A proposal on Classic Center art
A proposal for an internally lit multiple-component sculpture, measuring 35 feet by 68 feet and combining hard metal, wire cloth and LED lights, has been recommended to Athens-Clarke County’s mayor and commission as the public art component for the nearly $24 million sales-tax-funded expansion of the Classic Center art.
Commissioners, who could make a final decision on the recommendation from the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission at their Sept. 4 meeting, got an initial two-dimensional look at the proposed installation at their Tuesday work session. The sculpture, which would be suspended from the ceiling of the Classic Center’s vast new atrium, is projected to cost $130,000, including design, fabrication, installation, transport, lighting design and the artist’s fee, with an additional $20,000 budgeted as a contingency fund.
The work, proposed by award-winning St. Louis-based artist Maureen Kelly, was chosen from among 39 proposals reviewed by a panel of local artists, community representatives and project team members. One-third of those submissions came from the Athens area, with two more coming from elsewhere in Georgia, ACAC Chair Marilyn Wolf-Ragatz told the mayor and commission during a July work session.
Kelly’s fee for the work is $15,600, though it is possible that she will receive additional compensation through the design and fabrication process, budgeted at $52,000, Wolf-Ragatz said in a Friday interview. It’s possible that some of the fabrication work could be done locally, according to Wolf-Ragatz.
Kelly is recommending that another St. Louis-based entity, Randy Burkett Lighting Design, be retained for the lighting component of the work, projected at $32,500.
The current budget for the work is rounded out with a projected $29,900 outlay for transporting and installing the sculpture.
Ongoing costs associated with the work will include lighting expenses — the work could be illuminated around the clock but also could be turned off, according to Wolf-Ragatz — and an annual cleaning, which Wolf-Ragatz suggested could be done in conjunction with other maintenance work in the atrium.
In her written proposal for the Classic Center project, Kelly noted that the sculpture will use “bold color, the juxtaposition of straight and curved line, hard metal and woven stainless steel wire cloth and a LED lighting system” in such a way that “(b)oth the interior and exterior views will draw visitors to the space by (the) play of light, line, color and form.”
