2019: A Year in Review

Public Art Services December 19, 2019

2019 was a big year for Public Art Services, we wrapped up seven large scale public art installations in four cities and four of those projects just so happened to be in our home base of Denver, CO. Here’s a look back at 2019 and the artists we were fortunate enough to partner with to help bring their creative visions to life.

David Zimmer’s Echo

In January 2019 David Zimmer’s impressive 13 panel installation Echo made its debut on the exterior wall of the new 16 Chestnut development in Downtown Denver. We started work on this project in 2017 when we were brought on to facilitate the artist selection process and continued overseeing the project through the end of installation working closely with the artist every step of the way. Denver based artist Zimmer created an outdoor installation that is an abstraction of a majestic tree moving in the wind. The image is broken up onto 13 LED panels and reconstructed in a collage style throughout the space. The work evokes the feeling of being in nature, in contrast to its concrete and glass surroundings. The subject matter is a giant oak tree on the outskirts of Denver that Zimmer has been filming intermittently over the last 10 years. The name Echo is meant to evoke the memories that have taken place under and around the tree over the past many years.

Jorge Marin’s Luz de Denver (Light of Denver)

The same month we wrapped on installation of David Zimmer’s Echo, Jorge Marin’s Luz de Denver (Light of Denver) was installed at The Plaza at Riverfront Park located at 1610 Little Raven St, Denver, Colorado. Luz de Denver is the most recent permanent acquisition for Commons Park and is a replica of the original Wings of the City sculpture that was included as part of a temporary installation of Marin’s work in Riverfront Park in 2016. Marin is well known for his traveling wings sculptures that originate in his studio located in Mexico and are designed for public space around the world as both temporary and permanent installations. The participatory nature of the work encourages viewers to place themselves in the composition, giving the visual illusion of wings. In Marin’s words, “We give you these wings to celebrate your victories, but also to dream and conscientiously reflect your potential as a person.”

Kevin Sloan’s The Mischief Makers

Photo by Public Art Services (left to right: John Grant, Creative Project Manager, Chris Krieg, Muralist, Kevin Sloan, Artist, and Will Krieg, Muralist).

In February of 2019 Kevin Sloan’s The Mischief Makers made its debut on the facade of the parking structure adjacent to the Theo Apartments as part of the Continuum Partners redevelopment of 9th & Colorado in Denver, CO. After we conducted the artist selection process for our clients Continuum Partners, Denver based painter Kevin Sloan was commissioned to create an original work of art for the redevelopment project at 9&CO which reintegrates the former 26-acre University of Colorado School of Medicine campus into the surrounding neighborhood fabric by blending apartments and townhomes with retail, offices and new public green spaces. Sloan’s original painting was enlarged and brought to life as a 65’ x 65’ exterior mural by the father and son muralist team Chris and Will Krieg. Sloan’s work explores the relationship between the natural and human-made world. His paintings, often symbolic, deal with recurring paired themes such as fragility and strength, wonder and sorrow, and loss and resiliency.

Larry Kirkland’s Columbia River Watershed

In August 2019 Larry Kirkland’s Columbia River Watershed was officially opened to the public as part of the redevelopment of Vancouver’s Water Front. The Columbia River Watershed is an interactive water feature that is both a place to play as well as learn and contemplate the Columbia River, it’s tributaries and the vast land area that makes up its watershed. The Headwaters serves as the starting point of the water feature where water flows over the etched granite surface depicting the Columbia watershed into the pool symbolizing its many tributaries. Each line was hand-cut into the granite surface between rounds of sandblasting to achieve the desired depth and dimension. On the other side of the Headwaters is a bronze casting of a topographic map which displays the source of the Columbia at Lake Columbia in British Columbia and is mounted to a Coast Green Granite slab from Brazil. Encompassing this bronze casting is an essay written by award winning author Teresa Jordan who Kirkland partnered with to try and capture the importance of the Columbia river both to its natural environment and the people who have been sustained by it.

Donald Lipski’s The Three Clans

In August of 2019 we wrapped up installation on Donald Lipski’s design for the Columbia Avenue entrance to Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia entitled The Three Clans. This work of public art pays homage to the three clans of the Lenni Lenape Tribe and Chief Tamanend, with whom William Penn signed the landmark treaty of friendship. The animals featured in this installation (wolf, turkey and turtles) are the animal symbols of the three Lenni Lenape clans. The series of five bronze turtles with light posts on their backs lead the way to the park’s entrance paying tribute to the Turtle Clan who lived in the area and Chief Tamanend who himself was a member. The fiberglass wolf and turkey are seen perched atop light posts installed on the west side of the underpass, one on the north side and one on the south. The fixtures light up at night, serving as a gateway to the park. Lipski’s design to him suggests the meeting of the Old World and the New World, but his hope is that those who interact with the work will find their own meaning as well.

Daisy Patton’s Untitled (Picnic with Flowers)

In August of 2019 the Structurflex panels were installed completing the installation of Daisy Patton’s largest work to date, Untitled (Picnic with Flowers). This work of public art was the second installation completed for our clients Continuum Partners in 2019 for their redevelopment of the former 26-acre University of Colorado School of Medicine campus at 9th and Colorado in Denver, CO. After conducting the artist selection process for our clients Continuum Partners artist Daisy Patton was commissioned to create an original work of art for the south facade of the parking structure adjacent to the Theo Apartments. The mural portion of Daisy Patton’s installation was completed by father and son muralist team Chris and Will Krieg in January of 2019. Patton’s paintings start from a found photograph that is then enlarged and printed out to life size. She then adds layers of patterns and color to bring the image and the people within it to life. Patton’s work explores the meaning and social conventions of families, little discussed or hidden histories, and what it is to be a person living in our contemporary world. For the project at 9th and Colorado Patton selected an image that would relate with the surrounding neighborhood and historic significance of the site.

Stay tuned for more updates in regards to our next project for 9&CO with Denver based painter Andrew Huffman.

William Matthews’ Los Caballos

After opening 2019 with the installation of a Denver based artists work we completed 2019 with the perfect book end working with Denver based painter William Matthews’ on his design for the south entrance to the new Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX. Matthews’ created a stunning watercolor painting that captures the spirit and history of the West. The original watercolor painting was translated into an eye catching 63' x 12’ 2” mosaic smalti tile mural that sits above the South entrance of the new 14,000 seat, 230,000 square foot Dickies Arena, adjacent to the Will Rodgers Memorial Campus in Fort Worth, Texas. Each side of the mosaic smalti tile mural is flanked with 12’ 2” tall bronze bas-relief sculpture of a cowboy on one side and a Comanche on the other. The bronze bas-relief sculptures were adapted from Matthews’ original watercolor painting into sculptures by Texas-based artist and Cherokee Nation member Buckeye Blake and then later translated into bronze in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Elsa Sroka’s Double Dip

We end this post with a work of art that’s installation will be competed in early 2020. In July of 2019 Denver based artist Elsa Sroka’s ceramic tile mural was installed on an exterior wall of Grand Peaks new development project, Spur at Iliff Station Apartments in Aurora, CO. We facilitated the artist selection process for our clients Grand Peaks in early 2019 at which time Elsa Sroka’s work entitled Double Dip was selected for the commission. For several months we worked side by side with Sroka to translate her work into a ceramic tile mural that would ensure the longevity of this work of public art for years to come. In early 2020 the brick work and lighting around the artwork will be installed completing the installation. Stay tuned for project updates.

Thank you to all of our amazing partners who helped to complete these incredible projects in 2019. We look forward to another amazing year ahead full of new and exciting creative challenges. Keep an eye on the In Progress section of our website as we add new projects for 2020 and beyond.

2018: A Year in Review

Public Art Services January 2, 2019

2018 was a big year for Public Art Services, we wrapped up seven large scale public art installations spread across two countries and seven cities and we began work on several exciting projects to come in 2019. Here’s a look back at 2018 and the artists we were fortunate enough to partner with to help bring their creative visions to life.

Donald Lipski’s SPOT

Photo by George Etheredge for The New York Times

In May of 2018 Donald Lipski’s SPOT, an already iconic 2 1/2 story tall Dalmatian balancing a real Prius taxi cab on its nose, was unveiled at NYU Langone's new Hassenfeld Children's Hospital in New York. Lipski wanted to make something so astounding it would distract even those arriving for the most serious procedures, and so lovable that young patients coming back again and again with chronic conditions would see SPOT as an old friend. "I like to think that the parents, the doctors, the nurses, the staff and the neighbors, will all be smitten by this playful, heroic young dog doing the impossible. Art has actual healing power," says Lipski when describing the 2 1/2 story tall Dalmatian balancing a taxi cab on it's nose. The Hassenfeld family, which started the Hasbro toy company, were major donors for the newly constructed hospital which influenced Lipski's thinking, "I wanted it to be about toys and play in some way."

Catherine Widgery’s Woven Light

In May 2018 Catherine Widgery's Woven Light was inducted into Denver’s Public Art Collection. Located in Northfield's Uplands Park in Stapleton, CO, Woven Light is an outdoor room; you are inside and outside at the same time and the shadows, light and projected color make you more conscious of the sun and the breeze than if you were standing in the open. When seen from the outside, the dichroic glass between the slats reflects the sky and surrounding trees. Inside is like being in a kaleidoscope of moving colored lights on the darkened interior as the sun shifts angles. We can look through the openings or through the glass that changes the color of the landscape like a lens. Endlessly changing patterns of crisscrossing shadows and reflected light within and on the ground dematerialize the structure and make a rich shadow on the ground extending the impact of the art beyond its physical boundaries.

Donald Lipski’s The Canoes

In August of 2018 Donald Lipski unveiled his design for the pedestrian overlook on the new Lesner Bridge in Virginia Beach. It is a freestanding sculpture consisting of a stainless steel catenary arch supporting 10 canoes arranged in a star pattern, with a delicate filigree of cut out patterns. Lipski came up with the canoe design after learning that Adam Keeling, who owned a plantation nearby in the 1600s, and a group of others, dug a trench wide enough for a canoe to cross a sandbar between the Lynnhaven River and the Chesapeake Bay. A storm with high tides widened the ditch that became the Lynnhaven Inlet.

Larry Kirkland’s Grant Street Pier

In September 2018 Larry Kirkland’s Grant Street Pier in Vancouver, WA was opened to the public. Kirkland’s design features a mast intended to mirror a sailboat passing along the Columbia River. The Pedestrian Wharf is suspended over the Columbia as a cable stay structure. Installation is currently underway for Kirkland’s design for the Columbia Basin Water Feature constructed from massive engraved marble blocks and cast bronze detailing. Stay tuned for more details to come in 2019.

Donald Lipski’s The Nest

In November of 2018 we wrapped up not one but two Donald Lipski installations, once of which was The Nest for Calgary’s spectacular new 330,000 sq. ft. Seton Recreational Facility. Donald Lipski created a nine foot diameter acrylic “nest” with three flocks of life-sized hawks, owls and herons flying to it, each bringing a new branch for the nest. The nest was built in Denver, CO and the birds were brilliantly sculpted by Christopher Collins in Pennsylvania. We’ll be sharing more info later in the month in regards to the other Lipski installation we wrapped up this past November.

Matthew Geller’s As Rose As Rain

Photo by Allison Moix of Stellar Propeller Studio — Photo by *Allison Moix of Stellar Propeller Studio*

In November 2018 Matthew Geller’s interactive sculpture As Rose As Rain was unveiled at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind in Colorado Springs. The circular bench seats up to a dozen people who can rock and sway on the bench that is supported by four large compression springs. The dynamics of compression springs and their uneven spacing means the structure responds differently depending on where one sits and how many people are sitting on the bench. The artwork’s sloped canopy includes nine translucent colored polycarbonate skylights that rock along with the bench. On sunny days, the canopy’s shadow and color projections on the ground move in sync with the bench. The canopy also creates a passive water feature as it collects rainwater (or snow) that drains through a hole and splashes on the ground into a circular gravel-filled drain.

December 2018

In December of 2018 our focused shifted to local, Denver based artists as mural painters began work on two large scale reproductions of works by Denver based painters Daisy Patton and Kevin Sloan for Continuum Partner’s new development at 9th and Colorado. Creative Project Manager, John Grant traveled to Mexico City as part of an upcoming installation with Denver based artist William Matthews and installation wrapped for a new work by Denver based artist David Zimmer which will be unveiled in downtown Denver soon.

Thank you to all of our amazing partners who helped to complete these incredible projects in 2018. We look forward to another amazing year ahead full of new and exciting creative challenges.

Grant Street Pier Time Lapse Video

Public Art Services May 22, 2018

A truly awe inspiring time lapse video of the installation of Larry Kirkland’s recently completed design for the Grant Street Pier in Vancouver, WA. Kirkland’s design features a mast intended to mirror a sailboat passing along the Columbia River. The 1:15 video captures the nearly two year long installation of this massive work of public art. The Pier will be open to the public later this Fall. Still underway, Kirkland’s design for the neighboring Columbia Basin Water Feature. Thank you to Michael Mowry for his work on this project, it’s always a pleasure to collaborate with such a talented Denver based creative.

A City of Vancouver project. Video shot by Lioneye Aerials.

Behind the Scenes Peek at SGF in Carrara

Public Art Services March 22, 2018

John recently traveled to Carrara, Italy to check in on the progress of an upcoming project in the works with Larry Kirkland. Carrara is well known for the white and blue-grey marble that is quarried there alongside the Carrione River. SGF Sculpture & Design has been realizing works in marble, granite and other stones for international artists, architects and designers since 1973. Their facility fabricates large scale sculpture and also offers studio space and assistance to artists who prefer to work on site. Here's John's photo journal from his recent trip, enjoy!