Art in Public Places: Public Defender Building Public Art Installation

The Alachua County Office of the Public Defender has completed construction of a new facility located at 151 SW 2nd Avenue in Gainesville, Florida. The City of Gainesville and Alachua County Art in Public Places Trust is seeking public art installations to enhance the visual quality of the area for building users and the general public. Two exterior masonry walls are available for installation: a contiguous 3-paneled wall on the south of the entrance courtyard and a wall adjacent to the building's main entry.

This call is open to all artists and artist teams regardless of location, though regional artists (living within 100 miles of Gainesville city limits) are strongly encouraged and will receive additional selection points. Artists may propose works for one or both locations. Proposals must be suitable to pedestrian scale and slower speed traffic, not impede circulation, and be created from materials appropriate to outdoor environments with minimal maintenance requirements. Given Gainesville's hot, humid climate with intense sun, seasonal heavy rain, and occasional freezing temperatures, materials must resist rust, fading, and hurricane force winds, and be vandal resistant. Projects must also consider pedestrian safety.

The total project budget is $25,000 to be divided between the two sites at the Trust's discretion. An honorarium of $500 will be paid to finalists. Proposals must include a professional resume, written concept description, materials description, construction and installation methods, dimensions, scale drawings or models with installation details, projected timeline, and detailed budget including installation costs, liability insurance, and publication quality photography of the completed work. Finalists will be selected by August 16, 2017, and invited to present proposals on September 6, 2017, at the Historic Thomas Center. Selected artists will be notified by September 15, 2017, with installations to be completed by December 6, 2017.