Art and Design in Public Places
Friday May 19, 2006
Linda Wedman
As one strolls along the streets of Edmonton’s downtown core, it may become apparent that the scenery has been continually improving over the last seven years. In fact, free public art is all around for the community’s enjoyment. Many of these amazing artworks are in the care of the Art & Design in Public Places Program (The Places): a community based, multi-partner initiative designed to help revitalize Edmonton’s downtown through the installation of publicly and privately funded works of art and design. The Places is one facet of The Works International Visual Arts Society (The Works), the organization that brings Edmontonians that fabulous art & design festival every summer.
Like The Works Society, The Places Program promotes visual art and design among the public at large. However, the legacy of permanent public art throughout Edmonton’s city centre also helps create a downtown where people want to live and work, fostering a more tightly knit sense of community. The Places projects are essential community development tools – they reflect and enhance the culture of the community into which they are placed, invite the community to interact directly with their neighbourhood, and animate the urban environment thus improving the safety of the downtown area. The Places Program recognizes that urban beautification enhances the overall environment in downtown Edmonton and therefore, works hard to achieve its mandate of introducing a minimum of three art and design projects annually into Edmonton’s downtown core.
Since its inception in 1999, The Places has greatly surpassed its initial goal of completing three projects annually. In February, The Places installed its 24th project, “Gigi”, designed by artist Louis Munan. “Gigi was created on site at The Works Art & Design Festival in 2005 by the Sculptor’s Association of Alberta and was later installed on Rice Howard Way.
This summer, The Places is set to introduce, “DREAM.big” by Donald Moar. A significant work, “DREAM.big” will provide visual focus for the north-facing wall of the new Shaw Conference Centre Expansion in downtown Edmonton at 97 Street and Jasper Avenue. “Dream.big” is set to be unveiled this June.
Also to be unveiled this fall, are three works for the new Alberta Foundation for the Arts Building. Two of the projects will be interior artworks and one work, a large mural project featuring 100 surprising and delightful Alberta images, will be located on an exterior feature wall of the building.
“Gigi”, “DREAM.big”, and the AFA building’s exterior artwork will all be part of The Places Public Art Walking Tour. This self-guided tour includes all of The Places projects that are located in the great outdoors and therefore is available to the public 24 hours a day, year round. With new projects being completed continually, the growing tour presently exhibits a number of varied and ambitious works in urban settings located throughout the downtown core.
Tour information can be found on The Places website at theworks.ab.ca or in The Works Festival Program coming this summer.
Column ID#: 7
**Opinions expressed by guest columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Connect2Edmonton members, partners or sponsors.**
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