Outposts Sculpture

The Bernalillo County Arts Board solicits a call for artists to propose conceptual sketch ideas for outdoor sculpture to be located along highly visible avenues and boulevards within Bernalillo County, New Mexico. Regional artists residing in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Texas are invited to apply. The long-term scope of the project is to locate five sculptures in each of the five Bernalillo County districts for a total of 25 sculptures by 25 artists. This is the initial call for the first five sculptures.

The Project, named "Outposts," is conceived by the Bernalillo County Arts Board to combine the duality of Bernalillo County and the Southwestern region, including the co-existence of mountains and the valley, urban and rural communities, the monsoon season and dry season, and ancient and modern cultural societies. The purpose is to create a public art trail that connects five culturally different communities from the rural east mountains to the primarily agricultural South Valley, to the highly urban center of the city, the mixed-use north valley to the primarily residential west mesa. The Arts Board wishes to incorporate high quality art pieces that stimulate conversation about public art in this region while attracting cultural tourism and stimulating the creative economy.

Sculptures should be approximately 15 feet in height with a 7 foot pedestrian clearance. Each sculpture must be attached to a metal pipe with a diameter of 6" that will be set into a cuff and base provided by Bernalillo County. Each art piece should have a structural lifetime of at least 25 years and be able to withstand harsh conditions including high altitude ultraviolet rays and sustained winds of 35 miles per hour in the spring. All artwork will be displayed on Alameda Boulevard between N. Guadalupe Trail and S Guadalupe Trail, a park with an established pedestrian walking path located in the corridor between the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Park and the Bachechi Open Space. The total budget for each sculpture is $20,000.

Submission requirements include: an artist's statement (not to exceed 1,000 words), a letter of intent (not to exceed 1,000 words) describing ideas, themes, and proposed technique, up to 3 preliminary design sketches, up to 7 digital images of past work, an annotated image key clearly labeled with full name and numerical listing for each image including title, media, dimensions, and year of completion, and a resume. Work sample requirements: minimum 6 images, maximum 10 images; minimum 0 videos, maximum 3 videos; total samples minimum 6, maximum 10.