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Downtown Art Installation Brings Together Art, The Environment, and New Technologies

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Cleveland Public Art (CPA) is pleased to announce a new temporary art and landscape installation on Mall B in downtown Cleveland by Toronto-based artists and landscape architects Peter North and Alissa North of North Design Office. The project was installed in May 2008 and will remain until 2010. Entitled The Verdant Walk, the installation creates a stunning landscape by bringing more than 4,000 square feet of native Ohio grasses to the city’s center, punctuated by a series of seven sculptures which will be illuminated at night by new-technology solar fabric panels.

“The idea for the Verdant Walk emerged from observations of Cleveland’s industrial heritage and its new direction moving toward a green and sustainable city,” says Peter North. “We see Cleveland as a city that is evolving from its position as a powerhouse of the industrial era that is now transitioning to a greater focus on alternative forms of energy, sustainable development, and manufacturing, and is positioning itself to move thoughtfully into the next era. The Verdant Walk is a response to these two forces—Cleveland’s industrial heritage and its new green agenda.”

North Design Office was selected by a panel of artists, designers, and community members through a juried design competition. The Cleveland Mall Plaza Beautification Fund, a private trust established to support ongoing maintenance, improvements, and programming on Cleveland’s historic Mall park spaces is the project’s sponsor.

“Nationally and internationally, the fields of public art and landscape architecture are blending together in exciting ways,” says Greg Peckham, Executive Director of CPA. “We saw an opportunity for Cleveland to be at the forefront of showcasing the intersection of these two disciplines with emerging designers whose work pushes the boundaries of both.”

ABOUT THE ARTWORK
The sculptural forms are derived from Cleveland’s renowned relationship to industry, craftsmanship, and innovation. They represent the use of new technologies and materials to illustrate future possibilities. The forms are fluid and organic in nature to capture a sense of evolution toward green technologies. During the spring and summer, the metal armatures of the sculptures will be covered with stretchable fabric coverings. Woven into the covers are innovative flexible solar panels and LED (light emitting diode) lighting systems that will illuminate the sculptures at night. During the fall and winter, the sculpture’s covers will be removed, revealing the forms beneath and adding to the seasonal variation of the artwork.

The strips of dynamic flowing grasses, which include a mixture of six native Ohio grasses were cultivated for the project in Hiram, Ohio by the Ohio Prairie Nursery, a specialist in regional landscapes. The linear grass patterns will capture the winds coming from Lake Erie and celebrate the inseparability of Cleveland from the Cuyahoga River and its waterfront location.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Peter North is an Assistant Professor in the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Toronto. He teaches graduate design studio, site technologies, and brownfield reclamation. He graduated from the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Toronto in 1997 and received a Master in Landscape Architecture degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in 2001, where he also studied contemporary sculpture in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies.

Alissa North is an Assistant Professor in the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Toronto. She teaches graduate design studio, visual communication, and history, theory, and criticism courses. She graduated with Honors from the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Toronto in 1998. She received a Master in Landscape Architecture degree with distinction from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in 2003, where she was awarded the Jacob Weidenmann Prize.

Based in Toronto, Ontario, the two designers created North Design Office in 2005. North Design Office is a landscape architecture, urbanism, and design firm. The firm’s work ranges in scale from site-specific art installations to architecture and urban design, with an emphasis on landscape architecture. The office is committed to the idea that well-designed urban environments and open spaces create vibrant communities and ecologies.

PUBLIC ART ON MALL B
In 2003 the Mall Plaza Beautification Fund invited CPA to commission a temporary work of public art for the historic downtown site celebrating the 100th anniversary of famed architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham’s vision of the Group Plan for Cleveland.

The inaugural commission by New York-based artist Brian Tolle featured a series of eight neoclassical sculptural urns whose forms were distorted based on the patterns of the wind coming off Lake Erie to the north of the site. This installation received several national and international design awards.

Upon removal of Brian Tolle’s artwork, the Cleveland Mall Plaza Beautification Fund and members of Cleveland’s civic community urged that the Mall site be considered a venue for presenting the works of contemporary artists and designers for the enjoyment of Cleveland residents and city visitors. The Verdant Walk by North Design Office continues this commitment to providing the citizens of Cleveland exposure to emerging ideas in public art and design.

“Members of the Mall Beautification Fund viewed the first public art installation on Mall B by Brian Tolle as a great success for the way it energized the space,” says Ann Zoller, Executive Director of ParkWorks and Chair of the Cleveland Mall Plaza Beautification Fund. “We want to encourage people to visit and spend more time using this downtown park space. Working with CPA to bring artists like Brian Tolle and North Design Office to the Mall is a unique way that we can promote these important civic spaces and also enhance Cleveland’s image as a city.”

ABOUT CLEVELAND PUBLIC ART
With nearly 25 years of experience, CPA, an independent, nonprofit organization, works to improve public spaces through art and design. CPA moves art outside of museum walls and into the public realm, making it accessible to the entire community and part of everyday city life.

CPA believes that high quality public spaces are essential to building healthy cities and neighborhoods. By actively engaging the public, artists, designers, and decision makers, CPA works collaboratively to enhance the quality of life in Cleveland by creating dynamic public spaces that enrich our experience of the urban landscape. CPA believes that a vibrant arts community attracts businesses, residents, and can be the impetus for community and neighborhood revitalization.

Achieving these goals through promotion, advocacy, and project implementation, CPA’s projects and programs range from a one-day annual urban arts festival to complex multi-million dollar urban design and infrastructure projects. CPA brings together creative design talent, skilled facilitation, and community leadership to envision and build projects that have a lasting impact on built environment and make Cleveland a more vibrant, economically competitive city. In its twenty-plus-year history, CPA has been a leader in working with more than 200 local and national artists and has completed projects in some of the city’s most visible public spaces as well as its most underserved communities.

By bringing the community together through artistic expression, CPA enhances interest and pride around public spaces which, in turn, creates safer, more positive environments. Through public art, CPA is helping to transform Cleveland’s identity and leave a legacy for future generations.

CPA is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, the Ohio Arts Council: A State agency that supports public programs in the arts, The Cleveland Foundation, the George Gund Foundation, and our individual donors.

 

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Cleveland Public Art has received arts employment support from the Ohio Arts Council made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts through funds allocated from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009