M E T A A R T E 563 NE Ravenna Boulevard Seattle WA 98115
phone 206.523.3071 fax 206.523.6133
October 15, 2010
West 8 New York
Attn: Public Art Consultant RFQ
333 Hudson Street, Suite 905
New York, NY 10013
To the Public Art Consultant Selection Team:
META ARTE is delighted to apply for this unique opportunity to contribute to the concept,
definition, and delivery of a most important public space through the thoughtful and
deliberate introduction of art interventions, both permanent and ephemeral.
Our team – Pablo Schugurensky and Kurt Kiefer – has extensive experience in public art
activities. Please see the attached résumés and past projects‖ information. We prefer to
work in consonance with the development of a site – the earlier the better – so our
efforts can match, mutually inform and affect the evolution of the concept. We feel that
this is a great moment to work on the plan for public art in Governors Island, as the
groundwork has been established and the ambition for an engaged public experience has
been clearly enunciated.
We believe that public art projects can and must meet the interests of various parties: the
artist, the audience, and the funder. In our practice we encourage artists to engage with
the intended location for their work and consider the community. At the same time we
ask them to propose meaningful, important work that can be a mark in their careers. We
ask audiences to stretch their expectations and listen to what the artists propose. We ask
the funders to take calculated risks, to benefit from the opportunity to commission works
rather than acquire existing objects.
In our curatorial work, we strive to bring not only the unexpected but also what will add
to the character of space and will have a long visual life. Our interest in longevity is not
only about the durability of materials but also about integrating artworks into the long-
term narrative of place and community.
We work with both well established artists as well as those with younger practices who
may have not had a public art opportunity before. We see our work as providing scope
and parameters – budget, timeline, local code, intention, expectations – and monitoring
the continued adherence to them, from initial invitations for artist to make proposals to
the final delivery and warranty period. We also prepare interpretive materials to articulate
art efforts to the public and the media.
We enjoy developing all kinds of projects — permanent, semi- permanent or ephemeral –
and celebrate the fact that the meaning of public art has evolved to include time-based
works. Indeed, in a transformative process such as the one in Governor‖s Island, it would
M E T A A R T E
be desirable to create art events that reside in the shared memory of the audience as part
of the overall program.
Our experience includes a deep understanding of governmental practices – meeting the
requirements of enabling legislation and the interests of various project‖s stakeholders,
including artists, schoolchildren, students, government employees, administrators, public
officials and legislators. We take pride in our accomplishments within those scenarios. We
have also worked with private development projects, including commissioning twelve
artworks for the gargantuan new football and soccer stadium in Seattle, Qwest Field, for
the Microsoft Corporation, and for Vulcan Real Estate. A few highlights in our collective
experience include commissioning and delivering a beautiful sculpture by Martin Puryear
for the Cesar Pelli-designed Mark McDermott Plaza at the University of Washington
(Everything That Rises, 1996); Peter Shelton‖s first public commission at Qwest Filed,
(rockSHADOW, 2002); and Ursula von Rydingsvard‖s sprawling work at Microsoft, (Skip
to My Lou, 1997).
For Vulcan Real Estate, we are contributing to the redevelopment of a large central
section of Seattle, South Lake Union, which until recently was occupied by warehouses,
light industry and some commerce. The redevelopment plan for this neighborhood
includes biotech industry, residences, commerce, and a cultural corridor. In order to
conjure the diverse vocabularies that appear in neighborhood architecture, the developer
has been engaging various architectural and landscape design firms to design buildings in
city blocks, including pedestrian-friendly gestures such as through-block courtyards. We
have engaged regional artists and provided them with reasonably ambitious budgets
depending on their career stage and track record / ability to deliver. In some cases we
took calculated risks, resulting in already well-loved installations, such as Akio Takamori‖s
Three Women (2006), Claudia Fitch‖s Placeholders (2007), and Leo Berk‖s Threshold
(2009).
We encourage the artists and designers to collaborate to maximize their respective
budgets. Leo Berk was able to use a budget initially allocated to the furniture, fixtures and
equipment to create a large work for the interior lobby and exterior of a new building that
fulfills some of the functional needs of the space. Claudia Fitch developed a collaborative
relationship with the landscape architect on her project and was able to alter the design
of planters and the sidewalk to become more organic, relate to her sculptures and greatly
improve the pedestrian experience on a narrow sidewalk along a busy street.
Audiences are not uniform, and we expect that people will like some works more than
others. We believe in providing multiple points of entry to a public art program without
being condescending to audiences. From figurative to abstract, from ephemeral to
permanent, a program can be punctuated to include diverse and serious approaches to art
-making. There are many talented artists that can provide smart and engaging artworks to
invigorate the shared space.
Depending on budget, timeline, and development plan, the public art program for
M E T A A R T E
Governors Island could be concentrated in one area or deployed as punctuations in
various locations. We think it is important to recognize the need for flexibility for future
development and additions, and to leave room for them.
We hope our materials are of interest to you and look forward to enter in dialogue to
imagine and realize a truly new art space.
Sincerely,
Pablo Schugurensky Kurt Kiefer
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M E T A A R T E
P A B L O S C H U G U R E N S K Y [ P R I N C I P A L ]
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
META ARTE LLC, Seattle, Washington. Owner, 2005-present.
Meta Arte provides art advisory services to various individual and corporate clients to develop,
manage, and shape art collections in private and public settings.
Provides art advisory services to various individual and corporate clients to place artworks for
sale through private treaty or public sales.
Monitors developments and practices in the field, track new artists, and maintain presence to
identify, solicit, and gain access to great opportunities for acquisition.
Vulcan Inc, Seattle, Washington. Director of Art Collections (2002-2005); Director of Art
Collections and Management (1999-2002); Art and Foundations Manager (1998-1999).
Represented company, principals, and affiliates in the field.
Identified opportunities for artwork acquisition and placement for a variety of settings.
Developed and executed art program concepts for diverse purposes, from public facilities to
company collections to private interests.
Cultivated relationships and understood practices, methods and developments in the field;
negotiated complex contracts, understood intellectual property issues, customs, legal, and tax
implications.
First and Goal, Inc, Bellevue, Washington. Art Program Consultant, 1998.
Developed public art program for a new sports stadium with an initial allocation of almost two
million dollars.
Designed contracts that reflect practices in the field and the interests of the new stadium
constituencies.
Assisted in negotiations to integrate diverse interests for the art program.
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington. Director, Microsoft Art Collection, 1997 - 1998.
Directed acquisition efforts in collaboration with the Microsoft Art Committee.
Procured artworks.
Provided articulation to collecting efforts and interpretation to collection holdings.
Set guidelines for, and conducted internal and external communications regarding the collection.
Identified placement opportunities.
Coordinated with Real Estate group.
Coordinated activities with the Collection Administrator and installation team; managed the
collection budget.
Prepared annual request for new acquisitions and collection management.
Devised and implemented employee programs associated with the collection.
Established general collection policies regarding tours, loans, and unsolicited submissions.
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M E T A A R T E
P A B L O S C H U G U R E N S K Y
Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia, Washington. Program Manager, Art in Public Places
Program, 1992 – 1997.
Responsible for statewide program administering art allocations for public schools, colleges and
universities, and state agencies, with an annual acquisition budget of over one million dollars.
Shaped state policy, interacted with other programs, Visual Arts Committee, and Commission.
Provided art selection procedures, managed acquisition process, maintained contact with artists
and sites.
Upgraded collection management and developed conservation programs for the State Art
Collection.
Secured first-time allocation towards conservation. Established deaccession policy.
Improved relations with communities and partner agencies. Invented new partnership models.
Represented Program and Commission regionally and nationally.
Supervised program staff (7 members) supporting their career growth.
New York State Council on the Arts, New York, New York. Program Officer, Visual Artists
Program, 1987-1992.
Responsibilities in all phases of the grant administration process, from handling inquiries to
evaluating fiscal and programmatic aspects of applications from New York State arts
organizations.
Made funding recommendations, wrote reports, compiled statistics, and shaped policy.
Attended exhibitions, performances and events to keep current with contemporary visual arts
activity.
RELATED EXPERIENCE
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA. Collections Committee (2002 to present). Board of Directors
(2002 to 2005).
Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA. Board of Directors. 2007-2008.
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA. Olympic Sculpture Park Advisory Committee (2001-2006),
Committee on the Collection (2002-2006).
Artist Trust, Seattle, WA. Board of Directors, 1997-1999.
Foundation for Art Resources, Los Angeles, California. Board of Directors, 1987.
EDUCATION
The Otis Art Institute Of Parsons School Of Design, Los Angeles, California.
Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting, 1987. Additional emphasis in Art Management
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington. Bachelor of Arts Degree, Fine Arts, 1984.
Additional emphasis in Art Management
LANGUAGES
Fluent language skills in English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
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M E T A A R T E
K U R T K I E F E R [ P R O J E C T M A N A G E R ]
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
META ARTE LLC, Seattle, Washington. Project Manager, 2008-present.
Manages public and private commissioned projects, coordinates projects with client
representatives.
Understands developments and practices in the field, track new artists, and maintain presence to
identify, solicit, and gain access to great opportunities for acquisition.
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Campus Art Administrator, 1994–2008.
Manager of the UW Public Art Program and curator of the Campus Art Collection.
Managed all phases of master planning, project development, artist selection, project
management and collection maintenance for the university‖s growing collection of art.
Oversaw maintenance budget, guided development of major commemorative works, raised
funds for maintenance and acquisitions and managed gift review and acquisition.
Rainmaker Industries, Seattle, Washington. Owner, 1992-2008.
Completed public art projects in Tacoma, Washington, Portland, Oregon and Seattle,
Washington.
Various projects including art planning with Meta Arte, the Puget Sound Environmental Learning
Center (now Islandwood) and early development of a public art planning guide for Seattle
neighborhoods for the Seattle Arts Commission.
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Lecturer, 2006-2008.
Yearly Spring Quarter seminar on professional practices for artists.
First and Goal, Inc, Seattle, Washington. Consultant, 2001-2002.
Oversaw the construction and installation of a $1.2 million collection of public art projects
associated with the Seattle Seahawks football stadium (now Qwest Stadium).
Rhodes Masonry Inc, Seattle, Washington. Project Manager, 1993-1994.
Supervisor of crew of traditional craftsman fabricating intricate stonework for residential and
commercial clients.
Capp Street Project, San Francisco, California. Contract Preparator, 1990-1992.
Facilitator of on-site and off-site artists' projects.
Oliver Art Center, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California. Lead Preparator, 1990-
1991.
Facilitator of on-site artist‖s projects, exhibition designer, artwork handling and installation.
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M E T A A R T E
K U R T K I E F E R [ P R O J E C T M A N A G E R ]
Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC. Chief Preparator, 1988-1990.
Designed and installed exhibitions, fabricated site-specific artwork, administered project budgets,
maintained facility, recruited and supervised volunteers and interns.
Washington Cathedral, Washington, DC. Stone Carver, Shop Steward, 1985-1988.
Carved a wide variety of architectural ornament, maintained and repaired existing stonework and
managed the storage and handling of work in progress.
Shop Steward, representing the carver‖s studio in internal and external interactions.
RELATED EXPERIENCE
Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Seattle, Washington. Member at Large, Public Art
Advisory Committee, 2002 to present.
911 Seattle Media Arts, Seattle, Washington. Board of Directors, 2008 to present.
Grantmakers in the Arts, Seattle Washington. Facilitator, “Walking the Edges of Creative Space.”
Grantmakers in the Arts Conference, Seattle WA. Panel discussion of artists acting as
environmental activists, 2003.
Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, Washington. Panelist, “Gifts and Memorials: Building a Legacy
or Making Private Taste Public?” Public Art 101 Conference, Seattle WA, 2001.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Advisor. Development of a campus public
art program, 2001.
Washington State Major League Baseball Stadium, Seattle, Washington. Panelist, Public Art
Program. Winter, 1997.
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. University Landscape Advisory Committee,
October 1994 – December 2008.
Sand Point Arts and Cultural Exchange, Board of Directors, Seattle, Washington. Co-President
(2002-2004). Member at Large (1999–2004).
Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, Washington. Member at Large (1999 – 2002). Chair, Public Art
Advisory Committee (2001-2002). Chair, Art Selection Committee, Seattle Civic Center
development, (2001). Vice Chair, Public Art Committee (1999-2000).
Mayor’s Arts Task Force, Seattle, Washington. Member, 1998-1999.
REFLEX Magazine, Board of Directors. Seattle, Washington. President, 1995-1996. Member, 1993
–1996.
EDUCATION
California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California.
Master of Fine Arts (Sculpture), 1992. Graduated with High Distinction. Received Barclay
Simpson Award for distinguished work.
The Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Bachelor of Arts, (Theater, emphasis on design), 1985. Graduated magna cum laude and Phi
Beta Kappa. Received top departmental awards in both Theater and Studio Arts.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
SOUTH LAKE UNION ART PROGRAM, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
South Lake Union, a former neighborhood once dominated by light industry, warehouses and auto
dealerships, is being transformed by Vulcan Real Estate into a center for biotechnology, housing
and a campus for Amazon.com. Hoping to enliven the built environment and create a lively
pedestrian atmosphere, Vulcan hired Meta Arte to identify public art opportunities, recruit artists
and oversee the fabrication and installation of projects throughout the neighborhood. We have tried
to focus our attention on talented local artists without significant experience in public art and have
had great success in helping them translate their studio practices into publicly-sited works and
environments.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
SOUTH LAKE UNION ART PROGRAM, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Akio Takamori
Three Women, 2006
Painted cast aluminum
2200 Westlake Avenue
Drawing on memories from his childhood in Japan, Akio Takamori‖s
Three Women is a collection of cast-aluminum sculptures depicting a girl,
a young woman and mother with her baby. The figures are all about the
same size, suggesting that these three people are of equal prominence in
Takamori‖s mind‖s eye – however they are also larger than life-size,
giving a sense of importance to what appears as an ordinary moment.
Though they have come together and stand facing one another, they
aren‖t interacting, preferring instead to avoid each other‖s eyes and keeping a close watch on the
space around them. Takamori was intentional about this equivocal relationship among the women,
inviting the viewers to project their own imagination.
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M E T A A R T E
W O R K S A M P L E S
SOUTH LAKE UNION ART PROGRAM, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Jenny Heishman
Cabin Corners, 2010
Aluminum, urethane epoxy
paint, concrete
Amazon.com, Block 26
Jenny Heishman grew up
in Florida surrounded by
theme parks, water flumes
and golf courses.
For this piece for a new
publicly accessible plaza
adjoining a new Amazon
building, Heishman‖s aim
was to design a sculpture
that would intersect with
both the architecture of the
adjacent building as well as
the planter beds in the pocket park.
Choosing to work with forms that are recognizable to
the Pacific Northwest, her hope was to embed the
piece in its site by way of a historical reference.
Heishman writes “I‖m interested in how the three
components of the sculpture enclose an imaginary
room, creating a space within a space and how the
invented history embodied in the work might send its
audience back in time.”
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W O R K S A M P L E S
SOUTH LAKE UNION ART PROGRAM, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Claudia Fitch
Placeholders, 2007
Group Health Building, Block 40
Steel, epoxy paint, concrete, brick,
landscaping
This artwork installation in multiple
parts by Claudia Fitch, refers to the
“survivor tree” landscape of early Terry
Avenue. Using the urban vocabulary of
brick, steel and street landscaping, the
asymmetrical composition of oval
elements is balanced in counterpoint to
the straightforward geometry created
by the sidewalk and building facade
along Thomas Street and Terry
Avenue. The artist considered a new
addition to the neighborhood, the
streetcar, for perception of her work.
Placeholders is inspired by the history
of Terry Avenue. When the street was
originally developed for industrial use in
the late 19th century, the neighborhood
contained remnants of the site‖s original
old growth forests with the occasional
tall evergreen standing in sharp contrast
to the newly- formed urban grid.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
SOUTH LAKE UNION ART PROGRAM, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Jamie Walker
Beacon, Cloud, Toto, 2010
Fabricated aluminum
Jamie Walker‖s three sculptures
installed in this plaza are clusters of
spheres which suggest mountains,
clouds and animals. Installed at the
entry on Terry Avenue, Beacon acts
as a landmark marking the entrance
to the building complex and leading
pedestrians into the plaza. Rising
dramatically from the ground, the
sculpture‖s large scale and raw
surface hint at the geologic forces
that form mountains. Cloud hangs
on the northeast corner of the south
building, looming ominously, but in
contrast, hinting at its real playful nature by
casting a surprising pink halo against the
building‖s façade on the occasional bright,
sunny days. In the middle of the courtyard,
Toto sits patiently on the edge of a
landscape island, waiting for someone to
play with.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
SOUTH LAKE UNION ART PROGRAM, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Leo Berk
Threshold, 2009
Salvaged Douglas
fir, urethane, epoxy
and cork
Rollin Street Flats
The timbers and
decking used to
create Threshold
were salvaged from
a one-story building
that previously
stood on the site of
Rollin Street Flats.
To highlight the
history of this wood,
the artist milled the
100 year old
Douglas fir beams to
make them smooth
and true, and then patched their cracks, bolt holes, and other imperfections with tinted resin, to
reveal them. The flooring tiles are slices from three of these beams; for each set of tiles, Berk
emphasized the same year of growth by cutting away a step surrounding the matching growth ring
and filling the void
with orange-tinted
resin. The tiles are in
sequence and book-
matched to make
the resulting pattern.
The standing
timbers, floor tiles
and decking in
Threshold respond
to the building‖s
design, recall the
material‖s former
use, and allude to
the landscape from
which they were
originally claimed.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
505 5TH AVENUE SOUTH, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
As the Director of Art Collections at Vulcan Inc., Pablo Schugurensky encouraged a successful
collaboration between John Hoge, a local stone sculptor, and Murase Associates, a well-regarded
landscape architecture and planning firm, to create a large, refined open space at the base of
Vulcan‖s headquarters building that performs as a community-gathering space.
John Hoge (in collaboration with Murase Associates)
Cascadia: Sentries of the Palisades, 2000
Garden of Vessels, 2000
Basalt and plant materials
To create a transition space between the office complex and Seattle‖s International District, Seattle
sculptor John Hoge collaborated with Murase Associates to install a plaza centerpiece of large-
scale basalt columns and water features. This immensely popular plaza is a gathering place for
commuters, sports enthusiasts and nearby workers. Low stone walls direct active pedestrian
traffic and provide seating. The north garden, in keeping with the owners‖ request for a Zen
garden, is a contemplative space that includes raked gravel fiels, rough granite slabs and a stone
watertable.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
STADIUM ART PROGRAM, QWEST FIELD, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Pablo Schugurensky, working with the owners of the Seahawks football team and the Public Stadium Authority, designed and managed the art program for Qwest Field, working with a voluntary $1.75 million investment from First & Goal Inc. The development partners formed an 11-member selection committee and invited qualifications from artists from both the US and Canada. Of 254 respondents, twelve were chosen to develop for exterior and interior sites in and around the facility. In 2000, Kurt Kiefer was brought on to the team as a consultant to oversee the fabrication
and installation of all the works in the collection.
The guiding mission of the art program was to: engage both regional and national artists to create artworks that capture the public's interest and imagination; develop a collection that will serve as a destination for visitors from around the world; represent a diverse range of cultural and artistic perspectives; and create a collection that will be a source of pride for the region.
Peter Shelton
rockSHADOW, 2002
Granite boulder, cast bronze
Shelton‖s sculptural grouping pairs a massive Cascade granite boulder and its shadow — a bronze
form suggesting a mold to reproduce that boulder. The work, while not specifically referring to the
activity at the stadium, is evocative of the physicality and grandeur of football as spectacle.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
STADIUM ART PROGRAM, QWEST FIELD, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Susan Point
Written Into the Earth,
2002
Cast bronze (North
Tower reliefs), cast iron
(tree grates)
Susan Point, a
distinguished artist
working to revitalize
Coast Salish visual
traditions, created two
distinct projects at
Qwest Field. The first is
a band of cast bronze
bas-relief sculptures at
the base of the North
Tower which serves as a
threshold to the facility.
The second is a large
collection of ornamental tree grates adopted as the standard fixture for the entire Stadium and
Exhibition Center site. The arc of bronze bas-relief sculptures (outlining a portion of the former
footprint of the Kingdome — the stadium replaced by Qwest Field) is composed of four designs
intended to represent world cultures. The tree grate designs are based on the designs of spindle
whorls—stone
flywheels used by the
Coast Salish for
spinning yarn.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
STADIUM ART PROGRAM, QWEST FIELD, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Bob Haozous
Earth Dialogue, 2002
Painted steel
Haozous‖ installation on the
stadium‖s North Tower is
assembled from four 24-
foot diameter discs.
Although inspired by
symbols that are part of his
Warm Springs/Chiricahua
Apache heritage, Haozous
believes that the forms and
colors have universal
meanings — the artwork is
intended as a constant
reminder of our deep
connection to the earth.
According to Haozous, the
lowest disc, depicting a
stylized cityscape,
represents our
contemporary, man-made
world. The green disc
above it symbolizes life and
growth, but its human
figures are flying away,
suggesting the loss of
man‖s direct tie to nature,
or in a more hopeful
reading, a return to those
ties. The third disc honors
the sun, highlighting our
dependence on the natural
world and the redemptive
powers of nature. The top
disc is a collection of man-
made clouds, meant to
suggest the immensity of
the natural environment.
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W O R K S A M P L E S
STADIUM ART PROGRAM, QWEST FIELD, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Claudia Fitch
Collosal Heads, 2002
Cast bronze, cast iron
Inspired by carnival masks,
penny arcade signage and
the larger-than-life statuary
of Rome‖s ancient civic
arenas, these sculptures
enhance the ritual of entry
from the city street into the
stadium. The sculptures
dwarf passersby and are a
playful counterpart to the
large Seahawks banners
hung adjacent to them —
banners displaying enormous images of
current players intended to amplify the
larger-than-life qualities of the events
inside the stadium.
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M E T A A R T E
W O R K S A M P L E S
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON
As Program Manager of the Washington State Arts Commission‖s Art in Public Places Program,
Pablo Schugurensky developed a number of projects in collaboration with Western Washington
University, whose campus is home to a large collection of contemporary sculpture.
Magdalena Abakanowicz
Manus, 1994
Cast bronze
A deeply rooted respect for and
close observation of nature have
always been reflected in
Abakanowicz's preference for
materials and themes. As part of the
Hand-like Trees series begun in the
nineties. Abakanowicz's sculpture
"represents a metaphoric bridge
between a form of nature and a
human form." The artist chose the
site at the south end of campus
because she felt her work would
link the natural beauty of the area,
such as the trees of Sehome Hill,
with the human activity of the
campus. [Source: Western Gallery,
Outdoor Sculpture Collection
website. http://
westerngallery.wwu.edu/
sculpture_s.shtml]
M E T A A R T E ∙ Public Art Consultant for Governor’s Island ∙ 2020
M E T A A R T E
W O R K S A M P L E S
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CAMPUS ART COLLECTION, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
As Campus Art Administrator at the University of Washington, Kurt Kiefer managed the
development of the public art collections on three campuses. Working with the UW Public Art
Commission, he developed strategies and proposals for working on campus to respond to a rapidly-
developing physical plant and landscape. Until 1997, Pablo Schugurensky collaborated with the
University as Program Manager at the Washington State Arts Commission‖s Art in Public Places
Program.
Stokley Towles
An Archeology of Manhood, 1994
Month-long residency performance
Towles month-long performance was staged inside
a construction site trailer parked alongside a busy
pedestrian pathway in the center of campus.
Performing in the guise of a professor temporarily
dislocated by a renovation, Towles gave two
lectures a day to groups of passersby. The project
was so successful that he was invited to be a
regular guest speaker in a number of campus
academic departments and gave the
commencement speech for Women‖s Studies in June 1995.
Of the project, Towles writes “Surrounded by manhood related images, articles and objects, I gave
lectures inside an office trailer on various subjects, including hand holding and football, breast
feeding, and the possibility of expanding my pleasure zone.”
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UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CAMPUS ART COLLECTION, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Suzanne Hellmuth and Jock Reynolds
Brockman Memorial Tree Tour and Shelters, 1994
Cedar structures, printed ephemera
Unknown to most
campus visitors as
art, this collection
of sculptural
outbuildings was
intended as a
conceptual
squatter‖s camp,
highlighting
important campus
history by making a
series of sites seem
like places of
historic importance.
Built in the style of
World War II era
temporary facilities,
the cedar structures
are carefully
designed and
artfully crafted areas for people to
wait for buses or escape from the rain
while visiting the surrounding
Medicinal Herb Garden. Once inside,
the specific views of the garden are
revealed — views to rare plantings
and juxtapositions of sculptural trees.
Hellmuth‖s and Reynolds‖ project
further includes a recreated version of
the campus tree tour created by the
late forester and UW professor Frank
Brockman. Used by Brockman in his
classes at the College of Forestry for
many years, the document was
rediscovered by Hellmuth and
Reynolds in the course of their research for the project. The information (though not the design) of
their brochure can be found at http://www.cfr.washington.edu/BrockmanTreeTour/.
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UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CAMPUS ART COLLECTION, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Martin Puryear
Everything That Rises, 1996
Fabricated bronze
According to Martin Puryear, for many years he had wanted to create a sculpture that was the
same form in all directions — a turned form that emphasized the relationship of the sculpture to
its surroundings. Additionally, Puryear had been looking for an opportunity to work with a master
craftsman at a company in Louisville, Kentucky — one of the last facilities in the US where
distillery tanks were handbuilt. Merging the two of these desires, the piece was designed using a
woodturning as a model, but shows the marks of the tank-building process on its skin.
Though not intended as representational in any way, Everything That Rises is similar in shape to P
Orbital, one of the four basic orbital patterns of electrons in an atomic structure. This accidental
relationship has proven to be an important factor in the enjoyment of the artwork by its
surrounding audience.
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UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CAMPUS ART COLLECTION, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Various Artists
Bus Shelter Projects, 1993-1996
Duratrans transparencies in custom lightbox
structures
As an experiment in temporary public projects, the
UW Public Art Commission and Washington State
Arts Commission developed a series of simple
projects housed in two Metro bus shelters on the Seattle Campus. One shelter contained six
lightboxes; the other held two. Nominated artists were given the opportunity to develop projects
for all eight lightboxes or to focus their attention on only one site. Once approved, the artists‖
pieces were fabricated locally and installed on a two-month rotating schedule over the course of
three years. The artists selected for these projects were: Barbara Noah (Seattle), James Casebere
(New York), Yong Soon Min (San Francisco), Jon Rubin and Harrell Fletcher (Oakland, California),
Ted Gibson (Boseman, Montana), Mike Glier (New York), Alfred Harris (Seattle), Alfredo Jaar
(New York), Jeffrey Mitchell (Seattle), Susan Schuppli (Vancouver, British Columbia), Jake Seniuk
(Port Angeles, Washington), Timothy Sciciliano (Seattle), William Wegman (New York).
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UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CAMPUS ART COLLECTION, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Robert Irwin
9 Spaces 9 Trees, 1982 (re-envisioned 2006)
Chain-link fence, aluminum poles, concrete and Cor-ten steel planters, “Winter King” hawthorns
This artwork is an adaptive re-creation of a piece originally commissioned by the Seattle Arts
Commission (SAC) and sited at the City‖s Public Safety Building. When that building was marked
for demolition, SAC and the University agreed to explore the possibility of moving the work to the
Seattle campus. Robert Irwin agreed to this precedent-setting experiment and redesigned the
piece, changing its scale slightly, creating new planters and specifying trees more suitable for the
site.
Hoping to create a garden space that offered both privacy and transparency, Irwin designed 9
Spaces 9 Trees using “no-climb” chainlink material as he had used theatrical scrim for his well-
known interior installations in galleries and museums. The form of the original work was dictated
by the structure of the building on which the piece stood — a lightweight roof plaza supported by
nine concrete columns. Knowing that he could install only a limited amount of plant material in
the garden, he created nine large planters, one for each room of the work, in which he planted a
single tree. The resulting overall form, when seen from above is a series of cells, each forming a
classic circle-in-square motif.
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UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CAMPUS ART COLLECTION, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Cris Bruch
Department of Forensic Morphology
Annex, 2004
Fabricated stainless steel
The form of Bruch‖s massive
stainless steel construction refers to
both the Theodor Jacobsen
Observatory and the F.K. Kirsten
Wind Tunnel Building, two iconic
buildings on the University of
Washington campus. Taking
inspiration from these two facilities,
the sculpture has a streamlined form
that on closer inspection becomes an
intricate latticework of light,
shadow, and steel. Sited on the periphery of the
historic center of campus, the sculpture is hidden in
plain view — something to be discovered.
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UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CAMPUS ART COLLECTION, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Brian Tolle
Stronghold, 2008
Cedar, steel, concrete
Brian Tolle‖s sculpture for the southern part of
campus is intended as an outsized remembrance of
the history of the site. Its form and scale loosely
based on the lowermost section of the famous
Quinault Big Cedar south of Olympic National Park,
the artwork seems to be a stump that was too large
to remove from the forest that was cleared to make
the UW campus. The artwork also serves as a
gathering place and viewing platform — a specific
reference to the West Coast tradition of repurposing those too-large stumps as small buildings.
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UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CAMPUS ART COLLECTION, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Erwin Redl
Nocturnal Flow, 2008
Cedar, steel, concrete
Nocturnal Flow emphasizes the vertical dimension of
the building's atrium. The interior brick wall is the only
architectural element reaching from the floor to the
ceiling. The installation uses this wall to create an
enormous plane of light that conceptually links the
different floors of the building.
The ambient light level in the atrium controls the
appearance of the white grid of 10,000 LEDs
mounted floor-to-ceiling on the brick wall.
During the day, when the sun shines
through the skylight and the light level is
at its maximum, the grid is evenly lit. At
night the LED grid becomes animated and
moves upwards. A light sensor on top of
the building measures the external light
level (influenced by the weather conditions
and the position of the sun) and changes
the intensity of the animation accordingly.
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MICROSOFT ART COLLECTION, REDMOND, WASHINGTON
As Director of the Microsoft Art Collection, Pablo Schugurensky developed the first major
commissioned project in the company‖s history.
Ursula Von Rydingsvard
Skip to My Lou, 1997
Cedar, graphite
In her 1998 article about the artist for Smithsonian Magazine, art historian Avis Berman writes “A
meandering circular form, 67 feet in diameter but just 36 inches high, Skip to My Lou invites
passersby to nestle into its curves. Since it snakes around a mound of land surrounded by an office
complex, the artist explains that she ―had to concentrate on the top of the piece, and what people
would see when they overlooked it.‖ Von Rydingsvard isn‖t sure if Skip to My Lou represents a
sustained new direction or a tangent in her work. But that distinction isn‖t an issue for her. ―No
matter how corny this sounds, my whole world deals with feelings,‖ she says. ―A lot of the
decisions that I make are intuitively based. The stuff that starts being academic or pedantic I just
can‖t weave my brain into, and I really choose not to. I hope more than ever to be able to dip into
that which is not so consciously controlled, to be able to trust myself where things are less
predictable. That‖s where the fun is for me, and that‖s where I want to go.‖” [Source: Berman,
Avis. Smithsonian Magazine. April 1998, pp. 98-107]
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HOURLY RATES
PREFERRED RATES
Hourly – Principal $350 + costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
Daily – Principal $2,800 + costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
Hourly – Project Manager $175 + costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
Daily – Project Manager $1,400 + costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
Annual Retainer $60,000 Paid in advance for annual contract. Priority Service.
+ costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
Hourly – Principal $300 + costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
Daily – Principal $2,400 + costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
Hourly – Project Manager $150 + costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
Daily – Project Manager $1,200 + costs + expenses for client-specific work + travel
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REFERENCES
Hamilton Hazelhurst
Real Estate Development Manager
Vulcan Real Estate
505 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 900
Seattle WA 98104
(206) 342-2493
Weldon Ihrig
Former Executive Vice President
University of Washington
Seattle Washington,
(206) 909-4466
Ursula Von Rydingsvard
Artist
78 Ingraham Street
Brooklyn, NY 11237
(718) 963-4319
Erwin Redl
Artist
425 Napoleon Road #5
Bowling Green OH 43402
(917) 536-6541