Projects in Public Art

A photo of St. Olaf students painting the warming house

The course instructor and Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, Michon Weeks, shared about her recent showing of 36 of her new paintings in a public art event in Indianapolis. The event was called “Art in Odd Places.” St. Paul Public Artist-in-residence, Amada Lovelee, visited the class to share her work and to engage students in a short workshop. Professor Matt Rohn, who lived near Way Park and was a board member of the Friends of Way Park (FWP) , contacted Michon with the idea of painting the warming house. The goal of the project as the professor of the course, Michon Weeks states it “is to make the warming house exterior visually appealing and reflect the ideals of the park and taking into consideration the Friends of Way Park motto ‘A Park for All Seasons’. … The design should be visually appealing and site-specific.” Each student created a design proposal and written concept description. A panel of Northfield residents selected the design. After the design was selected, the students worked together to paint the building. The students enjoyed the project and learned about project management, how to develop a concept proposal, how to work with city stakeholders, and how to work as a team.

Students engaged in numerous public art projects as part of this course.

Students created temporary public art sculptures at Way Park in the first week of class. Students rearranged nature to create the pieces. This project was inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy.
Students toured Public Art in Minneapolis and St. Paul with Jack Becker of Forecast Public Art.
Students researched a range of topics related to public art including: public art controversies; temporary vs. permanent; monuments & memorials; relational aesthetics & public practice; the business of public art; and site specificity.
Students proposed designs to a set of community stakeholders for painting the warming house at Way Park. The class painted the warming house based on the winning design.
Students invited kids and adults from the Way Park neighborhood to create drawings for a pop-up gallery in the warming house. They shared candy, played music, and created a well-attended casual art show opening within the warming house.
Students created individual mock public art grant proposals. The proposals were exhibited in the Groot Gallery Opening on Dec. 4th.

reflections

My design, “Park People” has several artistic elements, which support the motto and mission of Way Park. Each side of the Warming House supports, “A park for all seasons,” as each has a background palette of colors referencing Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer respectively. To add to the public nature of the park one or more silhouettes of people has been overlaid on the colorful backgrounds. These figures are meant to imitate the way someone may act or pose in a park. The images have been broken up when one color intersects another. The design breaks up the obvious image, leaving more to the imagination, and draws the viewers’ eyes longer to figure out the picture. The Park People design can easily be completed within the time frame as it only requires a handful of colors and is simple enough for anyone to touch it up or repaint it if and when necessary. Although the silhouettes were specifically chosen for the mural they can be changed if necessary before painting the house.

– Daniel Bynum, class of 2015

City of northfield

City of Northfield provides many services(community updates, business assistance, and city services, etc.) to Northfield residents. Adopt-a-Park is a public service program among them, which allows volunteers to aid in beautification, identify safety hazards, and help maintain the City of Northfield Park System. It is an excellent way for residents and organizations to make a personal contribution to the community. This is an effort to use volunteer’s expertise and experience to supplement the work of city staff. By working together, they hope residents become better connected to their community.

Friends of way park

Friends of Way Park (FWP) is a group of neighbors in Northfield, Minnesota, working together on issues related to the restoration and care of this historic parkland.The mission of Friends of Way Park is to honor the Way family gift of 1933 by preserving this community parkland for present and future generations. They wish to support, advise, and cooperate with the City of Northfield in the planning, development, programming, beautification, and maintenance of Way Park. and to encourage the use of Way Park by the entire Northfield community.

*This story was written about Projects in Public Art taught by Michon Weeks in Fall 2014.