The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, in partnership with Baltimore City Recreation & Parks, is accepting qualifications from professional artists or teams of artists in response to a public art opportunity for Baltimore’s new Cahill Community Recreation Center in Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park. For this opportunity, artists or teams with a demonstrated record of creating dynamic and playful outdoor sculpture from reclaimed timber and lumber, while responding to community input, are encouraged to apply.
Budget: $130,000 (all inclusive)
Eligibility: Professional artists or artist teams, over the age of 18, legally living or working within the United States.
Deadline: 11:59 pm, March 21, 2019
Cahill Community Recreation Center & Gwynns Falls Leakin Park
Located along Baltimore’s western border, Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park covers 1,216 acres of contiguous parkland forming the most extensive park in the city. The Park is home to many natural and historic architectural features including the Gywnns Falls Stream, and the Winans Family’s “Orieanda House”. The park has many distinct areas and features and serves a diverse of park users. Gwynns Falls Leakin Park is set in an urban environment but the densely wooded trails also provide seclusion and respite from City life and a natural piedmont habitat for native plants and animals.
The new Cahill Community Recreation Center is part of a series of improvements planned for the park. The new building will be located on an open field adjacent to the existing Cahill Recreation facility, with the latter slated for demolition. Designers GWW0 inc. described the design of the facility as “inspired by its natural setting and intended to encourage users to engage with nature from nearly every space within the building.” Programming for the facility will encourage community members of all ages to engage with nature by getting outside, exploring, learning, and exercising throughout the park.
Environmental Art & Reclaimed Wood
There is a strong history of local park stewards and artists coming together to celebrate the park's natural environment through environmentally themed art. In recent years the Friends of Gwynns Falls Leakin Park and artists have organized Nature Art on the Trail, an evolving exhibition of artistic installations relying completely on natural materials and reclaimed objects from the park. In 2016 the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company began work to replace a pipeline that cuts across the park. To access and install the pipeline BG&E was required to remove a significant number of trees along its path. Many of the highest quality trees were harvested and recycled by the Camp Small Zero Waste Initiative, a wood waste collection yard run by Baltimore City Recreation & Parks Forestry Division, that creates purchasable wood stock products from the City’s tree waste. As a partner on this project, Camp Small may be able to provide in-kind or at cost wood stock towards this project. In the spirit of the Parks rich history of creativity and resilience, the organizers seek artists experienced and interested in working with natural materials, such as reclaimed timber and being open to exchange and interaction with creative and park users and local artists.
Application Requirements
All applications must include the following:
Review Process
All applications will be received by BOPA and BCRP staff. Once the application closes (March 21, 2019) all complete applications will be shared with an Artist Selection Panel composed of project staff, local stakeholders, art professionals, and representatives of the Public Art Commission. The Artist Selection Panel will review all applications received and select 3-7 finalists to recommend to the full Public Art Commission. Finalist applications will be reviewed by the Commission, and the final selection is expected to occur at the April 2019 Commission meeting. All applicants will be notified of the decision on or before April 18, 2019, barring any alterations to the schedule listed above. *BOPA and BCRP reserve the right to adjust the schedule of this application, or the artist selection process at their sole discretion. BOPA and BCRP reserve the right to not select an applicant or award a commission for this project.
How to Submit
Submit online via Submittable. For technical assistance with logging into or navigating Submittable.com please see: https://submittable.help
QUESTIONS? Contact Ryan Patterson, Public Art Administrator, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, rpatterson@promotionandarts.org, or by phone 443-263-4338
