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Home My WebLink AboutIR 9723 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9723 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 14, 2015 h�T�i7 Page 1 of 3 �i �i7 Y *a SUBJECT: POLLEN SCULPTURE ACQUISITION #qrF rn Yg7'3 Staff would like to advise the City Council about the process by which the City might acquire an artwork titled Pollen by Cam Schoepp for the Fort Worth Public Art Community Legacy Collection. This acquisition is the subject of M&C C-27249, continued to the April 14, 2015, City Council agenda. Pollen was created during the 2000 Sculpture Symposium, an initiative administered by the Arts Council of Fort Worth in partnership with the Parks & Community Services Department. The sculpture includes seven separate granite and terrazzo, multi-sided objects suggesting individual spores of pollen. A professional appraisal of the artwork (2011) records the Retail Replacement Value of Pollen as $65,000. Pollen is sited at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden between the main drive to the Garden Center and BRIT near an outdoor classroom offering integrated education opportunities focusing on the unique relationships between art and nature as the organic shapes scattered across the understory lawn refer to individual spores of "Pollen" and create visual and physical space. SCULPTURE SYMPOSIA BACKGROUND Prior the establishment of the Fort Worth Public Art program in 2001, community stakeholders were considering the value of art in public spaces. As part of the Sesquicentennial Celebration, the Arts Council proposed a six-week sculpture symposium held at the Botanic Garden where artists would work in open air "studios". Artists were asked to welcome visitors, demonstrate techniques, and fabricate large scale sculptures in public view, which would be sited on City property for a period of at least two years. The success of the 1999 Sculpture Symposium resulted in a second symposium the following year. The two symposia produced a total of twelve sculptures - nine sculptures intended for temporary display on City properties and three artworks that were donated to the City by the artists. The Fort Worth Garden Club, the Fort Worth Botanical Society and private donors provided funding for materials, equipment and modest honorariums for each artist. Memorandums of Understanding between the artists and the Arts Council detailed: (1) artwork description - creation of major artworks for loan and additional artwork as outright gift; (2) loan terms — artworks must remain on city property for no less than two years: and, (3) conditions following sale of artwork — (a) honorarium refund to Sculpture Symposium account; (b) $2,000 for site restoration, and, (3) artist valuation. To date, two sculptures have been donated to the City of Fort Worth, two have been purchased; and, two are recommended for acquisition in the FY 2015 Annual Work Plan, as this table indicates: ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9723 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 14, 2015 h�T�i7 Page 2 of 3 �i �i7 Y *a SUBJECT: POLLEN SCULPTURE ACQUISITION #qrF rn 1075 Year Artist&Title Original Artwork Site Artwork Status M&C; Date 1999 Cameron Schoepp General Worth Square Acquired by City(2011); Relocated to Fort C-25309 Hats Worth Community Art Center 12/6/2011 1999 Cameron Schoepp Botanic Garden Donated to the City;Accessioned into FWPA Bench Community Legacy Collection 2006 1999 Chris Powell Capps Park Acquired by City(2013) C-26402 here she stood 8/20/2013 1999 Chris Powell Botanic Garden Donated to the City;Accessioned into FWPA Bull Community Legacy Collection 2006 1999 Alice Bateman Titus Paulus Park Recommended for Acquisition in FY 2015 Future M&C Natura Annual Work Plan;Artist took possession once a new site after vandalism occurred is identified 2000 Cameron Schoepp Botanic Garden Recommended for Acquisition in FY 2015 Current M&C Pollen Annual Work Plan C-27249 (4-14- 15 ACQUISITION RECOMMENDATION PROCESS In 2011 , in advance of FWPA's 10th Anniversary, the Art Commission asked Malcolm Warner, Kimbell Art Museum Deputy Director and Art Commissioner, to review of the Fort Worth Public Art Collection and make recommendations for their consideration, including the acquisition of existing works. In his report, he strongly advised to attend to the status of symposia artworks still remaining on City property in order to provide appropriate care. Symposia works were further reviewed by a specially formed ad hoc committee of the Art Commission that included Warner, as well as, Dr. Mark Thistlethwaite, TCU's Kay and Velma Kimbell Chair of Art History, and Rebecca Lawton, Amon Carter Museum Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, both former Art Commission Chairs, who concurred noting that the symposium sculptures are "...fine works in themselves that have become part of Fort Worth's urban scene and regarded fondly by the community" and recommended that they should be purchased by the City through the Public Art Fund, whether all at once or over a period of time. As the symposia artworks are considered to have played a significant role in building public consensus for developing a municipal public art program, their cultural and historic value were underscored during the Art Commission's decision to support and advance the recommendations to acquire the artworks. Two works have been acquired by the City of Fort Worth: Cam Schoepp's Hats (M&C C-25309; December 6, 2011) and Chris Powell's here she stood (M&C C-26402; August 20, 2013), through sole source agreements. Therefore, staff recommends the acquisition of Pollen through a sole source agreement for the Fort Worth Public Art Community Legacy Collection and ongoing exhibition in the Botanic Garden. The acquisition of Pollen was included in a Pre-Council presentation the FWPA Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Work Plan on September 25, 2012, approved by Council on October 14, 2012 (M&C C- 25920). Terri Thornton, Curator of Education, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and wife of ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9723 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 14, 2015 h�T�i7 Page 3 of 3 �i �i7 Y *a SUBJECT: POLLEN SCULPTURE ACQUISITION #qrF rn Yg7'3 Cameron Schoepp, was appointed to the Fort Worth Art Commission on May 15, 2012; however, she recused herself from voting on the inclusion of Pollen on the Draft Annual Work Plan, which occurred at her first meeting. The acquisition was delayed until her term was complete on September 30, 2014. The acquisition was included a second time on the FWPA Fiscal Year 2015 Annual Work Plan. Public Hearings were held at the Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods (8/11/2014) and the Northwest Branch Library (9/8/2014). Council approved the Plan on October 14, 2014 (M&C C-27031). Council members may contact Martha Peters, Vice President of Public Art for the Arts Council of Fort Worth, at 817-298-3025 (mpeters(a)fwpublicart.org) for further information. David Cooke City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS