Minutes 11-22-11 MINUTES OF THE ARTS COMMISSION MEETING
HELD ON NOVEMBER 22, 2011 AT 6:30 P.M.
AT FIRE STATION NO. 2, TRAINING ROOM
2615 WEST WOOLBRIGHT ROAD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA
PRESENT:
Barbara Ready, Chair Debby Coles - Dobay, Public Art
Anderson Slocombe, Vice Chair Administrator
William Combes
Donn Davenport
Robyn Lorenz
Halena Wolf
Christine Moeller, Alternate (arrived 6 44 p m )
ABSENT:
Nubia Richman
I. CaII to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:29 p.m.
II. Roll Call of Members
Self- introductions were made.
III. Agenda Approval
Ms. Coles -Dobay advised she wanted to add an item to the agenda to approve the Arts
Commission letter of recommendation for the Americans for the Arts nomination of
Mayors for the Arts Public Leadership award.
Motion
Vice Chair Slocombe made a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Mr. Combes
seconded the motion that unanimously passed.
IV. Approve Meeting Minutes — October 25, 2011
Motion
Vice Chair Slocombe moved to approve the minutes. Mr. Combes seconded the motion
that unanimously passed.
Meeting Minutes
Arts Commission
Boynton Beach, FL November 22, 2011
V. Announcements /Reports
Chair Ready introduced Deborah Bottorf who was a guest and a member of the
Branding Committee. She shared her background with the Board members. Another
guest, Flo Minton, also shared her background with the Board.
A. Seacrest Streetscape Celebration
Chair Ready shared her experience with the Seacrest Streetscape Celebration, the art
installed at the corner of MLK Boulevard and Seacrest. It was a City and a CRA project.
The citizens of the community selected a piece of public art from the Avenue of the Arts
program in 2008 and the artists who designed the piece were invited to come back and
design other pieces for each of the three corners at the intersection. The community
was quite pleased with the results and was allowed to participate. She advised the
Commissioners were present as well as the other members of the CRA Board. Mayor
Rodriguez and Commissioner Hay had given presentations at the Celebration about the
project and artwork. A community representative also spoke about the significance of
the program as well as the artists and their experience
B. Walmart Grand Opening
Chair Ready advised the event was very well attended. The artwork was up and the
lights would be installed by the end of the month. Ms. Coles -Dobay shared that she
thought this was the only Walmart nationwide that had public art. There was some
discussion on the public art requirements in other municipalities as compared to
Boynton Beach
Ms Coles -Dobay mentioned that the public art at Walmart helped to ease the
acceptance of the store into the community. There had been controversy about it from
adjacent communities not wanting Walmart to be there. One of the communities was
now building their entry way feature to mirror that of Walmart's.
C. "Art District" Events
Chair Ready inquired if everyone was aware that Boynton Beach had an industrial art
district. Ms Coles -Dobay added it was in the area along Industrial Avenue and had
been very crime ridden. On the west side of the street, people would dump garbage and
trash. Some businesses and artists got together and approached the City in an attempt
to change that They elected to clean it up and place public art in the grassy area on
each side of the street. Once that was done, the City Commission designated it as the
Neighborhood Art District, which has increased the look of the area with much improved
tenants. Crime had dropped significantly Many established artists have had their
galleries there for quite some time. Artists from Miami felt their area was saturated in the
arts and saw an opportunity in Palm Beach County and relocated. There were diverse
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Boynton Beach, FL November 22, 2011
artists renting spaces from visual art, sculptures, and theatrical art. There was also
someone who was a model, painter and tattoo artist that used the district as a backdrop
for a photo shoot, and provided workshops on women's issues that could be expressed
through art.
There was an art opening on November 11 which was a great success. There would
also be an art garage sale on Sunday, December 11 which would be to bring artists in
and have art available for under $100. In January, Rick Beau Lieu planned an open
house and the other studios would be open as well. In February, he planned an event
called 12- 12 -12, which would involve 12 hours and 12 artists on the 12 There would
be music and performance art.
Ms. Coles -Dobay announced that Lori Durante of Lifestyle Fashion and History Museum
was working with tours of the Avenue of the Arts. She puts tours together and had been
doing historic culinary tours and now included the Avenue of the Arts tour. There was
also a tour of the new Industrial Art District.
VI. Intl Kinetic Art Symposium and Exhibit Planning
A. Brief Discussion about Status and Committee Update
Ms. Coles -Dobay passed out documents she prepared with the items being worked on
by everyone for the event. She updated the group on the last meeting when Vivian
Brooks attended and she had requested the Committee put together a budget request
for funds they had available. A request for $30,000 had been made, $20,000 of which
was for the marketing aspect and $10,000 for the exhibit phase of it, which would be for
the additional artists and pieces. She felt the CRA Board was very receptive to
supporting it, but felt they did not understand the money was needed now and not in
next year's budget. She indicated she would be meeting with a couple of the Board
members one on one to explain it further and hopefully get some funds allocated. She
wanted to clarify with them that they had approved several phases of the project in the
past.
Ms. Coles -Dobay provided an update on the sponsorships. There was information
received to move forward with approaching additional sponsors. She applied for three
grants, the most recent being the Art Place Grant which a letter of interest was
submitted on November 15 If they like the letter of interest, the full proposal would be
requested in February, 2012. The award would not be awarded until June. The other
two grants applied for were not awarded. Florida Power and Light may be interested in
a partnership in the spring of 2012.
Ms. Coles -Dobay shared the status on the educational component with The Palm
Beach State College and Palm Beach County School District. The State College
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Boynton Beach, FL November 22, 2011
approved moving forward with a small portion of it and would try to raise more funds for
Phase II of the project.
B. Planning for February 10, 2012 Workshop
Ms. Coles -Dobay stated the plan was to have a workshop on February 10, 2012. The
purpose of the workshop was to have partners, potential sponsors, the CRA and the
City staff come and get an understanding of what was being done. The purpose of the
workshop was to get an understanding of each area of accomplishment, outline it, get it
energized and excited and break into groups to tweak what was already planned. After
discussion, the group could come back together and share ideas and possibly each give
a 10 minute presentation. There could be some kinetic art installed so that people could
see it in the environment. Ralfonso would be happy to speak about kinetic art.
VII. Project Updates
Individual Board members gave updates on their assigned project for the symposium.
Ms. Wolf advised she was in charge of the educational component. To date, Palm
Beach School District was receptive to including this into their curriculum for next year.
She was working with Rein Triefeldt, an international kinetic artist. He had, in the past,
with other student groups, created a curriculum where students were each charged with
creating one component of something that would become a large kinetic or solar piece.
This would not be a district wide endeavor. Certain schools would be designated to add
the special program, which would be the K -12 component.
Ms. Wolf reiterated that Ms. Coles -Dobay spoke to Palm Beach State College. They
brought in a wide variety of disciplines to participate such as visual art, engineering
design, solar, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, structural engineering,
welding and fabrication. The initial meeting took place in August, with a follow -up
meeting in September. They agreed to become involved in the program which would
introduce participating students via Skype or IChat to the artists, and an in- person
presentation on public art. Palm Beach State College solar engineering faculty would
do a solar introduction to students, and talk about creating a design that would
eventually be a large kinetic piece that would be displayed at the next symposium. Ms.
Coles -Dobay added that it was hoped to have actual functioning table top models at the
workshop.
Vice Chair Slocombe advised he was tasked with determining various site locations for
the kinetic art pieces. He would be working with Rick Beau Lieu and other artists and
would be scouting out potential areas within the next few weeks. The sites would be a
combination of indoor and outdoor. Ms. Coles -Dobay advised there were nine sites and
was hoping to add five additional sites. Depending on where some of the sites were,
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Boynton Beach, FL November 22, 2011
some of the pieces might need electricity available which would be another element that
would be investigated.
Ms. Coles -Dobay stressed to the Board that at the January meeting, there should be
some sort of outline of what will be presented at the February workshop.
Ms. Moeller indicated she did not know who the speakers would be. She wanted
direction on what topics to have potential speakers present and how many
presentations there should be. There was discussion for suggestions such as what was
kinetic art and its history, how kinetic art was made, and possibly a discussion of how
the project in the school was created, what the students learned from the project, how
they completed the project and what the end result would be. The subjects and
presentations would be made at the workshop as to what would be presented at the
2013 event. The members brainstormed to provide Ms. Moeller with further
suggestions on what potential topics could be presented. Ms. Coles -Dobay reviewed
the schedule of presentations. There was time slated for three presentations.
Mr. Davenport advised he began the creative process of the copywriting as well as the
edits for the website. He explained that it was still a reversal process because of the
book, which was the most prominent piece, and would come after the website. He
explained the book was being edited before the instructional book was designed for the
website. He arranged to have an outline broken out into four sections. The first would be
a history of the introduction, followed by the vision or range of kinetic art in all the
various sections and types, and the educational process that would be incorporated in
the program, as well. The last area would be the future and the vast possibilities. He
advised that he would be including a Q&A section in the book on how the Boynton
Beach Arts Commission came about hosting a kinetic art exhibit and symposium.
Mr. Davenport mentioned that he hoped to have a rough storyboard for the web design,
which would include copy, as well as recommended visions within the week. Once the
website was approved and aired, it could be up and running. The production of the book
would follow. He advised Ms. Coles -Dobay that the budget, according to the timeline,
had to be approved for production or a mock up would not be completed by January.
There were no other plans for other components at the present time.
Ms. Lorenz advised she was looking for vendors and requested assistance because
what she was finding was vendors who were just production. Due to the (imitations
originally set, the people selling kinetic products must be artists. She advised she had a
list of approximately eight people that do trade shows. Of those eight, two are from the
east coast and the majority was located in California. She had not contacted anyone
yet. She explained that with the limitation placed of having just artists, there were also
companies that made kinetic pieces, were mass produced but were quality pieces. Ms.
Coles -Dobay reminded everyone that there was agreement, if a piece of kinetic art was
to be sold, it would be made by a kinetic artist. She gave some suggestions on artists
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Boynton Beach, FL November 22, 2011
that make and sell their work. Vice Chair Slocombe commented that there would be
other vendors besides kinetic art vendors. There would be no food vendors but other
vendors that sell other items There was further discussion and suggestions on where
to look for particular vendors. There was discussion on having displays such as LED
lights, educational materials on how to build kinetic items, unique type fixtures, among
other things that would be available for purchase and the many different types of kinetic
art.
There was further discussion regarding the space available for the vendors and exhibits.
Ms. Coles -Dobay advised areas would be concentrated in utilizing the civic center and
surrounding buildings She advised the budget was a big issue to consider Officers
would probably have to be hired which would be an expense. There were many good
ideas, but the budget had to be a concern.
Chair Ready inquired about entertainment Ms Coles -Dobay explained that there were
kinetic performing artists that were recommended. She would look into contacting
them.
Mr. Combes advised he would assist wherever he was needed.
Chair Ready advised she would contact the Chamber of Commerce and find out if any
businesses would like to donate wine and cheese, crackers and dips and other things.
The Chamber could probably provide maps of the area and coupons for businesses.
She would also like to plan the VIP night and there was discussion as to what should be
planned for this night. She advised she would like to get as much donated as possible.
There was a suggestion about possibly getting students from the Art Institute in Ft.
Lauderdale to donate their time and assist with the event. The donated hours could be
used towards credits for their education.
VIII. Exhibits
A. City Library "Fibre Art"
Ms Coles -Dobay shared it would be a nice exhibit which would be held the following
week at the Library. She hoped everyone would attend.
IX. New Business
A. Approve the Letter of Recommendation
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Boynton Beach, FL November 22, 2011
Motion
Ms. Wolfe moved to approve the recommendation. The motion was seconded by Vice
Chair Slocombe that passed unanimously.
X. Unfinished Business
None
XI. Future Business
None
Adjournment
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was properly adjourned at 8:45
P.m.
i i (
Ellie Caruso
Recording Secretary
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