Washington State Arts Commission
There are some artistic benefits to building a new school. The Washington Arts Commission will be working with us to identify art work that will be incorporated into the building as part of the construction. This may include everything from paintings to three dimensional art (painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, neon, glass, ceramics, textiles, etc.). The art may be selected for the inside of the building, the grounds, or both. Artists from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska or British Columbia are encouraged to apply. Outside artists are invited to participate on an individual basis.

The State Art Collection
All of the artworks acquired under the Art in Public Places Program (AIPP) are viewed collectively as the State Art Collection, which

• is a contemproary collection


• represents over 4,500 artworks


• includes artwork in all 39 counties


• is sited in the state's colleges, universities, public schools and state agencies


• includes both two and three dimensional artworks, free-standing and integrated


• includes notable local, regional, and national artists

Role of the Art Selection Committee
Carson will have an Art Selection Committee that is empowered to make all decisions regarding artist selection from the Public Artist Roster.

• The art selection committee members need to attend the 6 scheduled meetings and be active participants in decision making


• The art selection committee's role is to develop broad criteria and provide community context and concerns to the artist


• The art selection committee may recommend site options for the project


• The art selection committee will select an artist to create a proposal, and will provide comments, review and approve a proposal

The above information sounds kind of hard. In my terms, it means that we get a whole lot of 'gets'. The bottom line is that we get to buy some art, we get to select the artist(s), we get to critique the work, we get to decide what we'll purchase and where we'll put it, etc. How much do we get to spend? $53,082. This amount is formula driven based on the cost of the construction. I think that the Lead Team is the ideal group for this shopping spree. The additional person that we need to add is a local artist. This person may be a full or part time professional artist, an art teacher, etc. If you have ideas please respond in the comments section. I would like to identify this individual so that they may attend our first meeting.

Speaking of meetings, they will be facilitated by a Washington State Arts Commission representative. Our first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 24th, 3:30-5:30 pm. We will be meeting at ESC. The representative has requested that the Lead Teams work separately.

A link is set to the right for the Washington Arts Commission if you are interested in more information. Once on the site, select the Art in Public Places link.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone!