The site-specific, public art project called “Mental Banquet: Painting with Lights” was created in 2018 by the artist Oyoram (aka Yorame Mevorach). This temporary public art project launched a new art form in Iowa. The artist developed the music score in collaboration with Rhakeem Alpoe (aka Shaquille Phillips), Jack Gallup and Melvin Veach. Oyoram used 3D video mapping technology to push …
Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation was proud to partner with the Des Moines Area Regional Transit (DART) Authority to unveil the sixth art bus design by Jordan J. Weber. The public unveiling event was in conjunction with the opening of the 2017 Des Moines Arts Festival on June 23 in Western Gateway Park. The bus was exhibited on Locust …
In Des Moines for two days in late-September 2016 an international-touring, inflatable sculpture called In Search of the Truth (The Truth Booth) was installed. It worked like a classic photo booth. But instead of taking still pictures, this interactive artwork in the shape of a giant speech bubble captured 2-minute long video segments of everyone willing to share their thoughts and opinions …
This project called “Splatter” by artist Brent Holland was the fifth public art bus wrap commissioned by the Greater Des Mpoines Public ASrt Foundation. The bus was unveiled at the Valley Junction Fall Gallery Night on Friday, 14 October 2016. Created for the people of Greater Des Moines, Holland transformed a large transit bus into a traveling canvas. Des Moines …
The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation and the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority unveiled artist Larassa Kabel’s public art bus wrap on Friday, June 24 at the Des Moines Arts Festival. The project is part of the Public Art Foundation’s Project Spaces initiative, which places compelling, temporary works of art in highly accessible and visible public spaces. Artist …
SWITCH was a project by M12 Studio, and the third piece in a trilogy exploring equine culture in rural America. Members of M12 Studio, Matthew Fluharty, Daniel Martinez, Richard Saxton, and David Wyrick collaborated on the Des Moines installation. On view from 11 through 21 August 2016, this temporary public artwork overlapped between two public spaces in Des Moines, Iowa. The Des Moines project …
On 17 March 2016, the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation (GDMPAF), in partnership with the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART), unveiled the a public art bus wrap by artists Susan Chrysler White during the Hoops & Hops special event in downtown Des Moines. The unveiling location was Cowles Commons, 221 Walnut Street, in downtown Des Moines, IA (West of …
The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation’s ProjectSPACES initiative, in partnership with the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART), unveiled Jay Vigon’s public art bus wrap at the 2015 Des Moines Arts Festival in June 2015. The bus wrap is the second of four planned public art bus wraps featuring artists’ one-of-a- kind designs. “In the spirit of the Public …
The dimensions of the untitled sculpture by Julius Schmidt are 72 inches diameter and 48 inches high. Schmidt took enormous care with the materials he used, so that it appears as vital as the skin of a human being. The composition portrays several interlocking pieces. The parts instead fit together subtly and naturally, creating a balance of different, sometimes opposing elements …
The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation’s Project Spaces initiative, in partnership with the Des Moines Area Regional Transit (DART) Authority, commissioned the artist Alex Brown to create a unique design to wrap around a large transit bus. The overall dimensions in feet are (Height) 11 x (Width) 40 x (Depth) 8. Alex Brown’s design for a bus relies on …
In the video below, PAINTALLICA artist Jamie Boling looks at the group’s 2014 art installation. A plethora of information composed of popular images of the Iowa State Fair (corn dog, tractors, and Midway amusements), the “Danis” character is introduced, along with colorful interpretations of historic circus and carnival images. Through its Project Spaces temporary art program, the Greater Des Moines …
[December 2013], in the dead of winter, Weber began painting Louis Vuitton logos on a boarded-up house at 15th Street and University Avenue. Within about four minutes, the building’s owner pulled up beside him. “He was like, ‘What are you doing here?’ ” Weber said. “Because there’s a history with people chilling and doing whatever kind of drug in that …
For this temporary public art project, the artist bundled 10-foot boards near the wavy retaining wall on the south side of the Meredith Corporation lawn, along the Locust Street sidewalk. It stood about 16 inches tall, like a bench or a low table. In a 6 September 2012 article by The Des Moines Register art critic Michael Morain wrote that …
For the 2013 State Fair, Rice’s large-scale installation visualizes a pattern and the movement of colors. It is printed on a continuous vinyl surface with overall dimensions of 8 by 84 feet. “The artist designed vertical bands of changing color and developed a back-and-forth motion of lightness and darkness. The pattern becomes a rhythm across its surface,” said M. Jessica …
This project was archived in 2018. Below is a historical commentary. In May 2012, celebrated artist Alice Aycock was the finalist for the 6th Avenue Bridge public art project in Des Moines, Iowa. She was selected through a vigorous public art process. The Public Art Foundation (“PAF” ) convened a community nine-member jury who reviewed and evaluated applications from 123 …
James Turrell’s light tunnels and light projections that create shapes that seem to have mass and weight, though they are created with only light. His work The Last Breath consists of a room that appears to have a blank canvas on display, but the “canvas” is actually a rectangular hole in the wall, lit to look otherwise. Turrell’s works defy the …
The Greater Des Public Art Foundation awarded $20,000 to the 6th Avenue Corridor to support the early integration of art in the streetscape improvement planning process. Artist Chaden Halfhill was selected to work with a team and develop ideas. Rather than designing individual works of art, Halfhill considered the broader role that art will play as it is integrated though …
Tony Cragg’s Order combines two motifs-the three-lobed body of a trilobite (a marine fossil) and a vessel from a laboratory. Cragg uses a plethora of materials and references for his sculpture, reduced here to a pair of simple primordial forms, but with a wider message. In their original state, trilobites may be around 4 cm in length; seen under the microscope. …