The city of Austin Art in Public Places program is looking for up to seven artists to create artwork panels of durable materials - tile, glass, stone or metal - to be placed on obeliscos on East Seventh Street between Chicon and Pleasant Valley streets. Located at seven intersections on the street, the concrete and steel four-sided tapering columns are intended to provide directional signs, enliven the streetscape and provide visual continuity along the corridor.
Austin was the first city in Texas to include works of art in construction projects when it established the AIPP program in 1985. Since then, more than 100 artworks have been commissioned for public spaces, including the airport, convention center, libraries, parks, police stations and recreation centers. Two percent of construction budgets go to the creation of murals, sculptures, functional artwork and design details integrated into public buildings, according to AIPP Coordinator Jean Graham.
Graham said she sees the value of integrating the visual arts with urban development in the area.
"Austin is a city which values itself as a center of creativity and innovation," Graham said, "thus it is particularly important that Austin have public art."
The Obelisco Project, with a $4,600 budget, is the first step in a larger city project to improve the East Seventh Street corridor - now the gateway between the airport and downtown. The goal of the East Seventh Corridor Concept Plan is to revitalize the street by improving its appearance and safety.
At S&T Duran Agency, an insurance company located at East Seventh for the past 15 years, branch manager Daniel Rodriguez said the art project is a good idea. He said the revitalization of the street will help the business by attracting new customers to the East Side.
"People were scared or they weren't willing to come to this side of the city," Rodriguez said. "Now it will be just as good as any other part of the city."
The city selected Jennifer Chenoweth, who has an art studio in East Austin, as the design team artist for the AIPP East Seventh Street project. Chenoweth met with the Urban Design Group and other design professionals over 14 months to develop the project. An important aspect of the process was holding meetings to get feedback from neighborhood residents and businesses.
"Artistically our goals were to make something that the people in the neighborhood could identify with and make a sense of place special so that it reflected the identity and feeling of the neighborhood instead of being outside art," Chenoweth said.
"People were scared or they weren't willing to come to this side of the city," Rodriguez said. "Now it will be just as good as any other part of the city."
The city selected Jennifer Chenoweth, who has an art studio in East Austin, as the design team artist for the AIPP East Seventh Street project. Chenoweth met with the Urban Design Group and other design professionals over 14 months to develop the project. An important aspect of the process was holding meetings to get feedback from neighborhood residents and businesses.
"Artistically our goals were to make something that the people in the neighborhood could identify with and make a sense of place special so that it reflected the identity and feeling of the neighborhood instead of being outside art," Chenoweth said.
East Austin has historically been home to working-class blacks and Hispanics.
"One of the project values is to encourage a diversity of local artists to create public art along the corridor," Graham said, "allowing the individual voices of the artists to tell the stories of the neighborhood."
Chenoweth hopes East Side artists will apply for the program "so that it's art by and from the residents."
An informational meeting for artists will be held at Parque Zaragoza on June 16 at 7 p.m., and the deadline for submissions is July 1.
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