Orlando plans to add big sculptures to liven downtown

[prahaboheme]

"The sculptures, some more than two stories tall, will be installed at nine outdoor spots throughout downtown."

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-08-30/news/os-orlando-public-sculpture-art-20120830_1_lizart-sculptures-orlando-art

A few initial comments about this:

- Clustering 4 of these around Lake Eola is unnecessary. How much more can Lake Eola take?

- We are not going to create iconic sculptures like the Bean or Little Mermaid at $75k a pop.

- 9 sculptures within a mile radius of Orange/Magnolia means that Parramore will be left out of this. I'd love to see a well crafted sculpture that represents the history of life west of Division. Heritage Park would be a perfect place for this.

- Uptown is beckoning for anything that can help it establish an identity. I see this as a missed opportunity (if indeed it is not chosen, since this too is outside the mile radius)

- It would seem obvious that Lock Haven Park, with its arts centers, should receive a sculpture. Take some of the pressure off Lake Eola and send one or 2 there.

[FLheat]

Here is additional information along with a map of the proposed locations:

http://seeartorlando.com/

[Captain.Metro]

I think this would be a wonderful opportunity to have something along the lines of the proposed Bloom Pavillion along the shores of Lake Eola. I'd be willing to allocate funds from 3 of the 4 proposed sculptures proposed for Lake Eola for a functional and iconic sculpture.

http://www.processarchitecturellc.com/2008/05/20/bloom-pavilion/

As for "iconic" sculptures in other cities, what do you recall? I can think of Minneapolis' Cherry Spoon as a quirky and iconic sculpture that likely will fit into the Orlando budget:

http://www.bridezilla.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/the-minneapolis-sculpture-garden-spoon-and-cherry.jpg

[klstorey]

Why not one at Lake Lucerne or one near the Amway instead of 4 at Lake Eola? And at $75,000 each I can't imagine we will be getting anything to significant, but I do like that they will be focused on celebrating Orlando and not just modern art.

[FLClarkKent]

Glad to see there's also a discussion to restore the Tower of Light (aka the Asparagus) in the city hall plaza. Personally, I've always liked it. Would be great to see it illuminated.

Just goes to show you that one person's art is another person's, well, asparagus.

Also, I thought the article took an easy out with leading with the "Orlando is perceived as a cultural wasteland" thing. Because I don't think that people perceive Orlando in that light quite as much these days. We have a pretty thriving arts scene that's gotten a lot of attention over the past few years.

The city has a great walking tour of downtown public art. It's on the city's website. They should definately promote it more.

[Jernigan]

I would hope at least one of them is experential. The bean as well as the video of the person who "spits" water over the splashpad in Chicago both are great because you can't experience them just by seeing them in a photo - you need to be there.

[prahaboheme]

What a great concept -- counter to the Sentinel's "cultural wasteland" perception. Did anyone actually see this today? The article also states that the area around Mills stretching outward (presumably to Ivanhoe down Virginia) is being dubbed Orlando's "Design District."

Walk On By

http://orlandoweekly.com/arts/walk-on-by-1.1368526

[sunshine]

Thanks for the article. When I heard the word "district", it gives me the impressions that it is a compact, highly urbanized area such as Garmecy district... Putting arts around sub-urban looking area just doesnt cut it. It still loooks like sprawl land with some cheap arts throwing all over it. It needs a masterplan if they are going to do something that actually matter.

[Captain.Metro]

Our "disctricts" are slowly becoming more dense. By giving them a sense of identify, it will be easier to associate with these areas. I foresee the Mills50 "district" becoming something like L.A.'s Melrose area within a decade. Things like this take time.

Lastly, comparing Orlando to New York is like comparing Hamburger Mary's to Parliament House. Gramercy Park Disctrict is far more densely populated.

[spenser1058]

What a great concept -- counter to the Sentinel's "cultural wasteland" perception. Did anyone actually see this today? The article also states that the area around Mills stretching outward (presumably to Ivanhoe down Virginia) is being dubbed Orlando's "Design District."

Walk On By

http://orlandoweekly...on-by-1.1368526

Thanks for posting this. Is Jessica new to the Weekly? The article is so different than Billy Manes' usual snark (heaven knows Billy would have no clue what "in situ" means). Nevertheless, each little step like this adds up to more than the sum of its parts - it's a nice addition to painting the signal boxes.

[c4dynamic]

sort of shocked by how many Eola will be getting... I wish the park had, well, park space. Somewhere to throw a frisbee or play some football etc. And while there is a small amount of space for that right now, with skyhouse and steelhouse and future residential additions I worry this park will be at capacity. Purely from a jogging around the lake after work perspective lake eola is already kinda packed.

They could focus on ways to create more actual space rather than wall off areas with statues for tourists to take photos of. They could perhaps, reclaim some of the parking lot adjacent to the relax grill, remove the buildings on the south west corner, and finally move the historic houses that divide the farmers market area from the children's playground. More statues = less actual useable space which is needed to cope with future resident increases.

[Process Architecture]

We have started a project called the Urban Art Museum.  All sculptures, paintings, installations will be funded by private donations and local artists will be commissioned to design pieces that are sensitive to cultural, economic and regional forces.  All of the sites will be blighted areas of the city, and the idea is to build an urban network where people can explore the city as well as discover local restaurants and businesses that they wouldn't otherwise.

 

All of the art pieces will be the result of a collaboration with the local community and will depart from the typical public art programs which give control to an elite few or worse leave us with large metallic monsters like the ones in front of City Hall that are the results of a rogue artist, and have nothing to do with the community at large.

 

If you ever wanted an opportunity to help change the status quo and build the city that you want to live in, this is the opportunity you have been waiting for.

 

If you are interested in donating to the cause or learning more visit our Kickstarter site:

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/process-architecture/mills-50-urban-art-installation-1

[popsiclebrandon]

They have started digging out the spots here on the Central side of Eola. Guessing we see how they look installed pretty soon.

[Jernigan]

The renderings of the actual artworks are available - someone linked them in a thread somewhere - I'll dig them up this weekend if no one beats me to it. Don't recall anything experiential.

Great suggestion about Lucerne - what a underutilized stretch of Orange. Hoping something grand gets built in place of Lucerne Pavilion to help drive non-transient life to this great area.

[Bungalower-MattBroffman]

I added a better map on my site with where they are going to go: http://bungalower.com/2013/08/see-art-orlando-sculptures-arrive-in-orlando/

 

There are some renderings but from what I hear some of them have changed and/or the renderings were from past projects so the judges could get an idea of what it would look like.

 

The city has told me that they won't release any photos until they are unveiled. However based on the size of some of these things I find it unlikely that they will be able to hide them in the park If anyone can grab some photos once they start going in post them here and let me know if it's OK to share on my site.

 

I do have photos of one of the sculptures already. (Nothing is private anymore these days). I am waiting to try to get a couple more and then I will post those.