Lakewood Public Art Advisory Board Meeting - January 14, 2026
Lakewood Public Art Advisory Board Meeting - January 14, 2026
The Lakewood Public Art Advisory Board met on January 14, 2026, at 5:30 PM in the City Hall Auditorium. Members present: Mr. Obar, Mrs. Santas, Mr. Frederick. Absent: Ms. Rosie (sick), Ms. Ryan (school engagement). Angie, Director of Planning and Development, was also present. The board discussed updates to the Public Art Master Plan, the 2026 CDBG Art Project, and concepts for the 2026 Spectacular Vernacular project, including maintenance and the Birds of Birdtown initiative. Elections for chair and vice chair were postponed to the April meeting.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The meeting minutes from October 8, 2025, were approved unanimously via motion and second.
Discussion Items
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Public Art Master Plan Updates: The board reported that a school engagement session at the high school is scheduled for late January 2026 to gather student input. The first stakeholder meeting will be held on February 17, 2026, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Madison Park Library. The master plan consultants are expected to present to the board in April 2026.
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2026 CDBG Art Project: The board reviewed a new allocation of $42,500 from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for streetscape improvements. This will fund:
- Five additional bus shelter wraps: Three in the Gold Coast area, one at Detroit & Herd, and one at the Rocky River loop (Detroit & Ben’s). Artists from the 2023-24 cycle are returning: Beth (Functini Land), Joseph Richmond, and Snack Break Studio (Kim Lavery). Beth is unable to create new designs and will reuse existing works with color variation. After discussion on fairness, the board decided Beth will produce one shelter (with RTA color adjustment), Joseph Richmond and Snack Break Studio will each produce two shelters. The artists will be paid the same rate as 2023 ($800 per shelter).
- 30 additional traffic signal box wraps: These will be placed in CDBG-qualifying areas (Detroit corridor and Gold Coast). The board selected six artists from the previous pool of 11 candidates, including Debbie Clapper, Sequoia Bostik, and Tao N. (others not specified in the transcript). Each artist will complete five wraps. The board emphasized that the program has received no negative public feedback and is popular.
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2026 Spectacular Vernacular Project Concepts:
- Maintenance: Two existing murals need attention. The Aladdin’s mural (artist Stephanie Crosson) will be reproduced on aluminum panels mounted to brick (to avoid moisture issues), with building owner and artist approval. The Superscript mural (artist Sarah Bicknoll) is deteriorating; the artist and building owner requested a new design. The board decided to issue a new RFP for this site, open to all artists, as a new project rather than maintenance. The RFP will allow for painted or aluminum installations.
- Birds of Birdtown: The board is developing a project to install 20 bird-shaped signs (e.g., lark, plover, robin) atop existing street signs in the Birdtown neighborhood, plus a historic district marker. Fabrication will be powder-coated aluminum, with costs estimated around $10,000. The board discussed adding color to the birds for visibility and moving to a 2D silhouette design. The project will not use a traditional RFP but will seek quotes from local fabricators.
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Elections Postponed: The board voted to postpone the election of chair and vice chair until the April meeting due to the absence of two members.
Key Outcomes
- Approved October 2025 meeting minutes.
- Scheduled school engagement (late Jan) and stakeholder meeting (Feb 17) for the Public Art Master Plan.
- Finalized artist allocation for CDBG bus shelters: Beth (1 shelter, color variation), Joseph Richmond (2), Snack Break Studio (2).
- Selected six artists for 30 traffic signal box wraps (including Debbie Clapper, Sequoia Bostik, Tao N.).
- Authorized maintenance of Aladdin’s mural via aluminum panels.
- Approved issuing a new RFP for the Superscript mural site.
- Advanced the Birds of Birdtown project with a $10,000 budget, to be fabricated locally.
- Postponed board officer elections to April 2026 meeting.
Meeting Transcript
All right, welcome everybody to the um January 14th meeting of the City of Lakewood Public Art Advisory Board. Yes, we like to have some oh roll call, I'm sorry. Mr. Obar? Here. Mrs. Santas, here. Mr. Frederick? Sure. Um, and Ms. Rosie is um out sick, and Ms. Ryan had a school engagement that she needed to go to. All right. Uh opening remarks. Welcome to the public art advisory board meeting. The purpose of the public art advisory board is to collaborate with city officials regarding its public art policies and practices, promote the city's public art initiatives, and educate residents on the benefits of public art on public and private properties. Those who offer public comment are asked to come to the podium and sign in on the sign-in sheet. This serves as an oath or affirmation that you will tell the truth before the board. We will now begin with regular business of the public art advisory board. All right, thank you. All right. Uh the meeting minutes from back on October 8th. Did you guys have a chance to look more? Any any questions at all? No. No, no questions. I have any either, so I'll ask uh for a motion to approve. I make the motion to approve. And a second. I second that. All right. All in favor. Aye. All right. They are approved. All right, moving right along. Um well, first off, I just wanted to, if in case anybody doesn't know, this is Angie. She's the director of planning and development downstairs with us. And um just welcoming her. Um we I wanted to give a quick update on our public art master plan, as two out of the three of you know um things are moving along this month. Uh this is our agenda for this month. We are looking to do a school engagement at the high school where me and members of uh council will basically table in front of we're hoping to get not just art students but all students um to give us a little feedback, just you know, kind of their their favorites and you know what attracts them to pieces and and all of that. So we are we are scheduling that um most likely at the end of January. And then we will do in February the first stakeholder meeting, which is a direct invite to those people who the county was able to speak with throughout this process so far, as well as you know, anyone that's locally affected, which is pretty much everybody. So, you know, council's invited, uh administration is invited, all of those parties are are included in that, but that will be at the Madison Park uh library. And it'll be from four to six on February 17th, where basically they're just gonna give us a quick update about what's going on, where they are, and looking still in the in the phase where we're taking input, but um trying to show people where we are now and you know some of our current conditions recommendations that are initial and still being worked out. Um I believe that's it. Does anybody have any questions about that? Okay.
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