KAILUA-KONA — The new courthouse in Kona will be more than just a block of buildings, as the state is searching for sculptors to bring the area to life. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA — The new courthouse in Kona will be more
KAILUA-KONA — The new courthouse in Kona will be more than just a block of buildings, as the state is searching for sculptors to bring the area to life.
The program, directed by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, comes as the groundbreaking for the budgeted $90 million judicial building draws near.
The first step to finding out which piece will grace the new building will establishing a qualified pool of artists, said Trisha Lagaso Goldberg, project manager of the Art in Public Places Program. From that pool, the art committee will select a number of people who will be ranked and, finally, a recommendation for the artist, or artists, will be made.
The budget to augment the highly anticipated facility is $150,000.
So what’s the new art going to look like?
It’s impossible to say because no one knows what the artists will create, Goldberg said, or what the committee will select.
The requirements do give some indication — the pieces must be durable, so something made out of wood or party balloons is out. It also must be freestanding and will likely be installed after the building is completed but before it is open to the public in spring 2019.
The goal is to have work at the site that “contributes to the well-being of staff and community,” according to the request for qualifications.
Similar projects have included the Hoolana at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, a hammered copper sheet suggestive of Hawaiian sailing canoes, along with the Hoolilo at Waimea High School, a lava, bronze and stainless steel that is described by the foundation as “an assemblage of stocky menehune-like forms involved in a group effort related to the legend of the menehune.”
The group is looking for artists with ties to Hawaii, whether it was growing up on the islands, training there or by making a “signifigant impact in Hawaii” through their work.
Applications are due by July 3 to Lagaso Goldberg, with fuller details available on the Foundation’s website.
Online: https://sfca.hawaii.gov/art-in-public-places/commissioned-works-of-art/rfq-kona-judiciary-complex/
