MINUTES

MARKHAM PUBLIC ART ADVISORY COMMITTEE

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

Meeting No. 9

 

 

PRESENT                                                             REGRETS                    

 

Members

Matthew Korchinski, Chair

Salim Manji

Stefania Pflugbeil

 

Staff

Francine Périnet, Director, Varley Art Gallery

John Ryerson, Director of Culture

Bev Shugg Barbeito, Committee Secretary

Regrets

Peter Farot

Judi McIntyre

Alina Tarbhai

 

Linda Irvine, Manager, Parks & Open Spaces

 

Guests

Janet Reid, Curator, Markham Museum

Heather McKeown, Custodial Assistant, Markham Museum

 

 

The Markham Public Art Advisory Committee was called to order at 5:50 pm with Matthew Korchinski  presiding as Chair. The meeting was held at the Markham Museum so Committee members might visually assess possible placement sites there for the potential public art project.

 

 

1.   CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

 

The agenda was accepted with the following additions:

      -  Town of Markham request for feedback from Committee members

      -  Markham East Theatre Project

 

 

 

2.      ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE MARKHAM PUBLIC ART ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING ON OCTOBER 13, 2010

 

It was

 

Moved by             Salim Manji

Seconded by         Stefania Pflugbeil

 

THAT the minutes of the Markham Public Art Advisory Committee held on October 13, 2010 be adopted as distributed.

                                                                                          CARRIED

 

3.      BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

 

A)  TACC Developments

     

      No report was available.

 

B) Public Art Project - Markham Museum

 

Francine Périnet, Director, Varley Art Gallery, discussed the parameters of the project: the budget is $60,000 which will cover fees for artists' proposals, the artist's fees for the successful project, all production costs and contingency funds. Given this information, Committee members discussed possible project themes and placement with Janet Reid, Curator, and Heather McKeown, Custodial Assistant, of the Markham Museum.

 

Ms. Reid advised that the Markham Museum presents the story of Markham's settlement from the European period to the present; she noted that Markham was not a major location of First Nations' settlements. She would not recommend placing many restrictions on the artists, feeling that would give them more freedom to develop creative proposals.  It was suggested that a kinetic piece might work well. Possible themes might include mapping, pottery - a major theme at the Museum, or the settlement story.

 

The Committee then discussed possible placement locations for the art project since placement of the piece is very important relative to the architecture of the building and surrounding landscape. Ms. Reid advised that the Committee could consider mounting a piece outside on one of three massive indented panels in the building wall facing Markham Road. However, outside art brings with it issues relating to durability, maintenance and prevention of vandalism. Ms. Reid also advised that placing the piece inside might be possible but there is limited available floor space and a limit of 50 pounds for items hanging from the ceiling. One possibility to consider might be the decoration of the cement elevator shaft.

 

 

 

 

Committee members toured the new Markham Museum building, still under construction. After the tour, committee members agreed that the idea of decorating the cement elevator shaft had merit.

 

Francine Périnet reviewed the next steps for Committee members. She and John Ryerson will develop and finalize the Request for Proposal, with pictures, so that it might be submitted for review to the Town of Markham Council. Then the RFP will be published; it will be flexible enough to permit choice among artists to allow the Committee to match the affinity of the artist to the theme and placement of the piece of art. Ms. Périnet recommended the following process to select the artist: first, artists will be invited to submit expressions of interest with no payment; then a smaller number would be asked to further develop their ideas and would be given a nominal amount to do so; finally, one idea would be selected and the artist would be paid to produce the piece of art. Committee members agreed that this process would work well.

 

C) Ideas to promote Committee activities

 

Stefania Pflugbeil briefly reviewed the ideas, presented at the October meeting, that the Committee might consider for promoting its activities. She will email the document to Committee members so that the Committee might discuss the ideas at the next meeting.

 

4.   NEW  BUSINESS

 

A) Town Of Markham Request for Committee Feedback

 

In October, the Town of Markham requested input from all Committee members on the Committee mandate and operations, in order to provide staff and the new Town of Markham Council with feedback on the effectiveness of its current boards/committees. Committee members were reminded the Town hoped to receive their feedback by the end of November.

 

B) Markham East Project

 

John Ryerson, Director of Culture, reported that he is following up with Gary Adamkowski , Project Manager, on the progress of the project.

 

 

5.   NEXT MEETING DATE

 

      The next meeting of the Markham Public Art Advisory Committee will be held on

      January  12, 2011 at 5:45 p.m. in the Ontario Room. 

 

 

6.   ADJOURNMENT

 

      The Markham Public Art Advisory Committee meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.