Where does art take YOU? Where is public art taking Calgary?
Do you think by 2021 that you will think of Calgary as a beautiful city?
1% of the funding for our capital infrastructure projects over $1 Million is devoted to providing a Public Art showcase on that project or around Calgary according to current policy. That advertisement in the picture is particularly advertising the project at the Martindale CTrain station, “Confluence“.
Transit properties have a variety of public art incorporated into their designs, particularly newer CTrain stations.
A notable addition to the Center Street station is the installation of TransitStory, a set of steel sculptures that captures the rushed mood of passerbys catching the train.
A few stops westwards and you’ll see SWARM, the project at 6th Street Station. It’s high up on the glass of the canopy.
You know those Jumping Trout as you drive on Glenmore Trail between Macleod and Elbow? That’s public art too.
How about four images formed by 15000 marbles that is An Auspicious Find at Prince’s Island Park?
Of course, when we talk about these relatively newer pieces, we have to mention older ones such as Family of Man, a set of sculptures located at the old Calgary Board of Education main office. Anyone who is going to a public school here would recognize this logo immediately.
The Famous Five statue at Olympic Plaza is an especially monumental piece.
Wonderland, the public art sculpture at the Bow, is one of our newest additions and has already amazed many Calgarians. I still have the urge to head inside and take a picture.
Debates – Public Art is beautiful and only adds to the cityscape, but municipal funding plans have also brought its share of concerns. Last year, the City of Calgary discovered that $8.6 million dollars would needed to be devoted to Public Art on the West LRT according to the policy, but that money had not been reserved and where to recover that money became an issue. Pieces won’t be going up on the line until 2014 either.
From this debate, a bigger issue also spawns; how should we allocate funding to create pieces all around Calgary? The “onward” statement in the advertisement up top is a very difficult goal to balance with demands.
Do you believe in the city’s goal? Shoot me a comment below.
Finally, I leave you with Frozen Dreams, a mural at the Max Bell Arena. 🙂
Excellent gallery of some of the best public art in Calgary. I am big supporter of allocating a percentage of project money to the arts, it keeps our city dynamic and alive. The only question I have is how do they decide who to grant the projects to? As evidenced by the West LRT debate, there is a fair amount of money up for grabs.
http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=f3043855-153e-4022-a71e-40714be49ef6 — this article mentioned how the city took some of the public art funds from interchanges for the West LRT. It’s interesting that all projects that fit the Public Art policy requirement have to have money dedicated to it – many people wouldn’t really agree that interchanges aren’t the best displays.
We want public displays everywhere, yet we want to put them in the most prominent places – it’s a debate in its own. 🙂