 "Photo: May-Ying Lam")
Austin’s Art in Public Places initiative has never been busier, according to the program’s officials.
The 20-year-old arts initiative is responsible for the majority of public art in Austin, including the “Philosopher’s Rock” statue at Barton Springs and the Stevie Ray Vaughn memorial statue on Lady Bird Lake.
“We’re averaging about 40 ongoing projects driven by capital improvement,” said Megan Crigger, a spokeswoman for the initiative.
The Austin Arts Commission, which governs public funding of art initiatives in Austin, voted on three of those ongoing projects at its meeting Monday.
After 10 years of delay, the commission approved design plans for the South Congress Avenue Streetscape improvement project, which commissions a large public sculpture on the median between Live Oak and Bartlett streets on Congress Avenue.
The project was initially delayed in 1998 to accommodate the city’s ongoing light-rail project.
The sculpture will be built by South Austin resident James Talbot, whose previous works include outdoor sculptures, play-scapes and courtyards, as well as his three-story house, Casa Neverlandia, which is a living art project.
Talbot plans to build the sculpture portion of the $40,000 project in cement with tiles and glass, but his design plans have not been finalized. Crigger said the project is expected to be completed in the 2009-10 fiscal year.
The commission also allocated the final $19,000 needed to complete the forthcoming Austin BMX and Skate Park, which will sit on an acre next to the Austin Recreation Center near 12th Street and Lamar Boulevard.
The city collaborated with Canadian parks firm Skate Park Consulting to design the $75,000 park, which is Austin’s first skateboarding and BMX biking park, Crigger said.
The park will feature functional sculptures from Chris Levack, whose large works are currently featured at the Mueller redevelopment.
“Plans include a skateable steel wave about 12 feet high with projecting rods that extend beyond into the park,” Crigger said. “It’s skateable and functions as an iconic sculpture that emerges out of the landscape beds.”
Levack also plans to build a trilobite-shaped arbor to provide shade for the park’s
open spaces.
Austin will also host a new sculpture by Buster Graybill titled “Launch!” on the shores of Lady Bird Lake.
Graybill was selected out of 22 artists who submitted proposals to build an $8,000 sculpture. His design consists of Jon boats ratcheted together, emerging from a billowing column of tangled inner tubes.
Graybill said the work was intended to be a monument to the outdoors, not simply an outdoor monument.
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