HCC’s Dale Mabry Campus has sent out a call to artists to create a mural for the Learning Resources Center building as part of their Grounds4Art@HCC public art program. The artist’s budget will be $20,000 -- allocated from various sources including the HCC Dale Mabry campus student government, the Gobioff Foundation in Tampa, as well as other private donors and Gallery221 supporters -- which will be used for fabrication, materials, installation, programming, and other purposes.
“When I came in the fall of 2017, I started asking about projects in the works or if there were needs that should be addressed. The concept of public art kept coming up, and there was a general sense of, yes we want this, but it never had any traction since a lot of ‘what ifs’ got in the way. From there, I started a larger conversation between local artists and the City of Tampa Public Art Program. Fortunate for me, it was sort of the right time and the right place: We have a new campus president, a new dean for the Associate in Arts program, plus it’s the college’s 50th anniversary,” says Amanda Poss, HCC Dale Mabry’s Gallery 221 Director.
The deadline for mural proposals is Oct. 1. From there, three finalists will be selected to send in a finalized design proposal and will receive a stipend. The project is to be completed in the early spring term (Jan.-Mar.) in 2019.
“We formed a public art committee when we were coming up with this call. The mural selection committee is comprised of staff, students, faculty, and even the assistant dean to be well-rounded. The 12 people in the committee are from all different areas of the campus from the humanities to the sciences,” Poss says. “We wanted to represent the breadth of different backgrounds and areas of the campus.”
The location of the mural is in a place of high traffic, and the Learning Resources Center is unlike any other building on the Dale Mabry Campus because it isn’t connected to one specific degree program; it has resources for all students including the gallery, library, and student commons.
“It’s also located at the heart of campus and that wall faces the inner courtyard. One of the things that came up over and over again was how murals can create an identity for a space, and be accessible as well. We want all students to be able to come right up to it and engage with it directly,” Poss says.
To be eligible for this project, artists must be based in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, or Manatee County; have completed at least one project of similar scope and scale; demonstrate experience and familiarity with the materials and methods for creating the mural; have a strong interest in community engagement; be willing to work with and involve students over the course of the mural’s creation; be career-oriented arts professionals as demonstrated by education or other training and experience; and have experience conducting professional workshops and be willing to host workshops in conjunction with the project.
To find out more about the open call, you can
visit the Gallery 221 website here.
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