Agency issues ‘call to artists’ to spruce up Vallejo structure

SolTrans has renovated its operations and maintenance building in Vallejo. Now the agency wants a piece of public art to improve the appearance of the structure, Mona Babauta, executive director, said.

“SolTrans is placing ‘A Call to Artists’ for a public art work commission opportunity,” Babauta said in a news release Thursday.

“This is such an incredible opportunity for our local art community,” Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said.

“I am very proud to be serving on the SolTrans Board, and I am very excited to be able to participate on the selection panel,” Patterson said.

Jess Malgapo, Vallejo’s vice mayor, agreed.

“The call to artists will ultimately lead to the selection of artwork that expresses the mission and vision of SolTrans through the eyes, heart and soul of the artist who will be chosen to create it,” Malgapo said.

“The artwork will be proudly displayed at the entrance of the building,” he said, adding that he’s excited to be serving the community as a director on the SolTrans Board and member of the selection panel.

Celeste Smeland is the chairperson of the evaluation committee, which will be made up of SolTrans Board members, a National Express Transit employee, a member of the SolTrans administration, a volunteer representing the local arts community and a SolTrans Public Advisory Committee member.

“One of the most exciting aspects of this new call to artists is that the SolTrans facility has many promising opportunities for art,” Smeland said. “This is just the beginning to a creative relationship between SolTrans and the communities they serve, and I am pleased to be part of this process.”

Among the criteria the evaluation committee will use are overall artistic experience, visual appeal of the sample artwork and experience in completing similar types of projects.

After the number of artists is narrowed, SolTrans employees — including contract workers — and board members will be included in the final selection, based on artistic quality and originality; context and appropriateness; diversity in addressing issues of race, age, style and media of the art; feasibility for budget, time and probability of success; and design and construction, including fabrication of the installation, durability, resistance to vandalism and long-term maintenance and artistic appeal.

SolTrans was created in 2010 under a joint powers agreement among Benicia, Vallejo and the Solano Transportation Authority.

“SolTrans is a relatively young agency,” Malgapo said, but it “continues to experience significant growth with the acquisition of the Curtola Parkway park-and-ride facility and the renovation and expansion of the operations and maintenance building at 1850 Broadway.”

The operations and maintenance building is scheduled to reopen next month, and SolTrans employees will announce the public art finalists at that time, Malgapo said.

Artwork will be chosen to be installed at the front entrance wall and in other public areas of the building. Funding for the art is coming from state grants, Babauta said.

Qualified artists should live in Benicia or Vallejo, though if there isn’t sufficient response, SolTrans may look beyond those two cities.

The suggested theme of the art is the SolTrans mission of delivering safe, reliable and efficient transportation that links people, jobs and communities.

Art for the front entrance wall can be photographs, paintings, murals, mosaics or a combination of visual arts thin enough to hang on the 8-foot-square wall. That wall has been strengthened to hold up to 100 pounds per linear foot, Babauta said.

Though the agency’s priority is to procure art for the entrance wall, she said, artists also may be commissioned to provide art for the walls in the conference and training rooms and other public areas within and surrounding the building, including hallway walls, the customer service area and the front lawn, where an artistic monument might be mounted.

SolTrans may ask artists to produce art for permanent placement, or may establish a rotating gallery of art pieces for those spaces. The number of artists chosen will depend on the availability of funding, Babauta said, but the agency currently anticipates selecting up to two finalists to produce complete works or installation.

Up to five finalists will be chosen from the pool of qualified artists to complete a preliminary design for the final public art installation or installations, and each finalist will be paid an honorarium of $1,000 for labor and supplies.

The finalist whose work is chosen for the entrance wall will be paid $7,000 for the completed public art and installation. Payment for any other pieces of art will be determined later, Babauta said.

Artists will retain copyright of their artwork and ownership of their paper design artwork once the overall project is finished, she said.

SolTrans will own the rights of unlimited use of the artwork for use in promotions and public relations. In addition, the agency will have the right to remove the art piece in case of severe damage, vandalism or at the end of seven years. It also can move any artwork within the building or to another SolTrans building open to the public.

Artists must submit a one-page letter of interest and contact information, including the person’s name, address, telephone number and email address; and a resume with artistic qualifications and up to 10 digital images of original work representative of the artist’s body of works. Each image must have the artist’s name, the artwork’s title and dimensions and the date. Another one-page description of the submitted digital images should have the work’s title, media, size and date.

Deadline to submit is noon Sept. 14. Finalists are expected to be announced at the building’s ribbon cutting, which is expected to take place by Sept. 22. Preliminary designs are due from the finalists Oct. 30, and selection of up to two artists might be made by Nov. 20. The final work should be installed no later than March 2016. Unveiling the artwork will be organized by SolTrans.

Submissions must be emailed to Suzanne Fredricksen, SolTrans board clerk, at suzanne@soltransride.com. Those sending digital images exceeding 20 megabytes need to contact her for an FTP address and instructions for uploading those images. Questions may be emailed to her or artists may call 707-736-6990.