Three local public art projects receive national awards

PORTLAND, ORE — Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, recently honored 31 of the most outstanding public art projects in the country last year, including three projects from Portland administered by the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC).  The awards were announced in Chicago, Illinois on June 11 and were chosen from more than 300 works completed in 2014.

The honored projects include:

  • This All Happened More or Less by Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davison SE Division Street
  • Westmoreland Nature Play, in which artist  Adam Kuby worked with Greenworks Landscape Architects
  • The Rippling Wall by artist David Franklin at Portland Fire Station 21
    The Rippling Wall

    The Rippling Wall

All 31 public art works that received honors can be seen here. The awards were selected by AFTA’s Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review program, the only national program that recognizes the nation’s most compelling public art.

Westmoreland Nature Play

Westmoreland Nature Play

“The best of public art can challenge, delight, educate and illuminate. Most of all, public art creates a sense of civic vitality in the cities, towns, and communities we inhabit and visit,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “As these selections illustrate, public art has the power to enhance our lives on a scale that little else can. I congratulate the artists and commissioning groups for these community treasures, and I look forward to honoring more great works in the years to come.”

The Public Art Network (PAN), a program of Americans for the Arts, is designed to provide services to the diverse field of public art and to develop strategies and tools to improve communities through public art. The network’s constituents are public art professionals, visual artists, design professionals, and communities and organizations planning public art projects and programs.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, it has a record of more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.