Halifax Central Library - Public Art
The Request for Proposals for Public Art for the new Halifax Central Library (RFP No. P12-039) has been awarded. The highest-scoring proponent is Winnipeg-based artist Cliff Eyland.

Artist
Mr. Eyland was born and raised in Halifax and his proposal exhibited a great deal of familiarity both with the particular history and community context of Halifax, as well as with the Library as a public institution. Mr. Eyland’s 30-year artistic career, beginning as a student of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, has been concerned with a contemplation of the connections between libraries and artistic production.

The Artwork
His proposal involves the creation of 5,000 paintings specific to this new building, the surrounding community, and the varied users and user-groups of the Library and its institutional and social function, etc. Each of these paintings would be created specifically in response to this opportunity and the physical parameters of the building. Each painting would measure 3”x 5” in direct relation to the size of a traditional library index card. Collectively, and from a distance, the paintings will operate as a loose, abstract formal pattern of colours and shapes. Individually, and up close, each painting will embody a particular piece of the overall Library ‘narrative’, to be constructed in close collaboration with library staff and community stakeholders. The collaborative nature of this enterprise was a central focus of the library RFP process.

Halifax Central Library
The Halifax Central Library will be regional resource, an active information place and a reflection of the communities within the Halifax Regional Municipality. It will enhance Halifax Public Libraries’ ability to design and redesign services, and to reach out to and attract more people. Services will be flexible and based on the needs of the community combined with the best that technology has to offer.

News Meantime in Greenwich A public art project by David Clark taking place in Sir Sandford Fleming Park.

Fallen Peace Officers Memorial by Cody Stephenson and Adam Collins Photograph by Gord Lehmann

HRM defines public art as being permanent, semi-permanent, or temporary works of art in any media or combination of media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the public realm and accessible to all. Pieces of public art will be created or managed by a professional artist and will be acquired through artist commissions, donations or artist-community collaborations.

The Public Art Policy informs presentations of public art, including temporary and permanent of public art.

Permanent public art describes artworks that are commissioned, designed, fabricated and installed with the intent that they will exist in situ for an ongoing and indefinite period of time. These works are part of HRM’s Public Art Collection, which is maintained on an ongoing basis, and mapped and interpreted as part of Cultural Affairs’ public art education programs.

Temporary public art refers to installations, performances or any other manner of artistic intervention in the public realm where the duration of exhibition or presentation is clearly defined.  Temporary public art animates civic spaces, inspires investiture in these spaces, and in general promotes a critical dialogue about art and public space. Cultural Affairs’ temporary public art programs focus on contemporary art, in particular works that are created through innovative approaches and new media; a focus of the program is to expand the public’s awareness of the diversity and range of public art forms.

For more information on public art within HRM contact:

Jamie MacLellan

Public Art Facilitator

maclelaj@halifax.ca
tel: (902) 490-1039

Programs

Programs offering opportunities for citizens to engage with the arts are facilitated through HRM's Public Art Section. This section specifically supports artists including writers, poets, musicians, media artists and visual artists and the public presentation of art.

Parchetypes by William Robinson

Open Projects

The Open Projects program supports artists’ projects that reimagine, remake and reinvigorate its civic spaces.

For the 2011-2012 fiscal year there are two calls for the Open Project program. Projects are peer-assessed by a committee of artists from diverse disciplines. Support through Open Projects is available at three different brackets:

• $500-$2000
• $2000-$5000
• $5000-$8000

Residency Initiative

Through the Residency Initiative, HRM will provide an honorarium to arts organizations facilitating artist residencies within HRM. In exchange, organizations are responsible for the administrative support required to host an artist-in-residence. This includes the selection process, residency logistics and organization, program promotion, and any residency related programming.

For more information on public art programs contact:

Jamie MacLellan

Public Art Facilitator

maclelaj@halifax.ca
tel: (902) 490-1039

Awards

Please be advised the Contemporary Visual Art Purchase Program is currently under review. This review process will create an equitable and transparent awards process that will support the diverse practices of artists within HRM. For more information please visit the Culture Awards Review.

Recognizing the valuable contributions artists and cultural workers make to the municipality is integral to HRM.

Contemporary Visual Art Purchase Program

The Contemporary Visual Art Purchase Program is open to HRM-based, emerging and mid-career, 2D visual artists. The works of the winner and two honourable mentions are purchased as part of HRM’s permanent art collection and displayed in HRM public buildings as part of a developing program to showcase the work of local contemporary artists. Short-listed exhibitors are paid an honorarium for their participation.

Mayor’s Poet Laureate

The Mayor’s Poet Laureate is a resident poet or spoken word artist who has achieved excellence and whose work is of relevance to its citizens. The Poet Laureate is an advocate for literary arts and reflects the life of the HRM community through program development and community outreach.

For more information on these awards programs contact:

Nocturne: Art at Night

Installation shot of What Could Public Space Also Be? by Better City LAB Nocture: Art at Night, October 16, 2010 Photograph by Gord Lehmann

Nocturne: Art at Night is a fall festival that brings art and energy to the streets of Halifax from 6 p.m.-midnight. The completely free, fourth annual event showcases and celebrates the visual arts scene in Halifax. Nocturne, designed and planned by volunteers, is an opportunity for everyone to experience the art of Halifax in a whole new light.

HRM  supports this program through managing the anchor sites for the festival. HRM Civic Events supports this initiative through Civic Events Grants.

Outdoor Public Art

The Outdoor Public Art Inventory of monuments, markers and outdoor sculpture was completed in 2008. It lists the full range of statuary objects and artworks (and murals, in some cases) in HRM and lists them by district. HRM is working to map these items and their locations and to make this and other relevant information available to the public.

Maintenance of HRM's current public art inventory is ongoing. Priority maintenance needs have been identified for major restoration including The Cenotaph in Grand Parade, completed in November 2009, and the Halifax Airfield Monument in Saunders Park, completed August 2009.

Click on images to enlarge.

The Kiss

Sculptor Andy Francis Cutti created

"The Kiss" as one of three statues

crafted from a granite staircase that was

removed from a renovated building

on Barrington Street.

The statue, located in front of the YMCA on South Park Street, Halifax, is an abstract image of a couple embracing.

Winston Churchill

The bronze Winston Churchill statute, weighing 1.5 tons and standing ten feet high, is found on the front lawn of the Halifax Public Library branch on Spring Garden Road, Halifax. Oscar Nemon sculpted this statue, honouring Sir Winston Churchill, former Second World War Prime Minister of Great Britain.

The statue was unveiled on January 20, 1980, and the figure represents the image of Churchill taken in a photograph while walking in Halifax.

Sailor

Commissioned by the Atlantic Chief and Petty Officers’ Association, "Sailor" honours the many thousands of sailors who passed through the port of Halifax.

The 2.5 ton bronze statue figure's uniform is modelled after that worn by Canadian sailors from the Second World War until the 1960's Canadian Forces unification.

"Sailor" is located near the corner of Lower Water

and Sackville Streets, Halifax.

The Wave    

"The Wave", created by sculptor Donna Hiebert is located on the Halifax waterfront, in Sackville Landing at the base of Sackville Street.

"The Wave" was commissioned by the Halifax Waterfront Development Corporation in 1988.

The ferro-cement sculpture is painted bluish-green, and represents the shape of an ocean wave standing twelve feet high, with a diameter of thirty feet.

Celtic Cross

Unveiled, March 17, 1999, by the Charitable

Irish Society, the black polished granite

Celtic Cross is dedicated to the original

Irish settlers of 1749 and to the contributions

of the Irish community to Halifax.

The twelve foot high statue is located near the corners of Lower Water and

George Streets and Bedford Row, Halifax.

Resources

The HRM Public Art Policy

The HRM Cultural Plan

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Creative Nova Scotia
Nocturne: Art at Night
Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture & Heritage

Visual Arts Nova Scotia

Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia