Grand Center Receives NEA Public Art Grant

Thanks to a special grant bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts, Grand Center Inc. has developed a policy regarding temporary public art in the district and is testing the new guidelines with an initial installation. The policy establishes an operating framework that will help encourage future installations, allowing for opportunities for artists and discovery by visitors. The first installation – which debuts in May and remains on view for six weeks – serves as a required test run for the policy.

Titled “A Chromatic Confluence,” the piece will be installed at the northeast corner of Grand Boulevard and Samuel Shepard Drive, serving as the centerpiece for the annual Spring Art Walk in Grand Center on May 11.

Designed by Austin-based creative enterprise Thoughtbarn, “A Chromatic Confluence” will be a maze-like installation constructed from over 20,000 feet of multi-colored string and filling a 25-by-65 square-foot space. With multiple paths in and out, the piece is designed to entice visitors to hesitate, detour, linger and/or meander through the art. As they walk through, visitors may experience a mesmerizing, constantly shifting pattern of colors and texture. Pockets and eddies formed by the string create moments of pause and opportunities for conversation. The piece also will be lit at night, adding to the colorful landscape of neon signs in the district.

A year in the making, Grand Center Inc. formed an advisory committee to draft the policy and to conduct a national call to artists. Grand Center Inc. engaged St. Louis-based Via Partnership, national consultants in public art, to lead the advisory committee. The ability to demonstrate several criteria was crucial in selecting the artist. The criteria included scale, day/night visibility, interaction, appeal to both pedestrian and car traffic, and of course, the overall scope of the piece.

Led by Meridith McKinley of Via Partnership, the advisory committee includes art authorities from within the Grand Center district and the St. Louis art community at large: (alphabetical order by institution)

• Dominic Molon, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
• Boo McLoughlin,
• Meredith Malone, Kemper Art Museum
• Marilu Knode, Laumeier Sculpture Park
• Francesca Consagra, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
• Roseann Weiss,
• Tricia Paik, Saint Louis Art Museum
• Olivia Lahs Gonzales, Sheldon Art Galleries

Thoughtbarn, headed by principles Lucy Begg and Robert Gay, was selected based on its presentation of previous large-scale public art installations that met the criteria for this project. Thoughtbarn is comprised of a collaborative team with backgrounds in architecture, furniture design and art that brings a unique skill set to projects of this nature.

The site at Grand and Samuel Shepard currently hosts “E-scaping the Grid,” an art installation completed in 2005 by Michael Oliveri. With the new policy in place, Grand Center hopes to reignite the original intention for the site to host rotating public art exhibits on a regular basis.

“The development of this policy and this initial installation creates a framework that we hope will encourage a new era of temporary public art in Grand Center,” McKinley said. “With the Grand Center district planning process in development, the timing of the NEA grant to develop a temporary public art policy couldn’t be better. Over time, visitors to Grand Center can expect to see a changing visual landscape that will engage them in different and interesting ways.”

The design team will be returning to St. Louis in late April for the installation.

Grand Center is the major arts and entertainment district in the St. Louis region and is home to more than 30 arts organizations that demonstrate the depth and diversity of the city’s cultural life. The district hosts more than 1,500 cultural events each year and welcomes over 1.5 million visitors annually. Grand Center’s artistic renaissance began with the restoration of Powell Hall and the Fabulous Fox Theatre and continues today with the growing vitality of restaurants, retail, commercial and residential development.

For more information about Grand Center and Grand Center Inc. visit grandcenter.org.