Austin Public Art Tours The Lay of the Land: Public Art, Politics, and the Environment The Public Art Preconference June 9–10, 2005 Austin, Texas

Public Art Home - Schedule - Registration - Hotel Information - Travel Information
Local Hosts and Sponsors - Scholarship Opportunities - Evening Event
Public Art Tours - 2005 Conference Information - Preconference Wrap-Up - Evaluation

Thursday, June 9, 2005
3:15 p.m.–5:45 p.m.

1. Art and Sustainability—East Austin
   See examples of sustainable public art that connects humans to their natural surroundings. This tour will highlight the preservation of natural surroundings and a unique, hybrid nonprofit that seeks to incorporate sustainability into constructed environments. The Elevated Prairie, located in the lawn of Austin’s state-of-the-art forensics center, invites you to explore a simple labyrinth of native, historic Blackland Prairie grasses, in the shape of a giant human fingerprint. The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems is an architectural center that uses life cycle design to foster ecological balance within a multiscalar context and engages in interdisciplinary collaborations with a common vision of healthful environments, economic prosperity, and social equity.
2. Art Homes
   Tour these private homes, transformed by artists’ labors of love to create unique spaces and rooms. Coolquitt art compound includes a studio and outdoor living room made from an array of junk sculpture, mosaic, and collage. Plan B is a more traditional gallery space, home to two artists with amazing studio and exhibition spaces within modern architecture on a residential scale. The tour will end with Casa Neverlandia, a multilevel flight of fancy and function with equal parts magic and masonry, including fire poles between floors, intricate stone work, and a palette ranging from Easter egg pastels to electric Kool-Aid shades. [Tour repeated on Friday]
3. Deep in the Heart of Austin
   Come explore the heart of Austin, where central green spaces and artistic enhancements create a place for citizens and visitors to come rejuvenate both physically and spiritually. From Austin’s own natural spring-fed pool to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, see how creative influences have adopted, interpreted, and transformed these places in central Austin and made them their own.
4. Temporary Sculpture Program
   In a very short period of time, groundbreaking temporary public art can become as memorable as the most permanent of works. See the efforts of Austin Green Art to transform some of the city’s spaces with works of environmental elegance. In addition, the collective energy of art students from the University of Texas will be reflected in their contributions to Austin’s temporary public art display. [Tour repeated on Friday, some stops may vary from Friday tour]
5. Austin Bergstrom International Airport
   Explore the outstanding visual art, live music program, architecture, and landscape architecture at ABIA and learn why, since its opening in 1999, the airport has received so many awards and accolades for its reflection of Austin’s distinct identity. Also learn how the Austin community participated in helping to create such a unique and distinctive public facility.
6. East Austin Vibrancy Tour
   See artist-created, artist-run initiatives in the vibrant, native environs of East Austin. At Blue Genie, a ceramics and architectural sculpture studio working in wood, metal, and stone—located at 800 Gullett Street—you’ll experience the birthplace of murals, sculpture, parade floats, art cars, molds, and “you-name-it.” The tour will also visit IDEA interdisciplinary arts, a bread factory turned artistic center that promotes a mix of artistic growth and social conscience. These studios and galleries are dedicated to encouraging a creative dialogue between artists and their peers, as well as between artists and their city. [Tour repeated on Friday]
7. Creative Economy
   Explore SoCo (South Congress Avenue) and learn how artists and creative industries have driven the economic development of the area into a mix of commercial shops, restaurants, nonprofit art venues, and unique events to create what Richard Florida describes as a dynamic “street scene.”
8. St. John’s Multipurpose Center
   Visit a truly unique public art at a uniquely collaborative facility. The Community Core Sample Project and The Threshold Project, by Beverly Penn and Steve Wiman, blend neighborhood nuances with artistic vision. At the St. John's Multipurpose Center and J.J. Pickle Elementary School, 40 wall niches creatively filled with found and salvaged objects, as well as 35 marble threshold plaques located throughout the site, honor the history of one of Austin's oldest neighborhoods. This case study will feature a guided tour by the project's architect and the two artists. [Tour repeated on Friday]

Friday, June 10, 2005
3:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.

1. Art and Sustainability—West Austin
   This tour will look at projects that foster a deeper connection between people and the local ecology of Austin. Recycled from the site of the Circle C Fire/EMS Station, native limestone boulders form a simple enclosure, or Karst Circle, that is filled with the native grass bushy bluestem, a fire-dependent species, resulting in a wry reference to the firefighters who inhabit the building. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center works to preserve and restore natural beauty and biological richness by inspiring people to love the land and take an active role in protecting, conserving, and restoring our natural landscapes.
2. Art Homes
   Tour these private homes, transformed by artists’ labors of love to create unique spaces and rooms. Coolquitt art compound includes a studio and outdoor living room made from an array of junk sculpture, mosaic, and collage. Plan B is a more traditional gallery space, home to two artists with amazing studio and exhibition spaces within modern architecture on a residential scale. The tour will end with Casa Neverlandia, a multilevel flight of fancy and function with equal parts magic and masonry, including fire poles between floors, intricate stone work, and a palette ranging from Easter egg pastels to electric Kool-Aid shades [Tour repeated from Thursday.]
3. East Austin Studio Tours
   See artist-created, artist-run initiatives in the vibrant, native environs of East Austin. At Blue Genie, a ceramics and architectural sculpture studio working in wood, metal, and stone—located at 800 Gullett Street—you’ll experience the birthplace of murals, sculpture, parade floats, art cars, molds, and “you-name-it.” The tour will also visit IDEA interdisciplinary arts, a bread factory turned artistic center that promotes a mix of artistic growth and social conscience. These studios and galleries are dedicated to encouraging a creative dialogue between artists and their peers, as well as between artists and their city. [Tour repeated from Thursday]
4. Downtown Great Streets Development
   This walking tour along Second Street will highlight the Great Streets plan for Austin, while demonstrating how artists have become integrally involved in downtown development in this first implementation through a transportation project. Beginning with the Convention Center and ending at City Hall, learn how urban design and public art are working collaboratively to make downtown a more pedestrian and invigorating environment.
5. The Making of Austin 1870–WWI
   Austin was incorporated in 1839 as the Capital of the Republic of Texas. Visually experience the early development of Austin through its architecture and artisan work in downtown. Learn how, even in the city’s early days, Austin was inhabited by iconoclastic individuals that launched Austin’s reputation as a creative center.
6. Temporary Sculpture Program
   In a very short period of time, groundbreaking temporary public art can become as memorable as the most permanent of works. See the efforts of Austin Green Art to transform some of the city’s spaces with works of environmental elegance. In addition, the collective energy of art students from the University of Texas will be reflected in their contributions to Austin’s temporary public art display. [Tour repeated from Thursday, some stops may vary from Thursday tour]
7. St. John’s Multipurpose Center
   Visit a truly unique public art at a uniquely collaborative facility. The Community Core Sample Project and The Threshold Project, by Beverly Penn and Steve Wiman, blend neighborhood nuances with artistic vision. At the St. John's Multipurpose Center and J.J. Pickle Elementary School, 40 wall niches creatively filled with found and salvaged objects, as well as 35 marble threshold plaques located throughout the site, honor the history of one of Austin's oldest neighborhoods. This case study will feature a guided tour by the project's architect and the two artists. [Tour repeated from Thursday]
8. Technology and Arts
   Austin is known across the country as Silicon Hills because of its expansive creative community of movers and shakers in the technological arts. Visit the nerve centers of some of the local cutting-edge technologies that are currently being used in the creative industries and fine arts.
9. Cultural Identities in the Arts
   This tour will explore the communal melding of artistic traditions by providing a brief history and overview of one of Austin's oldest and most vibrant ethnic communities. Only recently has East Austin developed into a progressive community art scene that relies on collaborative efforts to nurture its rich existence. Institutions such as the George Washington Carver African-American Museum, the Mexic-Arte Museum, small galleries and workshops, and public art works will be explored.