PARCS ADVISORY BOARD PARKS, ART, RECREATION, CULTURE, AND STREETSCAPES BOARD

Transcription

1 PARCS ADVISORY BOARD PARKS, ART, RECREATION, CULTURE, AND STREETSCAPES BOARD AGENDA REQUEST AGENDA OF: AGENDA REQUEST NO: VI-A INITIATED BY: JIM BROWNE, DIRECTOR OF PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT: PARKS AND RECREATION PRESENTED BY: JIM BROWNE, DIRECTOR OF PARKS & RECREATION DIRECTOR: JIM BROWNE, DIRECTOR OF PARKS & RECREATION ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR (S): N/A SUBJECT / PROCEEDING: TEMPORARY PUBLIC ART DISPLAY REQUEST - P.O.D.A. 2.0 PROJECT (PORTABLE ON DEMAND ART) BY THE HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE EXHIBITS: P.O.D.A INFORMATION SHEET PHOTOS OF P.O.D.A AT DISCOVERY GREEN CLEARANCES APPROVAL LEGAL: N/A ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER: MIKE GOODRUM RECOMMENDED ACTION Review and discussion on a temporary public art display for the P.O.D.A. 2.0 Project sponsored by the Houston Arts Alliance for installation at Oyster Creek Park. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In early October, the Sugar Land Parks & Recreation Department was approached by the Houston Arts Alliance regarding a proposed temporary art installation at Oyster Creek Park. The Portable on Demand Art (P.O.D.A. 2.0) Project is a partnership with PODS and is a temporary public art exhibition featuring the work of Troy Stanley, Brandon Ray, Thomasid Rolls, Elaine Bradford and Emily Link. Each artist or collective of artists has uniquely transformed a PODS container into a work of art. Between the months of December 2014 and May 2015 they would like to tour the PODS around the Greater Houston area, by placing them in various pockets of the city. Their goal is to make art more accessible to the public. They specifically expressed an interest in Oyster Creek Park, because of the prior success of the Bernar Venet Monumental Sculpture Exhibit, and one of the artists, Brandon Ray, is a Sugar Land resident and lives right down the road from Oyster Creek Park. In 2011, they partnered with University of Houston, Discovery Green, and Box 13 to name a few. They were able to place the artist s PODS at these various locations for 3-4 weeks at a time.

2 Requirements would include staff from Parks Maintenance and/or Serve Sugar Land volunteers to lock and unlock the containers daily. The Sugar Land Parks and Recreation staff seeks the PARCS Advisory Board s feedback regarding the P.O.D.A 2.0 Project Public Art Display sponsored by the Houston Arts Alliance for installation at Oyster Creek Park. EXHIBITS P.O.D.A. 2.0 About P.O.D.A. 2.0 To show support of local arts and help inspire creativity within the community, PODS of Houston, a moving and storage company, has teamed up with Houston Arts Alliance for the Portable On Demand Art 2.0 (P.O.D.A. 2.0) project this winter. P.O.D.A. 2.0 is Houston Arts Alliance Civic Art + Design program s second iteration of a temporary public art installation series featuring the transformation of PODS Containers into works of art. The artists selected for P.O.D.A. 2.0 are Brandon Ray, Troy Stanley, Thomasid Rolls Jr., Elaine Bradford and Emily Link. Each artist or artist team recently received their PODS Container and is in the midst of a three-month design and construction process. From December 2014 to May 2015, the four P.O.D.A. 2.0 PODS Containers will be placed in different locations across Greater Houston, taking contemporary art into our region s many diverse neighborhoods. An important component of the Houston Arts Alliance mission is to expand the reach of local arts beyond gallery and museum walls, explains HAA President and CEO, Jonathon Glus. The Portable On Demand Art project takes this mission a step further by delivering contemporary art to Houstonians outside the city limits, providing easy access to quality family-friendly and interactive artworks. PODS of Houston is very passionate on supporting the arts and we loved developing this innovative idea to help promote the local artist within the Houston community, said Larry Sledge, owner of PODS of Houston.

3 About P.O.D.A. 2.0 Artists Elaine Bradford lives and works in Houston, TX. She holds an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin. Her work has been shown at Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY; Handmade in America Gallery, Asheville, NC; and Centre Culturel Aragon, Oyonnax, France. Select solo shows include The Picture Gallery at Saint Gaudens Memorial, Cornish, NH; ArtLeague Houston, Houston, TX; and Hunt Gallery at Webster University, St. Louis, MO. Bradford is a founding member of BOX 13 ArtSpace, an innovative artist-run studio and gallery space in Houston. She was a resident artist at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in 2010; and in 2011, she completed a permanent civic art commission for the City of Houston at Vinson Neighborhood Library. Bradford is represented by Art Palace Gallery in Houston, TX. Emily Link lives and works in Houston, TX. Born in Syracuse, NY and raised in rural Pennsylvania, Link spent her youth immersed in wilderness, remnants of the Civil War and Native American legend. Since her transplant to Texas, she has worked to build an enriched cultural past in an environment that exists only for the future. Link received a BFA in Studio Painting from University of Houston and is now Community Relations Coordinator at Houston s Lawndale Art Center. Her recent credits include: Cover Artist for NANO Fiction, Vol. 5, No. 3; Houston exhibitions at Emergency Room Gallery, BOX 13 ArtSpace, and The Joanna; and exhibitions at the Roll-Up Gallery in San Francisco, CA and Garfo Art Center in Salt Lake City, UT. In addition, Link was a resident artist with Many Mini at Skydive in Houston in Brandon Ray searches for new ways to add depth to the traditionally 2-dimensional medium of paper. From building 3-dimensional paper cityscapes to constructing functional paper puppets, he uses stop- motion animation and puppetry techniques to bring his creations to life. Recently, Ray has applied his technique to a variety of subject matters, ranging from his paperpuppetry on the Amazon Originals children s series Gortimer Gibbon s Life on Normal Street, to the troubling tale of injustice dealt to Damien Echols and the West Memphis Three. Ray s paper animations have been recognized by international film festivals; most recently, he was one of six filmmakers selected for the Texas Filmmaker s Showcase Ray teaches the fundamentals of paper-puppetry animation to children around the world on PBS superstar Mark Kistler s global art webcast. Thomasid Rolls, Jr. is a digital cinema artist in Houston, TX. As an international filmmaker, Rolls has shot documentary footage in Africa, Canada, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Among his many notable credits, Rolls produced and directed the Houston Arts Alliance Blue Trees Documentary and was the producer and cinematographer of the Matt Mercury Feature Film in Houston, Texas. Rolls received his BFA and MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design; is the Media Arts Coordinator and Department Chair of the Digital Film and Video program at The Art Institute of Houston, as well as a post- secondary level instructor; former N.A.S.A. Johnson Space Center government contract instructor; and, is a certified Karate Black Belt and self-defense instructor.

4 Troy Stanley is a sculpture and mixed media artist currently living and working in Houston, TX. Upon receiving his degree in sculpture from the University of Houston in 2005, Stanley began his professional career with a solo exhibition at Lawndale Art Center in Houston. In 2007 he attended the prestigious residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, and shortly after attended the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center Residency in Nebraska. He is also the recipient of a Houston Arts Alliance Emerging Artist grant, has been on the short list for the international residence at Artpace in San Antonio, TX, and is represented by Houston s Barbara Davis Gallery. About PODA 2.0 Tour The four PODS Containers will travel to various locations four weeks at a time between December 2014 and May Everyday someone from the facilities will need to unlock and open the PODS Container and at the end of the day close it and lock it up. Two of the PODS Containers will require power (simply, a 110 outlet). There is no associated cost with hosting a PODS Container, besides electricity and volunteer hours. The transportation and coordination of the PODS containers will be taken care of by PODS of Houston and Houston Art Alliance. PODA 2.0 LOCATION TIMELINE December January Location 1 (kick off) January February Location 2 February March Location 3 March April Location 4 April - May Location 5 About PODS Houston PODS of Houston is one of the largest independently-owned franchises of PODS Enterprises, Inc. in the country and is the leading provider of moving and storage services to residents and businesses throughout the greater Houston area. PODS of Houston is locally owned and operated and began serving Houston-area residents in Each year, PODS of Houston donates moving and storage solutions for more than 20 Houston-area charities in support of their contributions to the community. The Salvation Army, Houston Arts Alliance, the YMCA and Toys for Tots are among the many organizations PODS of Houston partners with annually.

5 PODS is a leader in the moving and storage industry providing both residential and commercial services in 46 U.S. states, Canada, Australia and the UK. Founded in 1998, PODS pioneered the portable moving and storage industry now preferred by many customers increasingly active and mobile lifestyles. To date, the PODS network has completed more than 500,000 long-distance moves, exceeded 2 million deliveries and has more than 145,000 PODS containers in service. About Houston Arts Alliance Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a nonprofit organization established by the City of Houston to enhance the quality of life and tourism in the Houston region by advancing the arts on its behalf. HAA distributes grants to more than 225 nonprofit arts organizations and individual artists each year. In addition, HAA invests in and nurtures Houston s thriving creative community by commissioning the work of artists for public spaces, managing the city s civic art collection, showcasing Houston s rich folk life traditions, cultivating business volunteers, and empowering arts organizations to become sustainable and reach new audiences through business incubation and other services. For information on Houston-area arts and culture events, visit HAA s online resources at Artshound.com. For more information on HAA, visit houstonartsalliance.com.

6