of Pennsylvania, the event featured several presentations near New•State•Marks.

The exhibition offered a unique opportunity to view the New•Land•Marks proposals equally a group. As the proposals are developed, each will follow its own trajectory and learn its ain identity. Together, the proposals tell a larger story –how communities and artists can come together to examine the significant and appearance of our public spaces.

The exhibition was made possible past a generous grant from the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, a grant program funded past The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The Academy of the Arts, Philadelphia, with additional back up from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, the Independence Foundation, and The William Penn Foundation.

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Source: https://www.associationforpublicart.org/program/new-land-marks-public-art-community-and-the-meaning-of-place/

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