Westbrook, ME -- The Maine Arts Commission is making a call to artists from the international community, with a preference for Maine artists, to submit proposals to design, create and install art work at the Westbrook Middle School. The project has a budget of $44,000 and a submission deadline of September 7, 2009.
The new school, for grades 6 - 8, is located on the site of a former 18th century house where an archeological dig was conducted. Artifacts from the site and recycled elements from the house will be incorporated and displayed in the new school. Part of a 19th century canal system is also on the school property. The historical nature of the site is of great importance and will be incorporated into the school curriculum.
In direct contrast to the historical aspects of the site, the new school incorporates very modern geo-thermal heating and cooling systems; it also boasts light harvesting features and innovative green technology. Furthermore, the school has invested in sophisticated computer technology including a large flat screen monitor installed in the atrium. The community raised additional funds to include a 1000 seat auditorium that meets the highest professional standards for the performing arts that will also be used for community events and performances.
The Percent for Art committee is seeking a single artist or artist team to create artwork that reflects the historical, social, and environmental values of the project. The available locations for the work(s) are a two-story atrium that is the central corridor of the building and the exterior/interior areas of both the auditorium and main entrances. The atrium space is the area where all students and visitor pass to reach all areas of the building. There is abundant natural light that could be an active element in the artwork. Suspended artworks will be considered. A large, flat screen monitor in this space may be used by the artist(s) for multi-media art.
The architect for this project is Dan Cecil who can be contacted at: dcecil@harriman.com.The site may be visit by contacting Anthony Roy at: aroy@harriman.com. All other questions can be directed to Alison Ferris, who is the assistant director of the Maine Arts Commission at: alison.ferris@maine.gov
Project Budget
There is approximately $44,000 in Percent for Art funds available for this project. These funds will be used to commission work(s) from a single artist or artist team. An artist budget proposal must cover all design, fabrication, transportation, documentation and installation expenses, including any building or site modifications associated with the artwork.
Selection Process
A Percent for Art selection committee of five members will jury submissions. The committee will review the materials to determine whom to invite for a second round of evaluation. Artists selected for the second round will receive a $1000 design fee for refining their proposals. Final proposals will include detailed models, drawings, renderings, and samples of work and/or materials depending on the nature of the proposal. All finalists will present their final proposals to the committee in person with exceptions made for international candidates. Please do not submit detailed models, drawings, samples, or final proposals for the first round of the selection process.
Eligibility
All professional artists may apply for consideration. Artists who are employees of the Westbrook Educational Community are ineligible for Percent for Art projects at the location where they are employed, as are members of the selection committee and their immediate families. The project is open to all artists age 18 and over, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical disabilities. Artist teams are eligible to apply, including teams of artists from multiple disciplines. Contact Alison Ferris at the Maine Arts Commission with questions at 207-287-2710 or alison.ferris@maine.gov.
Deadline
September 7, 2009 at 11:59 EST is the deadline for submission of preliminary materials. Materials received after this time may be excluded from consideration. Materials are usually evaluated within a month of the deadline and all applicants are notified shortly thereafter of the committee decisions.
Materials Needed in Initial Submission
-A current concise resume (sent as an email attachment or on a CD).
-A brief written proposal (sent as an email attachment or on a CD) describing your work and what you plan to do to address the potential art area(s). Write approximately one page about what your concept and approach will be in addressing the public art space(s) of the site. Please do not submit detailed models, drawings, samples, or final proposals for this round of the selection process. A simple sketch may be included to clarify your idea if necessary, but it is not encouraged. Emailed documents must be sent as attachments, not embedded in the email.
-A rough budget estimate (sent as an email attachment or on a CD) to give the committee an idea of your general compensation expectations. A precise budget will be requested for those invited to the second round of evaluation.
-Five digital images of your recent work (sent as an email attachment or on a CD) resolution of 96 dpi at a minimum of 5 x 7 inches. JPG or PDF format no larger than 1.5MB per image. If an artist team or artist organization applies, they may only submit five images for all artists. The optional proposal sketch does not count as an image.
-A list of the submitted images (sent as an email attachment or on a CD) identifying title, artist, medium, size, location, and other pertinent information about the image submissions.
All submissions should be in digital form. Document files should be in PDF or doc formats, image files in PDF or jpg formats. Name each image file with your last name first and name of the document, e.g.: ferris_alison_resume.doc.To have your images viewed in a certain order you can number them, e.g.: ferris_alison_1_Title of the work.JPG. Use underscores to separate words in file name, not punctuation. Please make sure submissions are labeled correctly, that you identify the Percent for Art call you are applying to, and that your name, address and other contact information is in every document. Improperly submitted or incomplete submissions may not be accepted.
How to Submit Materials
Emailed materials should be sent to alison.ferris.maine.gov. For email, please write: Westbrook Middle School, in the subject line. Please attach all images and documents to the email, embedded images or documents written in the body of the email will not be accepted. Please send document files as Word docs or PDFs and image files as JPEGs or PDFs.
Mailed materials should be addressed to:
Percent for Art Competition: Westbrook Middle School
C/o Alison Ferris, assistant director
Maine Arts Commission
193 State Street, 25 SHS
Augusta, ME 04333-0025
USA
Architects rendering of the new school exterior
For more information:
Contact: Alison Ferris
Phone: 207/287-2710
email: alison.ferris@maine.gov
WWW: mainearts.com
