City of Coral Gables has announced five semi-finalists selected by a panel of art experts for the creation of large-scale civic monuments with fountain features in the traffic circles of Segovia Street at the Coral Way and Biltmore Way intersections.
The call-for-entry received 181 submissions from well-known artists around the globe.
“We were very pleased by the interest generated and the caliber of experienced artists who submitted proposals,” said Cynthia Birdsill, the city’s Economic Sustainability director.
“The traffic circles are seen by several thousand people each day and have been identified as an ideal location in the city to install public art for visibility and in order to mark a major gateway between a residential area and the downtown.”
The five semi-finalists selected in alphabetical order are: Ivan Averbuch, Alice Aycock, Brad Goldberg, Douglas Hollis and Larry Kirkland. The five will be required to provide a formal design proposal.
The semi-finalists have been asked to consider values important to Coral Gables when designing such as natural beauty, history, community, and the city’s role as an international gateway.
The monuments will incorporate fountain features, which will add the dimension of sound and movement to the pieces as well as highlight the city’s tradition of incorporating fountains into civic art, buildings, and public spaces. The budget for the works includes $1 million that is already funded, $40,000 from the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts, and in-kind horticultural services from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. This project’s budget is on par with similar scale projects.
For more information, contact Cynthia Birdsill by email at cbirdsill@coralgables.com or by phone at 305-460- 5310.
