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The public is invited to view the concept plan for the City Hall Public Art Project and provide comment from March 23-April 6, 2009. The proposal can be found online at the City’s website at www.olympiawa.gov and is also available for view at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. NW, 8am-7pm Monday-Friday, and Saturday from 8am-5pm. The proposal is scheduled to go to the Olympia City Council for final approval on April 14, 2009.

Dan Webb’s proposal for Olympia’s City Hall Public Art Project addresses the many forms of communication that go into building democracy by rendering a series of 10, three-dimensional cast-bronze ‘Speaking Bubble’ icons, and one large ‘Thinking Bubble’ icon. The speaking bubbles suggest that much like communication itself, there is a lot of room between what people say, and what people hear. In the thinking bubble, the artist suggests that a representative democracy is based on the public talking about things amongst themselves, and that despite their clear differences, community talk culminates in coming together in places like the City Hall, and forging a consensus view that is greater than the sum of the parts.

In late 2008, 43 artists applied for the City of Olympia Public Art Project, with a budget of $180,000, part of the City’s 1% for Art Program. After an initial jury on October 7, four artists were short-listed to create a concept plan in response to the chosen architecture and our community, including materials, budget and themes. The original jury reconvened in mid-March and after hearing the four presentations, the jury recommended Dan Webb’s proposal be forwarded to the Olympia Arts Commission.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Johnson, Arts & Events Manager at 360/709-2678, or sjohnso1@ci.olympia.wa.us.