MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE  

Request for Proposals 

Eagle River Elementary School 

Public Art Program | Public Works  

PO Box 196650 

Anchorage, AK  99519-6650 

(907) 343-6473  

Eagle River Elementary School 

Deadline for Entries: April 15, 2022 11:59 PM MST 

Contact: Curator of Public Art, 1% for Art, (907) 343-6473 

Amount of Commission: $67,000 divided between three separate locations - Location 1: $14,000; Location 2: $24,000; Location 3: $29,000 

Eligibility: Open Entry 

Code 

In accordance with Municipal Code 7.40, the Municipality of Anchorage is inviting qualified artists to create public artwork proposals for Eagle River Elementary School, located in Eagle River, Alaska.   

Project Information  

The installation of artwork will be coordinated with the Curator of Public Art and the Anchorage School District facility management.  

Site Description 

The Art Selection Jury intends to commission three separate art installations totaling $67,000 to be permanently installed throughout the school. Location 1 ($14,000) consists of a dark brown anodized wall on the interior of the school’s main entry; location 2 ($24,000) entails the entry ramp leading to the Music classroom; location 3 ($29,000) encompasses the school’s south hallway corridor that leads to the school Library. All three locations are interior, high foot traffic areas. Proposals should take into consideration durability and safety of tactile and textured surfaces.  

Eagle River Elementary School offers a pre-K through 6th grade program and an Open Optional K-6 program for 302 students. Past additions and renovations to Eagle River Elementary School have resulted in the addition of the public art installation: Mountain Landscape, a painted aluminum relief mural by Nancy Taylor Stonington located on the north and east facing exterior walls. 

Eagle River Elementary School is located at 10900 Old Eagle River Rd, Eagle River, AK 99577. 

Locations 

Location 1:  

Entry Vestibule: $14,000 

This location is within the main entry of the school, just outside the office area. The area available for artwork proposals is limited to the anodized, dark brown, corrugated metal wall. There is a wall-to-wall, wooden bench in front of the location identified for art. Students and parents regularly wait in this area before and after school. Proposals should consider the height of a sitting adult for design and placement of artwork as well as durability of materials. 

For this area, the Art Selection jury would like to see representations of or responses to the school mascot, the Eagle. Proposals should be welcoming, vibrant, and bright – artwork incorporating, responding to, or integrating light are encouraged. Artwork in this area must be composed of durable materials.   

Location images can be found at the following link:  

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ew9jzhpfvevq3sj/AAC0D_hlRfHKXfqNWqmywqRNa?dl=0 

All dimensions are approximate 

Location 2:  

Music Room Entry Ramp: $24,000 

This location consists of an ADA access entry ramp to the Music room that passes around a 90-degree corner. The Art Selection Jury would like to see proposals that consider utilization of or integration with one or more of the following elements in the area: the wall to the right of the ramp, the ramp’s railing, and the floor of the ramp. 

For this area, the Art Selection jury is interested in seeing proposals that respond to the progression of student development in music education from pre-K through 6th grade, with an emphasis on inclusion and diversity. Students’ musical journey at Eagle River Elementary begins with the development of young voices and ends with band and orchestra instruments. While artwork proposals may be any variety of two-dimensional, low relief, interactive, sculptural, or other media explorations, there is interest in seeing art that incorporates safe, tactile, & textural surfaces. 

*Note - Artwork integration cannot impede function and/or access to the ADA ramp. 

Location images can be found at the following link:  

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8mgcxfeyjc6g30s/AADr5wvlYmtrMZ6D440ufCS9a?dl=0  

All dimensions are approximate 

Location 3:  

South Corridor: $29,000 

The identified hallway area leads to the school library and contains both an ADA access ramp as well as wall-mounted ski racks. The jury is interested in seeing proposals that utilize the entire space and consider integration with the functional elements (access ramp railing and ski racks) as well as the wall areas. Proposals for artwork integrated with or mounted from the floors and ceiling will not be considered. 

The Art Selection Jury is interested in seeing proposals that reference the natural landscape of the surrounding Eagle River area through an educational lens. Suggested areas of exploration include but are not limited to representations of the hydrological cycle, local geological features, and biodiversity specific to the Chugach mountains. Proposals that incorporate or reimagine the functional elements in the space and/or introduce tactile and textural surfaces as part of the overall design are encouraged.  

*Note  

Artwork integration cannot impede function and/or access to the ski racks, or ADA ramp. 

Existing vinyl imagery may be removed if impacting artwork proposal. 

Location images can be found at the following link:  

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jvg9pr28d13ucsl/AAAkZYTRZa662faAk6t4BtJLa?dl=0 

All dimensions are approximate 

All proposals must be durable and take into consideration the movement of foot traffic around the artwork. 

The Art Selection Jury is interested in seeing proposals from artists or artist teams and encourages artists to submit proposals for more than one location.  

Themes 

The overarching themes discussed by the Art Selection Jury, for all proposals, focus on encouragement of student development & growth, through educational inspiration for critical thinking, while being colorful, vibrant, & playful. The jury is interested in the use of supplemental educational materials that help communicate the commissioned artwork concepts to elementary students. Proposals drawing connection to the vibrant natural environment of Eagle River within this context are highly encouraged.  

Requirements 

There are no restrictions on style or the design of the artwork, but the proposal must provide assurance that the artwork will be durable and routine maintenance requirements will be minimal.  Also, surplus materials (2%) will be required for future maintenance needs, if appropriate. The installation must be permanent and must be designed to last the life of the building. This is an earthquake area and needs to meet standards in the IBC 2018 building code as amended by the Municipality of Anchorage. All commissioned artwork is subject to municipal permitting requirements, and any such requirements must be met prior to artwork installation. 

Artists are required to submit the following items:  

1. Six digital images from your artist portfolio should be loaded into CaFE (callforentry.org) following the guidelines on that site. 

2. Each image should be identified with title, materials, dimensions, and value.  

3. Current 1-2 page resume, including 3 professional references. 

4. Your artist statement should include a description of why you are interested in or particularly qualified for this project. Your statement should also address any experience or work sample deficiencies in relation to your chosen medium.  

5.  A brief conceptual proposal which identifies location, medium, and thematic relevance. 

Budget  

The total budget for the artwork during this renovation is $67,000 for three separate project locations: $14,000 for location 1, $24,000 for location 2, and $29,000 for location 3. Budgets are to cover all costs associated with the commissioning of artwork, including but not limited to design, fabrication, transportation, installation, photographic documentation, catalog documentation and an identifying plaque.  Any permitting, or engineer fees required must be paid by the artist. Any structural or engineer fees for approved structure modifications, must be paid by artist. State laws related to public construction, including licensing, insurance, bonding, and payment of prevailing wage rates, may apply. 

Selection Criteria: 

Artists will be selected to develop proposals with the project team based on: 

Artistic Merit as evidenced by representation of relevant past work in images.   

Appropriateness of the artist’s medium, style and previous experience in relation to the project goals and setting. 

Experience with projects of a similar scale and scope including familiarity with the public art process, the public review approval process, and/or collaboration with high schools, design agencies, and art selection juries.   

Artists must have good communication skills and be able to work with diverse community members.  

The program goal to reflect a diversity of artists and media through representation of new and traditional artforms practiced in local, regional, national, and international arts communities in a range of style, scale, media, form, and intent. Artists with no prior public art experience will be seriously considered.  Artists with strong bodies of work, with little public art background are encouraged to apply and will be given equal consideration.   

Art Selection Jury 

Eagle River Elementary School Principal, Dawn Campbell represents the user facility on the Art Selection Jury; Victor Valenote, Principal Architect with BDS Architects, represents the design seat on the jury; former school Principal Lisa Lansdale represents the community along with 50 year Eagle River resident and former Eagle River Elementary teacher, Elsie “Lois” Lester; John Bruns, a municipal employee and former Eagle River Elementary student and Miller Katzenberg, municipal employee with the Department of Maintenance and Operations, represent the Municipality of Anchorage; and Carol Turner is an artist and educator with the Anchorage School District. Gideon Gerlt is the Curator of Public Art and Nicholas Bell is the school’s renovation Project Manager, for the Anchorage School District. 

Additional Information  

Requests for additional information may be directed to the Curator of Public Art, Municipality of Anchorage, Department of Public Works.  The telephone number is (907) 343-6473; the FAX number is (907) 249-7567. The Public Art Program for the Municipality of Anchorage can be found on the web at: 

https://www.muni.org/Departments/Public_Works_Administration/PublicArt/Pages/default.aspx 

Application Requirements

There are no restrictions on style or the design of the artwork, but the proposal must provide assurance that the artwork will be durable and routine maintenance requirements will be minimal.  Also, surplus materials (2%) will be required for future maintenance needs, if appropriate. The installation must be permanent and must be designed to last the life of the building.

Eligibility Criteria

Open Entry