URI Graduate School of Oceanography Public Art Commission

The University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography is seeking artists for a public art commission at the new Ocean Research and Exploration Center (OSEC) on the Narragansett Bay Campus. This is the first step in the URI public art selection process conducted under Rhode Island's 1% for Public Art Law.

The selected artist(s) will produce interior 2D or 3D artwork for a two-story asymmetrical atrium with glass walls offering sweeping ocean views. Most visitors will enter through the main doors on the west façade into a large open mezzanine. Artwork should consider themes related to data gathering, exploration, science, discovery, oceanography, volcanology, glaciology, cartography, and associated technologies. The Narragansett Bay Campus is an informal, working campus with an international faculty and graduate student body. Artwork should not lead viewers to private areas where people work and need quiet. No audio work will be considered.

Submissions must include six digital images of current work (completed within the past five years), resumes for each artist, and a brief description of a potential site-specific proposal with a rough outline of expenses totaling no more than $90,000. Applications are submitted online through CaFÉ at www.callforentry.org. There is no charge to apply. A five-member public art selection panel will review submissions to assess the quality and appropriateness of the artist's work, interest in their proposal idea, and ability to carry out a substantial public art commission. Three to five semi-finalists will be selected to craft detailed proposals including itemized budgets, scale models, renderings, and in-depth project descriptions.