2022 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Increasing opportunities for BIPOC public artists was a top priority in our 2022 programs and projects. We focused on creating, curating and facilitating opportunities for artists to participate in public art planning, engagement and major public art projects, including bridge designs, mural festivals, state fairs, light rail stops, new housing developments, and more, reaching thousands of people.
11th Street Bridge Park, Washington DC
Commissioning artists and curating public art programming is an important part of any development project and can be challenging. That’s where Forecast's experienced team jumps in to help, like we did for 11th Street Bridge Park.
Forecast led the artist selection process for the 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington, DC. In total, these five projects comprise $520,000 of investment in the local community. Jackson Jarvis Studio was the first public artist commissioned with the artwork, Anacostia’s Sunrise/Sunset Portals (below left), "designed to fascinate and invite discovery of the site and its many gifts,” says DC-based artist Martha Jackson Jarvis. Her collaborator and daughter Njena Surae Jarvis says it will "function as a beacon, a symbol of hope and welcome to the 11th Street Bridge Park community celebrating the historic Anacostia River biome.” Joining the mother-daughter duo selected for the park's first major commission, Jackson Jarvis Studio, announced in spring, the selected artists who will create 4 more artworks tied to the park's design principles and values are all local, all-women artist teams.
LOCAL ARTISTS HIRED
9
PROJECTS COMMISSIONED
5
The Our Land mural by Mickey Demas and Nicole Bourgea (below left) planned for the Navy Yard entrance wall is a reflection of the experience and heritage of those living on and caring for DC’s land. Biophilia by Baltimore artist Becky Borlan (above right) is a sculpture planned to be installed under the Bridge Park span adjacent to the Anacostia River inspired by the native and non-native plant life that grows along the river’s edge. Located in the park’s Hammock Grove, hammocks designed by Rhea Beckett, Syreeta C, and Aliana Grace Bailey (below middle) will reflect the experiences of the community through direct engagement. The Small Business Kiosk (below right) by The River East Design Center (Artists: Anna McCorvey and Sophie Morley) supports the park’s equitable development plan as a multifunctional mobile unit featuring local businesses that can be moved to different locations on the 11th Street Bridge Park and nearby events.
Our team is honored to support transparent, equitable processes for public art reflective of its community. An important part of our work is building local capacity; the local curator we hired, Deirdre Darden, was a key team member throughout the process.
All In Saint Paul, Minnesota
Forecast work to connect artists and designers with an initiative to energize and activate downtown in Minnesota's capital city. A pilot of the Downtown Alliance, ALL IN SAINT PAUL connected local artists with business owners to spark collaboration and creativity by reimagining underused spaces in the city's downtown. Visitors will find artist-designed creative, relaxing, work-friendly spaces.
In one of those spaces, the Saint Paul skyway bridge over Cedar Street, MONARCHES depicts five monarch butterflies in motion. These beautiful invertebrates, famous for their yearly migration from the US and Canada south to California and Mexico, were added to the 2022 US endangered species list. Artist Rock "Cyfi" Martinez aims to draw attention to the critical role monarch butterflies play in our food webs and living ecosystems, and inspire community to join in efforts for monarch protection and conservation.
SPACES REIMAGINED
4
MN State Fair Joyful World Mural Park, Minnesota
This year we continued our relationship with the MN State Fair and curated four new murals for the fair. Attendees loved watching artists Wes Winship, Suyao Tian, Danielle Clifford, and Noah Lawrence-Holder paint #JoyfulMurals live at the Minnesota State Fair in 2022. Their murals join the Joyful World Mural Park collection, which began in 2021 and is now a seasonal attraction at the fairgrounds.
COMMUNITY MEMBERS ENGAGED
50,000
Waco Public Art Plan, Texas
Our team created a new Public Art Strategic Plan for Creative Waco and the City of Waco. A plan gives cities the tools to be more in control of their public art. When we work on public art strategic plans, we hire local artists and meet communities where they are at to find opportunities to support and advance arts and culture for residents and visitors. This time, one of those artists illustrated the plan. Tapping into local resources, we hired Tashita Bibles and Chris McGowan to design and implement pop-up events throughout the city, discuss public art with hundreds of participants in person, and promote our English and Spanish community surveys. Raj Solanki, local comic artist and freelance illustrator, created our graphic visualization of the plan.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPANTS ENGAGED
200+
Chroma Zone 2022, Minnesota
Ten artists left their mark on the growing collection of community murals in Minnesota’s Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) during the return of the Chroma Zone Mural and Art Festival in 2022. Chroma Zone is Minnesota’s largest art and mural festival, produced and located within the CEZ, a city-recognized district of Saint Paul and non-profit dedicated to attracting and supporting creative people and businesses. A part of our role with Chroma Zone is to disrupt the mural festival status quo. In line with our values, we thoughtfully select and recommend artists for walls through the lenses of racial and gender equity.
ARTISTS HIRED
15
The majority of artists in 2022 are Minnesota-based; half are women or non-binary artists, and the majority identify as BIPOC artists. These artists are: Taylor Berman, Jennifer Davis, Jose Dominguez, Maiya Lea Hartman, Votan Henriquez, Hibaaq Ibrahim, Geno Okok, Rodrigo Oñate, Povi Marie, and Joy Spika.
As part of a special Chroma Zone event, Few and Far Women also painted a new mural over five days in June at their Summer Mural Meet (below). Few and Far are an all-women collective comprised of 5 talented graffiti and street artists—Deity, Meme, Keena Azania Roman, Martzia Thometz, and Thomasina TopBear—who beautify the streets with a shared commitment to creativity, education, and social justice.
Top banner image: For the 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington, DC, Biophilia by Baltimore artist Becky Borlan is a planned sculpture inspired by native and non-native plant life. 11th Street Bridge Park: Anacostia's Sunrise/Sunset Portals rendering courtesy Jackson Jarvis Studio / Olin + OMA. MN State Fair Joyful World Mural Park: (clockwise from top left) muralist Wes Winship; muralist Suyao Tian; muralist Danielle Clifford interacts with Fair-goer; muralist Noah Lawrence-Holder paints with assistant Petra Lee; 2022 Fairgoers in front of Leslie Barlow's 2021 mural; children playing; mural park visitors read artist bios. Photos by Drew Arrieta. Waco, Texas: (left to right) Raj Solanki, local comic artist and freelance illustrator, created our graphic visualization of the plan. At Chalk Waco, local artist Tashita Bibles discusses public art with residents. Chroma Zone: (top row, left to right) A Nigerian-American, Geno Okok’s painting focuses on joyful moments and documenting beauty, music, fashion, and grace manifesting in the African spirit; Taylor Berman is a Wisconsin artist and educator whose work consists of aesthetic and functional art forms, from printmaking and mural painting to knife-making and fly-tying;Povi Marie is a Pueblo/Diné woman raised in Tiwa Territory, also known as Albuquerque. Her partner, Votan, is a multifaceted street artist based in LA and Albuquerque. (Middle row, left to right) Jose Dominguez is a Minneapolis-based mixed-media artist & illustrator born in Casa Grande, AZ, and raised in CO, WY, WI, and MN. His early work reflected growing up as a Hispanic in the US and the struggle to find his place; Known for her colorful, imaginative paintings of surreal and whimsical characters, Minneapolis-based Jennifer Davis is a recipient of the 2013 Next Step Fund Grant from the MRAC/McKnight Foundation; Hibaaq Ibrahim is a botanical and abstract muralist in Minneapolis. Born in Sweden, she's moved 20+ times, driving her sense of curiosity and exploration. (Bottom row, left to right) Maiya Lea Hartman is a Painter & Mixed-media artist in Minneapolis and an Artist-In-Residence with the MN African American Heritage Museum and Gallery and the ALVERA apartments in St. Paul; From Queretaro, Mexico, Rodrigo Oñate Roco is self-taught and influenced by the pop culture of the '80s, comics, graffiti & artists representing Mexican art; Joy Spika is a Black-identifying mixed-media artist with a mixed cultural background. With a love for aerosol murals, painting, and textile art, her work incorporates her personal stories. (Bottom banner) Few and Far Women also painted a new mural at their Summer Mural Meet. They beautify the streets with a shared commitment to creativity, education, and social justice.