Snowmass Village is adding to its art collection after Town Council agreed to continue with a piece commissioned for the Town Park Station area.<\/p>\n
After sorting through nearly 80 applications this spring, the Snowmass Art Advisory Board told council July 1 they liked the piece \u201cIce Cubes\u201d by New York-based sculpture Joe McDonnell, who has similar installations around the country.<\/p>\n
The Snowmass piece is a series of clear cubes that will be stacked 12 feet high, 16 feet wide and 8 feet deep, according to the current design. SAAB board member Katherine Bell said the polyurethane cubes would be arranged to complement the surrounding landscape.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would form the shape of the mountains with tumbling movement and sweeping landscape,\u201d Bell told council, adding it would be \u201cfitting in the winter, and unexpected in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The choice was lauded by the four councilmembers in attendance (Bill Madsen was absent).<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have to figure out where the rest of the money comes from,\u201d Mayor Markey Butler said after the presentation and consensus. \u201cThat will be another day.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was conversation about the maintenance \u2014 which the board said would be about every four years by public works and at a low cost and cleaning with mainly soap and water \u2014 and if it would create a glare or distraction for drivers on Brush Creek Road.<\/p>\n
Bell said McDonnell addressed that in the proposal and said the cubes will be more opaque and the shine factor would be \u201ctaken down.\u201d He is willing to work on the cubes\u2019 arrangement and is \u201cflexible to suggestions,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n
The council in February committed as much as $100,000 for a piece, and they previously budgeted $60,000 in the 2019 town budget for arts projects. The McDonnell piece is estimated at $99,200 for artist\u2019s costs and installation.<\/p>\n
Town staff next will work on a contract with McDonnell. Community Development Director Julie Ann Woods said the \u201cIce Cubes\u201d piece could be installed as early as the fall, according to McDonnell. It would take McDonnell two to three months to create and four to five days to install.<\/p>\n
One of advisory board\u2019s three finalists, McDonnell wrote in his proposal that the \u201ccube compositions began in 1991, and since then I have created over 200 cube sculptures in various materials.\u201d<\/p>\n
His series has clear cubes in different sizes and settings, including floating in pools, cascading like a waterfall and stacked in a pyramid.<\/p>\n
He said it started for a client who wanted a \u201cquirky sculpture for her desert residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Butler expressed her appreciation for the board\u2019s work, especially coming after the controversial sculpture<\/a> that was gifted to the town and is displayed in the roundabout near Town Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cI do want to applaud the committee. This committee has been through some very difficult times with our last piece of donated art, and it was tough,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cThis group continued to persevere and work through it. You\u2019ve worked very, very hard to work through a policy and a procedure.\u201d<\/p>\n