Stories indexed with the term ‘Ann Arbor Public Art Commission’

Although he was born there, Herbert Dreiseitl doesn’t belong to Germany. He doesn’t belong to Norway, Australia or Singapore either. He belongs to the planet.

That’s what Dreiseitl – the artist the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission hired to create a public art installation at the new city municipal center – told the audience at a presentation on Monday morning at city hall.

“As a person, I always feel home where I am,” Dreiseitl said.

The controversy over the municipal center project – especially the fact that AAPAC isn’t using a local artist for the nearly $800,000 project – drove Dreiseitl to make those remarks as he presented his designs for the artwork during his recent visit to Ann Arbor.

He spent most of the day on Monday in public and private meetings about his work, including a morning session with city staff and art commissioners, a public reception and a formal presentation to city council. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Public Art Commission (July 14, 2009): A big chunk of Tuesday’s art commission meeting focused on the upcoming visit of German artist Herbert Dreitseitl, who’ll arrive in town this weekend. Where will he stay? When can the public see his designs for the municipal center? How can you score one of the buttons shown in this photo? Our report on Tuesday’s meeting will provide answers to all these questions, and more.

The meeting also introduced The Chronicle to a new vocabulary word – “scuppers” – and included a talk by Susan Pollay of the Downtown Development Authority. To find out which piece of public art she describes as a “sad little sculpture,” read on. [Full Story]

In the hallway outside the city council meeting room last month, a group of teenagers leaned into each other and grinned as multiple cameras flashed. People passing by paused to say “Congratulations!” The teens – former participants in the Ann Arbor Art Center’s Artmakers Teens summer outreach program – had just received a 2009 Golden Paintbrush Award from the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission for a mural they created last summer.

Standing and smiling with them was Sarah Winter, an Ann Arbor Public Schools art teacher and project coordinator for the teens who created the mural. Winter said she was happy about the award, and called working with the Artmakers a “truly amazing experience.”

However, it was also bittersweet, she said.

“There’s no funding for the program this summer,” Winter explained. “It was great for the teenagers in a lot of ways this past summer, and now it’s over. I’m very sad it’s not happening this year.” [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Public Art Commission meeting (June 9, 2009): Ann Arbor Public Art Commission members spent their regular meeting this month discussing their annual plan and budget, as well as hearing reports from their public relations, planning and projects committees. They also discussed German artist Herbert Dreiseitl’s upcoming visit to Ann Arbor, during which he’ll discuss his plans for the municipal center with AAPAC and the city. [Full Story]

On May 26, the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission spent several hours focused on developing its plan for the coming year. This included a joint meeting with the Downtown Development Authority about collaboration between the two groups, and a planning meeting later in the day with just AAPAC members to decide which public art projects to include in its annual plan for the next fiscal year.

Though no decisions were made, the meetings gave some insight into priorities for public art in Ann Arbor, who’ll be choosing and funding projects, and what’s ahead for the coming year. [Full Story]

A trio of women stood staring at the piece of paper on the wall, pencils and shiny star stickers poised in their hands. One of them announces she wants to mark somewhere with a bench. Somewhere she can sit and look.

The paper they’re looking at is a map of Ann Arbor. The stickers and pencils are tools to highlight places they think could use some artwork. On a bench below the map, there’s also a suggestion box, with squares of paper scrawled with the public’s suggestions for the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission’s next project.

The map was part of AAPAC’s open house, which the commission held Thursday evening at the Ann Arbor Art Center. The event, where commissioners entertained about 30 supporters and community members, featured a slideshow of public art – from the Arch in Kerrytown’s Sculpture Park to various pieces by Herbert Dreiseitl, the German artist AAPAC commissioned to work on the public art installment at the municipal center.

There were also sheets of paper with information about the commission attached to the wall, answering questions like “Why a public art commission?” and “Creating a public art plan: How do we get there?” While perusing the center’s Jewelry + Objects exhibition and enjoying wine, fruit and brownies, attendees told The Chronicle why they came and what they think of public art. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Public Art Commission (May 12, 2009): Members of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission spent much of their recent monthly meeting talking about their plan for the next year and projects they should tackle. They also discussed upcoming events, including AAPAC’s open house on May 21, a joint meeting with the DDA board on May 26, and the Golden Paintbrush awards on June 1. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Public Art Commission (April 14, 2009): Much of Tuesday’s meeting focused on issues related to communication, and in particular how it related to the controversial Herbert Dreiseitl project for the city’s municipal center.

And though his visit wasn’t discussed at length, the German artist is coming to Ann Arbor on July 20 to present his designs to the commission and city council. Using funds from the Percent for Art program, the city is paying $77,000 for his preliminary design work, but would still need to sign off on the entire project, which is estimated to cost around $700,000.

There will be a public reception for him, said Margaret Parker, chair of the art commission. It’s not clear whether the commission will see his designs before he arrives, but they might try to vote on the project and take it to city council for approval while he’s here, she said, adding that details about his visit have yet to be finalized. Before he arrives, the commission also plans to have an open house for the public on May 21, to talk about their mission and goals. [Full Story]

Public Art Commission (Feb. 10, 2009): With two new commissioners and a newly-hired administrator on board, the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission spent a good portion of Tuesday night’s monthly meeting discussing the need to  communicate better with the public and to educate them about the value of public art in Ann Arbor. That issue was in response to a Feb. 3 Ann Arbor News article – and the comments posted after it by eight readers – about the commission’s decision to enlist German artist Herbert Dreiseitl to design a waterscape installation at the police-court building, which will begin construction in April. The comments from News readers weren’t exactly supportive of that choice, or of the $72,000 that Dreiseitl is requesting for his initial design work, which represents about 10% of the potential $700,000 total price tag. [Full Story]

Public Art Commission (Jan. 13, 2009): Tuesday night’s meeting of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission covered a lot of territory, from updates on specific projects to concerns over a contract delay for the newly hired administrator, and the as yet non-appointment of Cheryl Zuellig to the commission. But commissioners spent a small portion of their meeting deciding to hold two parties – and who doesn’t need a little party planning to heat things up on a cold winter night? And if you stick with this article, you’ll also find out which artist is a direct descendant of Ann Allen. [Full Story]

Editor’s note: We’ve retooled our Meeting Watch headline format. The previous template was “Meeting Watch: Public Body Name (Date).” Headlines for these articles will now follow common headline conventions. To make up for whatever was lost, we’ve created a category called Meeting Watch. Clicking on the Meeting Watch category label at the bottom of an article or in the footer of the page will give a chronological sorting of all Meeting Watch articles. We’ll begin applying this category to previous Meeting Watch articles as resources permit.

Public Art Commission (Dec. 9, 2008) Tuesday’s meeting of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission was the last one for two of the members. John Hieftje, the city’s mayor, dropped by for a brief visit, and the group discussed the recently hired administrator and got updates on several ongoing projects. [Full Story]

A major step forward on a public art installation for Ann Arbor’s new municipal center was among several updates at Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Public Art Commission. Another potential project – called SoundFall – is moving ahead with a formal presentation planned in December.

[Full Story]