Benicia City Council will hear two requests Tuesday from the Arts and Culture Commission that would put more artwork on display in the city.
The first recommendation would place two pieces of art by the late Julius Hatofsky in Benicia Public Library.
The second would allow the temporary display of art by Mark Brest van Kempen, who will have a residency in Benicia underwritten by a Creative Work Fund grant.
Hatofsky, an Ellenville, N.Y. native, has been described as one of the most accomplished painters of his generation, library Director Diane Smikahl wrote in a Aug. 17 report.
He studied at the Art Students League of New York; the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, France; and the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts in New York. He started painting in New York in the 1950s and moved to San Francisco in 1961 to teach painting and drawing at the San Francisco Art Institute. He retired in 1995 and died in 2006 in Vallejo.
His works are among their permanent collections of the Whitney Museum in New York, N.Y.; Neuberger Museum in Purchase, N.Y.; Kalamazoo Museum in Kalamazoo, Mich.; Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Ga.; and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga.
After Hatosfky’s death, a member of the Arts and Culture Commmission asked the Public Art Committee to determine if his estate would donate a painting or allow one to be displayed on a long-term loan. Linda Hatosfky, the late artist’s widow, agreed Benicia could borrow one or more pieces.
The Public Art Committee established an Art Selection Committee comprised of Patty Gavin, Kerry Carney, Jacquie Dubois, Larnie Fox, Jan Radesky, Karen Schlump and Lee Wilder Snider to view Hatofsky’s works. It chose “Wave” and “Untitled No. 139,” two large-scale works that need distance for viewing, Smikahl wrote. The library’s beams have been suggested as a place for optimal viewing, she wrote.
Building Maintenance Director Rick Knight has obtained the specifications needed to display the two art pieces, she wrote.
Smikahl wrote that the commission has asked the Council to accept Hatofsky’s works and to authorize City Manager Brad Kilger to approve documents needed to put them on display.
The commission also will ask the Council to approve installation of the first piece of temporary art by Brest van Kempen on the First Street Green.
Smikahl wrote Sept. 25 that Arts Benicia received a grant from Creative Work Fund to provide a residency for the artist that includes developing a series of temporary, Benicia waterfront site-specific installations that would last three months.
“There is no direct cost to the city; however, coordination with Arts Benicia and Mr. Brest van Kempen will require a modest amount of staff time,” she wrote.
Each of the three temporary installations would illustrate different aspects of the site, such as history, ecology and hydrology, she wrote. The displays will be accompanied by public events that reflect the art piece’s topic.
The project is designed to parallel activities under way under the Urban Waterfront Enhancement and Master Plan, Smikahl wrote.
When the exhibits are complete, documentation of the displays will be shown in a culminating installation at Arts Benicia, she added.
The first installation will focus on stormwater issues that could be addressed in such permanent designs as rain gardens when the waterfront is developed, she wrote.
“The piece will be a scaled-down working model demonstrating what bio-filtration does,” Smikahl wrote. “It will show some benefits of both a constructed element, such as a rain garden, and also what the nearby wetlands are doing every day.”
Water brought in from local creeks and runoff sites will trickle over wetland plants and be collected in a covered container. “The water may be recirculated through the wetland several times using a solar pump,” she wrote. “A solar panel will be used to recirculate the water from a catchment tank under the piece.”
Not only is the art piece expected to teach how plants filtrate water, it’s also expected to draw attention to the state of water that flows into the Carquinez Strait, Smikahl wrote.
She added that minor safety concerns and upkeep have been addressed by city employees.
Brest van Kempen has received commissions for permanent art projects in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Seattle and by the Haas Foundation. He has been the artist in residence in the Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin, and is a California Arts Council Fellowship recipient. He has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, the California College of the Arts and Stanford University.
Dates for the first display have not been set, and the city would retain the right to have the exhibit removed.
In other business, the Council will consider approving the dedication of the 1,700 feet of Bay Area Ridge Trail that is along East Fifth Street from Military East to East H Street in a ceremony at the southwest corner of East Fifth and East L streets at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 3.
Also Tuesday, Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will request that the panel consider scheduling a study session to review the mission and structure of the Traffic, Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Committee.
It also will consider extending its contracts with Carbon Lighthouse, TEAA, Greentraks and Touchstone, the consulting firms that make resource assessments, monitor projects and package loans associated with the Business Resource Incentive Program. The contract extensions are to be underwritten through an allocation of $500,000 from the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement fund.
Carbon Lighthouse’s contract would not exceed $65,000; TEAA’s wouldn’t exceed $25,000; Greentraks wouldn’t exceed $26,000, and Touchstone’s wouldn’t exceed $15,000.
The Council also will hear the September water report that indicates Benicia has reduced its water consumption by 18 percent since January and 21.5 percent since March, compared to its use last year.
The Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in closed session to discuss labor and legal matters. The regular meeting will start at 7 Tuesday night in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St.
Leave a Reply