Public Art On Loan and The Salida Soup on Thursday
Public Art On Loan, The Salida Soup on Thursday
rec·i·proc·i·ty/ˌresəˈpräsədē/
noun
1. the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit
2. And a pursuit of a change of local public art policy
Concerning The Strawn-Grether Sculpture Garden - After 7 years of asking for reciprocity, there is no website page, mention, picture, or artist accolades on ANY City, venue, Creative District, or public website till I just made a Facebook page. There is an information/pamphlet box there as well for the public to garner further knowledge, but is consistently empty... as a metaphor?
So, I am inviting you the public and my colleagues Thursday night, 6:30, at the SteamPlant for Jimmy Seller's, and the whole community's, Salida Soup, www.salidasoup.org. ,a fantastic new community based mini-grant potluck event, in an effort to change minds and policy regarding paying artists stipends for delivering art, to have a website built and promoted, and to get the respect these talented people deserve. I have been receiving stipends, hotels rooms, and appreciation for 4 sculptures on loan in CO. and one in CA. this summer; and have not exhibited in our own sculpture garden for the past few years for lack of respect. Since back from CA. recently, I offered all my information and experience to the powers that be, and was rejected, so I will use my passion and knowledge on this subject this Thursday.
My pitch will be that after all this time, artists deserve to be treated as well as landscaping, and deserve the standard of the industry stipends, of which I have received between $500 and $3000 each this summer. 2 VOTES - If the attendees vote my pitch, I will have all attendees go outside and thru the sculpture garden, taking it all in and then voting for their favorite once back inside. Since my minimum out of town stipend has been $500, the sculpture and artist chosen will get the first $500, directly from me, IMMEDIATELY! Anything over $500, goes to 2nd place, and the third $500 to third, and so on; hopefully we raise the $5000 to pay all 10! and set in course a policy change for the City and venue, and great treatment for next year's call for artists. (There wasn't one this year). Excluded sculptures are the big mural on the green wall, done by staff, and Richard McCabe's piece, "Matriculation", as he passed away a few years ago.
This is a great new tradition in Salida, and I hope that the room is overflowing with generosity and community commitment! Thanx, Jimmy - And check out this wonderful independent video by Judy Haines: 
Comments
The art piece on the wall of the Annex was not done by staff. It was a collaborative piece done by several artists. Will you include sculptures outside the garden, but on SteamPlant grounds?
I believe it was, it has staff names, so not eligible, and this collaboration wouldn't be eligible for public art calls that I have researched and completed. The 10 in the actual park are eligible for my pitch.
No one has contributed more to public art in the last few years than I have and most of them done on my own dime and time. Now I'm the most prolific muralist in BV (4, with 3 on main street) and Smeltertown (3). I did the restoration on our towns biggest and oldest mural and I'd really like to do the restore of the mural at moonlight pizza (20 years old and fading fast). I also painted the zoo on the bike trail, the fish, Mona Lisa, etc, etc. So, ... Jimmy ,,, how 'bout 50 bucks?
Thanks for all you do David, but this pitch is centered on policy change and respect at the this particular venue. You can pitch next Soup.
I was informed and educated that the wall mural piece was not done by staff, but by relative artists with the same initials. This is one of the points... the info is not clear or correct in giving credit, there is no redundant website or Facebook page that would illuminate this fact, and the identifying tag is partially hidden behind the art. This is symptomatic of the whole of the treatment of the art and artists. I did not win on Thursday, thus not given this opportunity to garner monetary appreciation on a colleague, but I will apply again for this great event and get my point across. Congrats to Mariah Sutherland, her art gallery bread truck, and her passion, Art-Ery. You'll see it at the street fest next weekend on F St. by 3rd.