SFAC | Visual Arts Committee | April 2002Minutes

VISUAL ARTS COMMITTEE
Wednesday, April 17, 2002

3:00 p.m.

25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70

Notices
Explanatory documents are available for public inspection and copying at the Arts Commission office, 25 Van Ness Ave, Ste 240, San Francisco CA 94102 during regular business hours. Tel: 415-252-2594.
Minutes
Commissioners Present
Ralph Guggenheim, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Dugald Stermer, Dede Wilsey; Absent: Stanlee Gatti.

Staff Present
Richard Newirth, Director of Cultural Affairs; Jessica Goodson, Rupert Jenkins, Anna Kvinsland, Debra Lehane, Michele Liapes, Jill Manton, Judy Moran, Susan Pontious, Kristen Zaremba.

Note: All votes are unanimous unless recorded otherwise.

The meeting commenced at 3:10 p.m.

Consent
1. Motion to rescind resolution #0204-02-041 modifying contract with Diller and Scofidio for an amount not to exceed $11,000 for additional engineering services provided by Pol-X West and extending contract completion date until Dec 31, 2002.
2. Authorization to modify contract with Diller and Scofidio increasing contract amount by an amount not to exceed $20,000 for additional engineering services provided by Pol-X along with evidence of professional liability insurance in the amount of $1 million and extending contract completion date until Dec. 31, 2002.
3. Authorization to enter into Phase II contract with artist Ned Kahn for the 525 Golden Gate Avenue office building for an amount not to exceed $25,000.
4. Authorization to approve panelists from the following pool to serve on artist selection panels for Recreation and Park Bond Projects: Connie Wolfe, Janet Bishop, Tricia Lagaso, Susan Miller, Sergio de la Torre, Eduardo Pineda, Marina McDougall.
5. Motion to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into a contract for $10,000 with Jeffrey Brown for landscape design, restoration and maintenance services related to site improvements at the Endangered Garden / Sunnydale Pump Station Public Art Project.
6. Motion to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into a contract for $24,000 with Judy Marecco, Glass Block Designs, for repairs, replacement and modification of glass paving and fiber optic elements on the Embarcadero Ribbon Sculpture.

Motion: Motion to move the consent calendar item.
Moved: Stermer/Stauffacher Solomon
525 Golden Gate Avenue New City Office Building
Public Art Program Director Jill Manton presented a design proposal submitted by Anna Valentina Murch for the 525 Golden Gate Avenue New City Office Building. Ms. Manton explained that Ms. Valentina Murch's artwork will be featured in the conference rooms of the glass campanile (tower), a central feature of the north façade of the building, at Polk Street and Golden Gate Avenue. Ms. Valentina Murch's proposal involves three components. The first component of her proposal features representing and incorporating different ecosystems, terrain, and geology, unique to San Francisco, in each of the 13 conference rooms. These elements may be included in flooring materials, furniture, or might actually be visible in the "inter-stitial" space between floors. As a second component, Ms. Valentina Murch would use colored glass on the side panels of the conference room windows. Ms. Manton said that the third component of the proposal involved incorporating a Frette design on the rear wall of the conference room that would represent the particular ecology of that room.

Ms. Manton said that while Ms. Valentina Much did not directly address the theme of a green building by using recycled materials, reducing sun glare, or any other feature of sustainable architecture, she felt that Ms. Valentina Murch did address the green theme by developing a project based upon San Francisco's natural ecology.

Ms. Manton concluded her report by saying that the Civic Design Committee reviewed and approved Phase I of Ms. Valentina Murch's proposal on Monday, and that the project architects are thrilled with her proposal. Today's motion only seeks approval of the design and not costs which are still unknown at this point.

Motion: Motion to authorize approval of design submitted by Anna Valentina Murch for 525 Golden Gate Avenue Office building.
Moved: Stermer/Stauffacher Solomon
Moscone Center Expansion Project
Ms. Manton reported that she was getting ready to enter into contract with MultiMedia, Inc. for an LED system for the Moscone Center. Ms. Manton said how pleased she was with MultiMedia's prompt response in providing a finished design. She mentioned how the prior proposed vendor, Mitsubishi, took several months to provide a final design.

Ms. Manton said that although the Arts Commission never contracted with Mitsubishi, the company has made subtle threats to bring a lawsuit against the City. Fortunately, upon consulting with the City Attorney, Ms. Manton discovered that city governments may back out of contracts without penalty if it is in the best interest of the public. However, this may not prevent Mitsubishi from bringing suit. At the direction of the City Attorney, Ms. Manton placed an advertisement for an LED system through the City's Office of Contract Administration as well as in a trade publication. Ms. Manton cannot send a letter of intent to MultiMedia until this conflict with Mitsubishi has been resolved and the ad has run.

Ms. Manton said that another complication is that Pol-X West, the engineer of the LED system, was going to be assigned to Hunt Construction as a specialty sub-contractor to fabricate and install the LED system. But now, for a variety of reasons including insurance and bonding, Pol-X West has not been able to get the $5,000,000 in Errors and Admission insurance required by the Moscone Project. While Ms. Manton is still working to remedy this situation, the new plan is to take the Pol-X West design and turn it over to Hunt Construction, the existing contractor, with the requirement that Pol-X West retain control of the electrical work.
Zoo
Project Manager Susan Pontious said that there was nothing to report at this time.

The following motion was removed.
Motion: Motion to approve the Zoo's proposed design change to Fine/McCarren's "Split Mound".
Juvenile Hall
Project Manager Kristen Zaremba informed the Commissioners that she, Jill Manton and the artists met with the Youth Guidance Center Advisory Committee and Chaplain Toni Dunbar in February, and that they were enthusiastic about the proposed artist-designed light-boxes for the multi-purpose/chapel room and the other proposed art elements for the facility. Unfortunately, the Chief Probation Officer Jesse Williams was not at the February meeting, and subsequently expressed reservations about the proposed glazing design. As a result, an alternate design was presented that pleased everyone at the facility, including the Chief Probation Officer. Ms. Zaremba said that Julio Morales, one of the project artists, was here today to present the revised, final artwork designs for the facade glazing, hallways, dayrooms and multi-purpose/chapel room of the Juvenile Hall Replacement Facility.

Mr. Morales reminded the Commissioners that the theme of this project is roots and memory. He said that the Chief Williams had concurred that working with the root concept and incorporating the text from the youth workshops would generate the most ideal design. Ms. Zaremba explained that the Youth Guidance Advisory Committee felt that the revised organic branch design was an improvement over the original design. It will be composed entirely of text, relates to the hallway and dayroom designs, and would embrace more fonts, including characters from various languages, and more text from the youth workshops than the original design. Mr. Morales showed a photo of an example of the window glazing and how the design will cast a shadow on the floor when exposed to sunlight. The glazing design will be legible from inside, outside, and close-up.

Mr. Morales showed a to-scale model of one of the six to seven light boxes that will be installed in the chapel ceiling. Commissioner Stermer said that the revised designs were a big improvement over the previous proposal.

Motion: Motion to approve the revised, final artwork designs by the artist team of Johanna Poethig and Julio Morales for the facade glazing, hallways, dayrooms and multi-purpose/chapel room of the Juvenile Hall Replacement Facility.
Moved: Stermer/Stauffacher Solomon
Library Bond Art Enrichment
Project Manager Judy Moran explained how this art enrichment project will provide artwork for six new or renovated library branches, in Glen Park, Ingleside, Mission Bay, Portola, Richmond, and Visitacion Valley, in Phase I of the Library Improvement Program. Due to limited resources, one competition was conducted to create a pre-qualified artist candidate pool from which artists would be selected for each branch, rather than conducting six separate competitions. Ms. Moran explained that the artist selection panel that met yesterday selected a pool of 30 artists from 53 applicants. She explained that after the Commission approves the pool of recommended finalists, Community Artist Selection Panels consisting of one librarian, one project architect, and three community members will select three artists from a selection of the pool of 30 approved artist finalists to create proposals for each library project. Following the public display of the three Finalists' proposals for each branch, the Community Artist Selection Panel for each branch will select one or two artists, to perform the commission. Opportunities for public art at the new or renovated libraries include wall, flooring, and glass treatments, hanging sculptures, gates, and/or entryways.

To conclude her report, Ms. Moran presented two slides of artwork by each of the 30 artist finalists (one artist team applied with a video excerpt) who were recommended by the Library Bond Art Enrichment Artist Selection Committee for the artist pool.

The following motion was modified.
Motion: Motion to approve the following finalists recommended by the Library Bond Art Enrichment Artist Selection Committee for a pre-qualified artist pool to be eligible for future consideration to create artwork for six new or renovated library branches, in Glen Park, Ingleside, Mission Bay, Portola, Richmond, and Visitacion Valley, in Phase I of the Library Improvement Program:
Seyed Alavi, Juana Alicia, Lois Anderson, Anders Barth, Teresa Camozzi, Ann Chamberlain, Sheila Ghidini, Daniel Goldstein, Cherrymae Golston, Diane Andrews Hall, Terry Hoff, Gordon Huether, Werner Klotz and John Roloff, Vincent Koloski, Reddy Lieb and Linda Raynsford, Cork Marcheschi, Anita Margrill, Oscar Melara and Kate Connell, Emmanuel C. Montoya & Rebecca Solnit, Jeff Northam and Rufus Butler Seder, Johanna Poethig, Eric Powell, Jon Rubin, Shan-Shan Sheng, Amy Trachtenberg, Horace Washington, Ann Weber, John Wehrle, Rene Yung, and Dana Zed.
Moved: Stermer/Wilsey
Gallery
Gallery Director Rupert Jenkins announced that the guidelines for the Construct 2 Installation Award show have been distributed. He asked for help from the Commissioners in getting the word out.

Mr. Jenkins also announced that the exhibit opening at City Hall next week will include photographs by Armenian photographers, celebrity icon photo-collage portraits by Brett Kaufman, photographs by Cheryl Maeder, a retrospective of prints by the late Gary Shaffer, and a collection of San Francisco paintings by Zhunwang Zhao.

Mr. Jenkins invited the Commissioners to attend an opening by Josh Green, the third in a series of seven openings, at the gallery tonight.
New Business
Ms. Manton reminded the Commissioners that because of a special presentation by Liz Diller, the date for next month's meeting of the Visual Arts Committee is being moved to May 22 instead of the regularly scheduled date of May 15. Commissioners Guggenheim, Stauffacher Solomon, and Stermer said that they could attend a meeting on May 22.
Old Business

Adjournment

As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.

Submitted by Anna Kvinsland, Public Art Program Assistant

Approved by Nancy Gonchar, Deputy Director, 4/26/02

4/26/02