Plans are in motion for a new fire station complete with art.
COLUMBIA — The City Council agreed to commission a new piece of public art at its meeting Monday night. The work, from artist Jane Mudd of Fulton, will adorn Fire Station No. 7. Mudd is a professor of fine arts at William Woods University and currently has a display of her work at the Orr Street Gallery.
The project will be funded by the Percent for Art program, which sets aside one percent of a construction project’s budget for site-specific art to increase the amount of public art in the community, according to its Web site. The program is run out of Office of Cultural Affairs and governed by the Standing Committee on Public Art.
The total cost of the contract is currently set at $13,000, with an additional $2,000 coming from the Share the Light program’s fund for public art. Share the Light is a donation-based program that residents contribute to by specifying an area of interest on their monthly utility bill.
The committee, which helped pick Mudd, began its selection process by requesting applications from approximately 100 artists residing in or around Boone County, according to reports submitted to council. After receiving eight applications, the committee then narrowed it down to four.
The committee then selected Mudd from the four finalists; the Commission on Cultural Affairs approved the selection and requested the City Council’s approval. Two residents of the surrounding Green Meadows neighborhoods and two representatives of Fire Station No. 7 also had input on the final decision.
After she signs the contract with the city, Mudd has 60 days to submit a proposed design to the council for approval.
Though the commission was just granted and the contract has not been signed, Marie Nau Hunter, the Office of Cultural Affairs manager, estimated a first design approval meeting would happen in early October. The installation date should be some time in spring 2009, she said.
Hunter said that some ideas for the nature of the piece have already been discussed, but nothing is set in stone. The only detail she could state with certainty was the medium Mudd would use.
“I’m anticipating she will work in bronze,” Hunter said.
Fire Station No. 7, currently being constructed at 400 Green Meadows Circle, will replace the current station at 3601 South Providence Road. The new station was deemed necessary after the South Providence building was found to have structural issues; repairs would have cost an estimated $300,000.
The new station is projected to cost $1,766,678. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.