Four artists chosen as finalists for City Hall projects

COLUMBIA — Four Columbia artists have been selected as finalists for public art in the new addition to the Daniel Boone City Building.

Jenny McGee, Joel Sager, Norleen Nosri, and Joe Johnson were chosen by the Standing Committee on Public Art from 24 applicants to design artwork next year for the fourth and fifth floors of City Hall.

Each artist will be interviewed in January, and the committee will recommend two to the Commission on Cultural Affairs. If both committees agree, the final two artists will be forwarded to the Columbia City Council for final approval.

The city asked for Boone County artists to apply for an opportunity to design site-specific pieces of artwork for City Hall as a part of the Columbia’s Percent for Art program.

The program has allocated $11,000 for each floor, which will be rewarded over time to the selected artists to cover the cost of design, materials and time to create the pieces.

“The artists will have 30 days to come up with a site-specific design” after being selected, Sarah Skaggs, program specialists for the Cultural Affairs Commission, said

The final design proposal should be submitted next summer, but “we are still a year out from artwork being on the floors,” Skaggs said.  

Art projects have already been installed outside and on the second floor of the building. The third floor is expected to have its piece installed early next year.

Thecouncil passed legislation in 1997 creating the Percent for Art program. Since 1997 a total of 13 completed pieces have been installed throughout Columbia, Skaggs said.

The Percent for Art program allows 1 percent of the cost of new city construction or renovation projects to be used for site-specific art pieces and maintenance. Most but not all projects that cost $1 million or more are eligible for the art program.