Norman Public Arts Board Seeks Submissions for New Artist Designed Bike Racks for City Parks, West Main Street

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The Public Arts Board of Norman is seeking designs for Phase #5 of the Artist Designed Bike Racks Project. This fourth phase of the project will place artist designed bike racks across core Norman. We are looking for bike racks that can accommodate a minimum of two bicycles, one on each side of the rack (similar to traditional “U” shaped racks), and that will represent Norman’s unique aesthetic and cultural identity.

This Request for Proposals is specifically for bike racks that will be located in the following Norman parks:

Rotary Park
Saxon Park
Reaves Park
Colonial Estates

And three to be placed on West Main at locations to be determined.

HONORARIUM:

Winning entries will receive a $200 honorarium.

SELECTION:

A Design Review Board composed of local arts advocates, bicycle advocates, and other community stakeholders will work with the Public Arts Board and be responsible for selecting the winning designs.

FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION:

No fabrication skills are necessary to enter this competition. The Public Arts Board will be responsible for the fabrication and installation of winning bike rack designs.

MODIFICATIONS:

Selected designs will be produced with the intention of replicating the design as closely as possible but the Public Arts Board reserves the right to modify the designs when it is necessary for fabrication.

ELIGIBILITY:

The competition is open to all Oklahoma artists. Only applications submitted through the online process will be considered. Applications must be 100% completed for consideration.

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS:

• Design Worksheet: All designs must be submitted on the provided Design Worksheet.

• Dimensions: The minimum and maximum dimensions are indicated on the design worksheet for your convenience. Bike racks must have a minimum dimension of 4’ x 3’ (h x w) and may not exceed 7’ x 4’ (h x w).

FUNCTIONALITY GUIDELINES: It is important that the bike racks be functional as well as sculptural/aesthetic in nature. The Public Arts Board has partnered with local bicycle riders to provide the following guidelines regarding the functionality of the Artist Designed Bike Racks. Functionality will be an important criterion in selecting winning decisions.

• Accommodate a minimum of 2 bicycles upright by their frames

• Enable the frame and one of the two wheels to be secured using a standard u-lock

• Provide locking points that are between 1’ and 3’ above the ground

• Include no sharp edges or potential safety hazards

• Provide a gap near the bottom for pedal clearance

SUBMISSIONS:
Artists may submit as many entries as they wish. Submissions should be made as follows:

• Worksheet: For fabrication purposes, all designs must be submitted on the attached worksheet. Winning designs will be fabricated using the scale measurements on the worksheet.

• White Background: In an effort to keep all of the designs consistent, we request that designs be submitted on a simple white background. No background images please.

• Artist Information: Artist information must be filled in on each and every individual design. Designs submitted with incomplete artist information will be disqualified.

• Content: Bike rack designs cannot directly advertise or advocate for any particular entity or organization (i.e. Walmart, University of Oklahoma, Zoos, Museums etc.). Also, winning designs must be appropriate for use in the public domain.

• No “Wheel Benders”: In the bicycle community, bike racks that hold bike racks upright by the wheel are known as “wheel benders”. The bike racks that are used by bicyclists and bike advocates support bikes by their frame instead of the wheel. Designs that appear to encourage “wheel bending” type bike parking will be eliminated from this competition.

• Materials and Line Widths: Bike racks will be fabricated using 1”, 2” and 3” diameter steel tube in both square and round stock. Artists may utilize up to 3 line widths to reflect these materials in their design. Artists may also suggest their tube stock preferences; square, round, or indicate a combination of square and round.

• Hardscape Mounting: To insure that the racks can be securely mounted to the hardscape, designs must intersect with the ground plane in at least 2 points.

• Colors: The following palette has been selected for the project; however, PLEASE NOTE, that each bike rack must be monochromatic. Also, because of a safety issue and lack of visibility, black is not included in the following color choices. Artists may choose a single color for their design from this palette:

All entries must be submitted through Submittables at: https://normanarts.submittable.com/submit/136324/norman-public-arts-board-artist-designed-bike-racks

TIMELINE:

Call for Entries Issued: Friday, March 1, 2019
Submission Deadline: Friday, April 12, 2019
Competition Winners Notified: April 19, 2019
Installation: To be determined, 2019

FURTHER INFORMATION:

For more information, please contact Norman Arts Council at nac@normanarts.org or by calling (405) 360-1162.

Stunning Cloudscapes Storm MAINSITE Contemporary Art This Spring with David Holland's Three-Month Residency

Top: On the Shoulders of Giants | 36” x 48” | Oil on canvas
On The Shoulders of Others | 11” x 14” | Oil on canvas

Norman Arts Council announces the exhibition and three-month residency of Oklahoma cloudscape artist David Holland from May through July 2019 at MAINSITE Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main, Norman. 
 
Holland will set up his painting studio inside the gallery for viewers to observe his progress as he completes a five-foot by six-foot cloudscape painting from start to finish. Holland is known for his stunning high contrast oil portraits of active storm formations in the moments of their most visually breathtaking display.
 
His residency — The Skies Have It— will be celebrated with an opening reception from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday, May 10 at MAINSITE with a midway reception from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday, June 14 and closing reception from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday, July 12, all happening in conjunction with the 2nd Friday Norman Art Walk that takes place in the Walker Arts District of Downtown Norman each month. 
 
The subject matter is one that all Oklahomans are intimately familiar with. Holland’s captivating cloudscapes start with his capturing storms photographically then searching through thousands of images for ones that are — to his eye — dynamic and dramatic enough that they say — to him — “PAINT ME!” 
 
“Storms are a staple of our lives here in Oklahoma,” Holland said, “I present them as majestic gifts of water that present themselves as stunningly beautiful objects in our skies.”

Erinn Gavaghan — executive director of Norman Arts Council — saw an opportunity to connect Holland’s visual study of clouds with the scientific community in Norman, whose “study of weather at the National Weather Center and OU’s School of Meteorology is unsurpassed,” Gavaghan said. 
 
Holland will lead a pair of workshops on both cloudscape photography and painting in late June to share the knowledge he has gained from more than ten years of painting clouds, as a part of Norman Arts Council’s Undercover Artists series. 

Holland with a work in progress for his exhibition and residency.

But learning and observation is a daily aspect of Holland’s exhibition and residency. He will have an active studio set up inside the front of the gallery where passersby can see him painting live throughout the span of the residency.
 
“I’m excited to share my methods and materials with people, so they can have the same joy in creating dramatic images I experience,” Holland said. 
 
MAINSITE Contemporary Art is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The gallery and exhibition receptions are free and open to the public to attend. Visit mainsitecontemporaryart.com for more information. 

The Gravity of Souls | 40” x 30” | Oil on canvas

Norman Arts Council Invites Artists to Participate in Roaring Twenties Art Auction & Raffle!

NORMAN ARTS COUNCIL AGE OF ONE-DERFUL NONSENSE ARTIST PARTICIPATION
DUE FRIDAY, MARCH 10

Artists are invited to participate in the Norman Arts Council's annual art auction and raffle! This is an invitational exhibit of works to support the Norman Arts Council. 

Deadline to participate is March 10, 2019. Artwork MUST be delivered to the Norman Arts Council the week of March 11, 2019 - No Exceptions!

Artwork must be delivered ready to hang or display. Artwork must include Title, Artist, Medium, and Dimensions clearly marked on the back or bottom of the piece.

Artists may choose to participate in either the Silent Auction or the Raffle. All work will be available for purchase through "Buy it Now" beginning the week of the event. Any work purchased prior to the event will still be exhibited at the event.

Artists may choose to donate the work 100% or to split the sale of the work 50/50 with the NAC. NAC reserves the right to place donated works in either the Auction or the Raffle. 

Celebrate and Support Norman Arts at Roaring Twenties: The Age of ONEderful Nonsense

The Roaring Twenties – a distinctly American period marked by the birth of Jazz, a new regionalist style of American visual art, Art Deco design, great American literature, the end of World War I, and the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. 

Nearly 100 years later, we will be celebrating the period at this year’s most anticipated party of the year – the Norman Arts Council’s ONE event!! 

GENERAL ADMISSION TICKET INCLUDES:

• Premium Open Bar 

• Delicious food 

• Art raffle/auction + silent auction items 

• Live entertainment 

• Lots of other arts party fun and surprises! 

SAVE $25 PER TICKET BY PURCHASING YOURS BY MARCH 23!

Tickets will be available for $100 from March 1 until March 23, then $125 the week of and at the door! 

From now until March 29th, all of the art for ONE is available to view online AND to Buy it NOW! To inquire about purchasing art, contact Erinn Gavaghan at erinn@normanarts.org.

KATELYNN AND DILLON HENRY, 2019 HONORARY CHAIRS

ONE Planning Committee 

Liz Barfield • Gabriel Bird • Dennis Brigham • Cher Duncan • Jin Jo Garten • Erinn Gavaghan • Susan Greer • Joshua Hinkle • Carolynn Loon • Lesha Maag •  Bree Montoya • Lisa Reed • Shevaun Williams

All images courtesy of Shevaun Williams Photography
Hair & makeup by Salon Audace
Wardrobe by Queen of Hart’s Costume & Dancewear
Styling by Elizabeth Wheat

Norman Public Arts Board Seeks Artists to Transform Drains into Works of Art

On behalf of the Norman Arts Council and the City of Norman, Oklahoma, the Norman Public Arts Board seeks artist submissions for Artful Inlets.

The City of Norman operates and maintains a series of underground pipes, open channels, ditches, and roadways used to collect or convey stormwater runoff from our homes and businesses to the nearest body of water, such as a creek, stream, or lake. In urban areas, stormwater runoff from hard surfaces, like roofs and driveways, flows along the side of the road until it reaches a storm drain, which is an opening or grate in the curb connected by pipes to the nearest waterbody.  Water and other materials that enter these storm drains are transported directly to our creeks and streams without any treatment. Some of the pollutants that enter our local creeks and streams with stormwater runoff include grass clippings, oil, trash, fertilizers, pesticides, and pet waste.

The Norman Arts Council, Public Arts Board, and City of Norman are inviting artists to submit designs that will transform city storm drains into works of public art. These Artful Inlets will educate and raise awareness that pollutants that go down storm drains have a devasting impact on our local water quality.

There will be five (5) drains identified for this project. They will all be on Main Street between Porter Avenue and Santa Fe Avenue. The artwork should have a stormwater and/or water quality theme and must be adaptable to any of the five specified drains. Each selected artist will incorporate their original design into the prescribed area around the storm drain. See below for details.

It is important to note that the ornamental brick area lining Main Street sidewalks (24” to 25.5” wide by 8’ long) cannot be painted on or otherwise altered by the artist. It will be taped off and covered with plastic sheeting prior to the artist’s scheduled date and time for installation.

Submission Rules

• Artists (or a team of artists) must be 18 years or older and a resident(s) of Cleveland County, Oklahoma. 

• All designs must be submitted on the provided Design Worksheet.

• Design proposals must be submitted through Submittables no later than February 22, 2019. Only applications submitted through the on-line process will be considered.

• Artists must submit only original designs and, if selected, must install the selected, original design.

• Submissions must include a short artist biography and information about the proposed design

• A list of any additional materials to be used that are not provided by the Public Arts Board must also be included

Design Criteria

• Artistic excellence

• Feasibility of executing the proposed design

• Incorporation of the theme

• When designing artwork, each artist is asked to consider the following themes:

1. Stormwater Pollution AND/OR

2. Environmental Protection:  the importance of cleaner water

• Each design should include a message or phrase that references one or more of the above. 

• The design must be appropriate for a public space

• Any materials supplied by the artist must be eco-friendly, not contribute to stormwater pollution, and be pre-approved by the Public Arts Board and the City of Norman

• Designs may not contain any business reference, promotions, or advertisements

• Designs may not contain any breach of intellectual property, brands or trademarks, or depiction of illegal activity

Selected Artists will receive:

• $400.00 stipend when installation and sealing is completed

• Clean, primed area stationed off with appropriate traffic control devices while painting

• Tent to provide shade over the area while painting

• Sherwin-Williams Armorseal paint – black, white, yellow, red, and blue with a non-slip additive

• Water for painting

• Tubs and containers for water and paint

• Drinking water

Selected Artists must provide:

• The original design

• Execution of the accepted design

• Brushes

• Any other supplies or tools they deem necessary to execute their design

The artists will be selected based on the materials submitted in this application. Artist selection for this project will be made by a panel including City of Norman staff and members of the Norman Public Arts Board who will choose 5 artists and 1 alternate based on the Design Criteria listed above.

The Selection Panel will assign a storm drain to each artist upon selection.

Timeline

• Submission deadline is February 22, 2019

• Artists will be selected and notified by March 15, 2019

• Installation of the artwork will be April 12 – 14, 2019

• Event celebrating the artful inlets including official walking tour TBA

Defined space for artwork

The area that artists are allowed to paint is a five (5) feet by eight (8) feet area on the sidewalk above the inlet and a one (1) foot by eight (8) feet area on the pavement in front of the inlet grate (see Official Design Template). 

Artists MUST use the Official Design Template to propose designs. Although the various storm drains are shaped differently, the prepared and sealed sidewalk surrounding the drains will be in a rectangular shape. Be mindful that some changes to your design may be required to accommodate the specific location and those will be approved by the Public Arts Board.

Each storm drain is made of metal with a metal grate in front of it that varies in shape and position, as represented in the photos on the template. The shape of the drain is a rectangle. You may paint into the street up to one foot beyond the grate. The design does not have to completely fill the storm drain plot. 

It is important to note that the ornamental brick area (24” to 25.5” wide by 8’ long) cannot be painted on or otherwise altered by the artist. It will be taped off and covered with plastic sheeting prior to the artist’s scheduled date and time for installation.

Questions

Debby Williams, Public Art Manager, Norman Arts Council
debby@normanarts.org 
405-360-1162