Artist renderings of the design concepts chosen for the Library’s future public art installations were presented to the City Council at Monday night’s meeting. The concepts were chosen out of more than 200 artist applications by a selection panel that included library staff and members of the Cultural Arts Commission, Library Advisory Board and the Library’s Youth Advisory Board.
The interior art installation, “Lighter Than Air,” will be located in the children’s area. Created by the artists of SOFTlab, it consists of an array of colorful, “floating” clusters made of rounded, hatched, intersecting planes of powder-coated aluminum that mimic bubbles, clouds, butterflies, or whatever people imagine them to be.
For the exterior art, the panel chose Brad Oldham Sculpture’s “Enchanted Silicon Prairie,” which features oversized Texas wildflowers in vibrant colors as well as a stack of books and a 20” tall version of Oldham’s well-known BIRD character, made of mirror-polished stainless steel. Other versions of BIRD were once installed on loan outside the Library near the Civic Center Fountain during arts celebrations in 2015 and 2016, and the panel liked the continuity between the old and the new.
The art is expected to be installed in summer 2025; library renovations are expected to be complete by late 2025. The City plans to issue a Call for Artists in August to begin the process of art design/selection for the New City Hall/Civic Plaza public art.
Monday’s presentation: Click here
