Sarasota, FL:
The City of Sarasota launched a website providing detailed
information about the City’s public art collection,
including the artist, medium, location and photographs of
each piece. The site can be visited at: www.sarasotagov.com/PublicArt
The website offers a variety of ways to learn
about the 40 pieces in the City’s public art collection.
You can look at the full collection by medium, artist or location.
“People will find this very user friendly,” said
Bill Mallett, City of Sarasota Webmaster. “You can select
a piece of art and go to a page with comprehensive detail
about the work, the artist and a Google map link, so you can
locate the piece in person for viewing. Images are posted
of each piece and they can be enlarged simply by clicking
on them,” said Mallett.
The website was created following a $10,000
donation by a Sarasota resident who requested that the funds
be used to pay for a college intern as well as a professional
photographer to collect data and document the City’s
public art collection. Once those materials were gathered,
the City’s Webmaster pulled them together and designed
the website.
Searching by medium, you will discover there are a dozen different
mediums in the City’s public art collection, with bronze
being the most common. Each piece is linked to more information.
For example, clicking on a bronze sculpture entitled “The
Butterfly Lady”, you will see several photographs
of the piece, along with the dimensions, the artist and his
available biographical information, the date it was acquired
by the City of Sarasota, and where it is located including
a link to a Google map.
A search by artist yields the names and biographical
information of those who have pieces included in the City’s
collection, plus links to those pieces. Which artist has the
most artwork within the City’s collection? Jack Cartlidge
with eight.
You can easily map a personal walking tour
of the City’s public art collection, since the full
collection is now categorized into locations: Bayfront, City
Hall, Downtown,
St. Armands and various other locations. Just click a link
to view a detailed Google map indicating where each piece
is situated.
The website also provides information about
Call to Artists as well as dates and times when the Public
Art Committee meets.
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