About Percent for Art for Public Art

On July 1, 2006, Kingsport's Board of Mayor and Aldermen established a funding mechanism or "Percent for Art for Public Art." According to the ordinance, "Public Art in the City of Kingsport may be funded from the Capital Improvement Plan. The Public Art Reserve Fund may receive fully .75%percent  of eligible capital improvement projects at the time construction is initiated.  Up to .5% of eligible CIP shall be used for the selection, design and development of works of public art with priority given to the particular CIP site generating funds and .25% of eligible CIP will go to the public art fund for maintenance of the city's public art as well as the marketing and education of the public with regards to the program." 

The first "Percent for Art" project was the installation of a safari-themed mural on all four sides of the Riverview Splashpad bathhouse.

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Current Percent for Art Request for Proposals

Installation in April 2010  Higher Education Center Signature Piece  

"Learning Curve"  artist Lynn Basa

Lynn Basa from Chicago, Illinois will work with area craftsmen to construct a pavilion featuring a sun shade.  The site-specific work will feature traditional materials manufactured in Kingsport as well as some of the newest of products from Kingsport's Eastman Chemical Company.  The piece references the path of our community and each individual as we learn and grow.  The sun shade will also feature the plan of the city as created in the early 20th century by noted planner John Nolen.

 

Installation in April 2010  Community Art Project

"Bird of a Feather"  aritst Patti Lawrence

Kingsport artist Patti Lawrence will use recyclable PET bottles in the creation of a mobile depicting a flock of birds.  The community is invited to collaborate with the artist in creating birds with recycled material.  When completed, a dazzling, colorful mobile of swirling translucent birds will inhabit the atrium of the building, reflecting jewel tones of light throughout the space and transforming it into a magical aviary. Lawrence will create the birds from recycled plastic containers which is in-keeping with the building’s environmentally advanced LEED certification.  Lawrence will suspend the birds as a mobile in the 3-story atrium. Lawrence explains, “The old adage, ‘Birds of a feather…’ comes to mind, and yet we see in the mobile that different birds can ‘flock together’ in a cohesive community, each individual being beautiful on its own, yet becoming more important as part of the whole.  The symbolism of the birds as us combines Kingsport’s history as a bird sanctuary and its present and future as a place that many have migrated to from other parts of the country and the world.”

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