Reopening Call for Reed Market & 15th Street Roundabout in Bend, Oregon

Art in Public Places (AiPP) invites artists to submit qualifications for a public art installation in a roundabout at Reed Market & 15th Street in Bend, Oregon. The location is highly visible to vehicle traffic, with daily traffic counters estimating 15,000 cars per day and projected to increase to 20,000 cars by 2025. Reed Market is the main thoroughfare connecting the east and westside of Bend. The roundabout borders a residential area, light industrial area, and is near the Bend Senior Center, a park/playground area, and a gas station/mini mart.

The roundabout is oblong with a circumference of 220 feet. The area available for a single sculpture or multiple sculptures is broken into nine sites (ranging from 10 x 10 ft., 10 x 12 ft., and 20 x 10 ft. and smaller) within the roundabout, determined based on the need to avoid underground utilities that must be accessed with a 5 ft. clearance if necessary. The sculpture footings must be contained within a single site. The hardscape (truck apron) that wraps the available space within the roundabout is roughly 20 feet wide.

This is an open competition for professional artists residing in the Northwest and Southwest United States, specifically Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Artists must demonstrate experience with public art projects, materials suitable for public outdoor settings, site-specific design, and collaboration with other artists, architects, engineers, fabricators and city staff. The committee will evaluate submissions based on artistic excellence, innovation, interactivity, originality and the work's ability to enhance the natural landscape and enliven this public space. Kinetic or solar powered elements are welcome, and a variety of mediums and techniques are accepted provided the work is durable, weather and vandal resistant. The roundabout requires a large scale work of art or multiple sculptures.

Submissions must include six digital images of completed past works with title, medium, dimensions, date completed, project budget, location and commissioning agency; a letter of interest; current resume; and two references. The total project budget shall not exceed $100,000, including permit fees, stamped engineering drawings, transportation and installation. Finalists will be notified in mid-September 2016 and will present models/proposals in Bend on November 2, 2016. Public comment and presentation of models will occur for two weeks at the downtown library in mid-November to early December 2016. Selection will occur in early December 2016, with installation scheduled for Summer 2017.