The City Planning Department has put the call out for local artists to design artworks to be placed in six of the city’s parks as part of a new pilot program Art in Parks.
Designed and managed by the department’s Public Art and Civic Design division, Art in Parks will include two pieces for Frick Park and one each for Schenley, Mellon, Highland, Riverview and Emerald View parks.
The $52,500 program is funded through the Department of Public Works and CitiParks; compensation for each art piece will be up to $7,500. Right now, the Public Art and Civic Design division hopes to rotate pieces into the park, meaning artworks would stay at a particular site for about a year before being switched out for another piece.
The goal of Art in Parks is to foster engagement within the park’s communities, as well as themes like health, play, active learning and neighborhood identity, said Yesica Guerra, manager of the public art and civic design division,
“If you think about the sites we picked, most of them are hard [ground],” Ms. Guerra said. “So [through Art in Parks] it’s kind of like, ‘How do you take a concrete area and make it playful?’ ”
For example, Ms. Guerra said, art that constitutes those themes could be a piece that children can jump around or include into their play.
Ms. Guerra encourages artists from all experience levels to apply. “Art is about more than just beautification, and using the parks [to show that] is great.”
Submissions must be completed by July 20, and selected artworks will be announced the following week. Artwork is set to be installed in the parks by Sept. 23. The Art in Parks application can be viewed here.
Elena Rose: Erose@post-gazette.com
First Published: June 27, 2018, 8:43 p.m.