Public Art Advisory Board Meeting on Spectacular Vernacular Asphalt Art – August 27, 2024
Public Art Advisory Board Meeting on Spectacular Vernacular Asphalt Art – August 27, 2024
The Lakewood Public Art Advisory Board held a special meeting on August 27, 2024, at 5:00 PM in the Auditorium to discuss the preliminary proposal for the 2024 Spectacular Vernacular Program's asphalt art project, centered on painted street murals near Hayes Elementary School. The board reviewed design options, installation logistics, and community engagement plans with the selected artists.
Discussion Items
- Design Direction: Artists Derek Brennan and Chad Fedorovich presented several design options incorporating student artwork from Hayes Elementary. The board expressed a preference for a design that covers the entire street surface, using a consistent color palette with a strong black outline for contrast. Artists were asked to refine the design, focusing on a cohesive look that ties the main mural to smaller accent intersections.
- Installation Timeline: Originally planned for September, the schedule may be delayed due to recent storms. The board discussed working with Public Works to order materials promptly, noting that custom paint mixes require a three-week lead time, while standard colors are readily available. Installation could occur during school hours with street closures, possibly as a weekend project to avoid dismissal congestion.
- School Engagement: The board and artists plan to present the final design to Hayes Elementary students (two fifth-grade classes) in early September (likely the first week) to show how their initial ideas evolved. A hands-on painting day may be arranged where students can help fill in sections under guidance.
- Logistical Concerns: Discussion covered parking and traffic impacts: the mural area is a drop-off/pick-up zone, but parents are discouraged from parking there. The board considered flexible 20-foot setbacks, but the risk of drivers swerving around painted areas was noted. Public Works will evaluate street closure options. The expected lifespan of the paint is two to three years, though slower-speed parking areas may extend durability.
Key Outcomes
- The board informally approved moving forward with the full-street design direction, with artists to provide refined final design documents for administrative approval (no separate meeting required).
- Artists will present the design to students the week of September 3–6, pending scheduling.
- The board adjourned via motion (all in favor) after confirming no further business.
Meeting Transcript
And how that looks for installation with you guys if we're looking, you know, we had originally hoped to have a September um a September install and then after this we were gonna go back to Hayes and just do a quick presentation to the kids and just show them where we how we got to this point um which is easy enough, I think to do, um, especially with Beth's relationship with the art teacher and the principal there. Um but I do want to keep that in mind to know that you guys have a have a deadline and the pending doom of weather. And I will say I had we had open house last week, and every teacher was like, when are the crosswalks? When are they gonna do the crosswalks? Well I would hate for it not to include crosswalks because it's known as like the crosswalk project. Yeah, it's a big deal. I can so they're very excited um to see this happen, and um so are we. So when if the board um are you feeling like you're getting enough uh feedback to move forward with some this design? Um because I know you have a couple of different designs proposed with the different color schemes and different palettes and everything like that. So I don't know if you all want to talk about that if you want to pick like a a scheme that you prefer or if um yeah, sure. If you want to go through any of the other designs, there's options. I mean, you guys can tell us which ones you like best because I we love your artwork. Yeah, we were just kind of exploring the different ideas of how to work with the kids' designs and like maybe we can pick one or two of them and then add the accents, like how the first the first set of macaronies have. Just kind of like an abstract design with the same color palette as the one, so gotta play with that. I think that look and feel and the color palette's great. Yeah. I like that the color palette is consistent on this one. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And what we have below are just examples of kind of taking the kids' stuff and and incorporating it. But there are many other ones that we would like to explore as well. So um we would continue to do that and and just make sure that it's like cohesive with what we're currently doing. Okay. So that's something that you'd run back by us. Mm-hmm. Okay, cool. So after the before the after the final design documents, um we were had initially just thought that you all would do an administrative approval for those, and I would just send those to you since you're basically approving the direction of their project, not the final design. Um, so that we could we wouldn't have to have a separate meeting for that. And then um looking at a site visit at Hayes originally the schedule had said the first week of September. Um obviously that's gonna get pushed back a little bit, but uh again, I think maybe Beth and I can start talking to the school and seeing what days work for them, maybe that second week of September. Um, if that's okay with you all, if you all will be around. Um we can talk about that later, but d do you feel like you have enough direction here? Because uh I when I was walking the site with them, I think they were a little surprised at the hands-off method that I take and how uh so I want to make yeah, do you guys have any? I want to make sure that you all have enough more people more hands in from other people. I mean, not that we don't like hands off, but just but I do want to make sure that you have the direction that you need to move forward. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, I mean I think the the purpose of this task force is we want the artists, we want to bring your artwork to the community and with you know, just like letting the kids know this is happening, it's a space that they belong to. Um, but ultimately we want it to be your your work. You know, that's why we chose your artwork because we've we like what you guys showed us in the first place. So thank you. Yeah. Yeah, I think I think we're so what what kind of timeline do you feel comfortable with sending me some revisions? Um revisions. I mean, I could probably get working, I mean we can both work on these this next week. Um I think it would be good to have our final design ready if before we go into Hayes to just have that to be able to present to them so that they have a pretty good idea and they're not surprised when it's implemented about Yeah, I think I think they have to do that at that so we can then schedule something next week with Hayes. Can you you think we can do next week with Hayes? Um I can write that down. I can talk to them. I mean, honestly, they they've they've seemed pretty flexible and it's really just a matter of we would go.
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