South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Arc of Dreams

Arc of Dreams Art Sioux Falls Washington Pavilion

UPDATE: Sioux Falls City Council will approve easement for Arc of Dreams ‘SOON’

l3wis 5Comments

I asked the city council on Tuesday night if there have been any permits approved for Arc of Dreams. After not hearing anything, I emailed them tonight the same question. One of the councilors responded that the council will be presented a public right of way easement soon to approve. Good to hear.

UPDATE: I also got this response from the city;

Mr. Ehrisman,

Thank you for your recent inquiry about the “Arc of Dreams” sculpture permitting process.  No permits have been issued at this time.

In your email, you were correct in that the sculpture is on private property and over public property. Therefore, a grant of easement by the City of Sioux Falls for the “Arc of Dreams” sculpture is currently in process.  The City Attorney‘s Office has drafted a resolution and associated easement documents for the “Arc of Dreams” sculpture.

On August 15, 2017, the “Arc of Dreams” sculpture was reviewed and recommended for placement approval during public meetings by both the Visual Arts Commission and the Parks and Recreation Board.  The proposed resolution is scheduled for public hearing consideration at the City Council’s regular Tuesday, September 19, 2017, meeting.  Pending adoption of the resolution, and receipt of project plan submittals for City review, then appropriate City permits will be determined and required.

It is anticipated that site construction will begin this fall, with sculpture installation completed by August 2018.  Associated installation and maintenance costs for this sculpture will be the responsibility of SculptureWalk, and not the City of Sioux Falls.

I hope this information helps with your inquiry.

Russ Sorenson• 9-08-2017

Urban Planner • City Of Sioux Falls

Sorry, but I still struggle with the concept that the fine individuals who run the very successful SculptureWalk program for our city would commission a now $1.6 million dollar sculpture before having at least a conditional or preliminary permit or permission from the city. Someone signed off on this a long time ago and now they are just going through the motions.

It reminds of the guy I saw once at the Board of Adjustments, he was requesting to build a bigger garage. His reasoning? Because his new truck didn’t fit in the old garage. He was denied.

PAVILION PLANNING TO REBUILD SCIENCE CENTER 4th FLOOR EXHIBITS

I found this interesting that this is going thru the city as an RFP. Or maybe this is how this has always been done?

A question that I was asked recently was if the Kirby family is still sponsoring the Kirby Science Center or if that was a one time gift? I have NO idea.

Also two long time directors have ‘LEFT’.

Darrin Smith seems to be shaking things up at the Pavilion and spending a lot of money. Not sure if this is a good thing or not?

Arc of Dreams Art Downtown Sioux Falls SF City Council Sioux Falls

Who authorized the Arc of Dreams placement?

l3wis 6Comments

I still can’t figure out who approved the placement of Arc of Dreams? The city council surely hasn’t.

I ask this question now because the piece is almost completed and $1 million in private money has been raised for it.

Some important questions to ask;

Will it be placed on private property (Raven and Cherapa) or city property?

Was there approval from CORP of Engineers since it goes over the river?

Depending on where it is placed (let’s assume city property) who will be paying for it’s maintenance? A large sculpture like this will need regular maintenance.

I have some of these questions into the city council. We will see what answers we get. There just seems to be a lot secrecy surrounding the project.

Arc of Dreams Art Sioux Falls

Did we miss a BIGGER opportunity with Arc of Dreams?

l3wis 9Comments

First off, I’m not one to tell rich peeps how to spend their money. If they want to give to charity, I think that is great. I’m also one to NOT discourage giving money towards public art projects.

It seems lately though that people are questioning the whole point of ‘Arc of Dreams’ and mainly it’s location.

No criticism towards the artist, he does large, beautiful pieces across our state, including Dignity in Chamberlain. It’s his life and living. Also, no criticism towards those willing to help pay for this large scale commission . . .  but . . . does it seem a bit shortsighted and lacking the vision of the whole picture of downtown’s artistic image?

Instead putting all of our eggs in one basket in one (overcrowded) area, why not spread the wealth around?

One of the main arguments made to put ‘Arc of Dreams’ downtown was for a needed tourist attraction Downtown. Nevermind SculptureWalk, a replica of David, oh and that little cute waterfall at Falls Park.

But if we really wanted to bring ‘tourism’ downtown, why not invest that cool million used for ONE public art project to fund several projects that would be a combination public art/infrastructure?

During the downtown design meeting I attended one of the concerns people had about downtown was the dead zones, areas along Phillips Avenue and various side streets that have areas that have really nothing to look at while walking around downtown.

So what could WE have done with that million besides just building one large project?

First of all, I would use only local contractors and artists for these projects. Economic development starts at home.

Here is a brief list of what we could have done;

At approximately $20K  a piece we could have erected 50 permanent sculptures downtown in these dead zones. We could have also spent approximately $50K a pop for  20 mini gardens/parks/benches in these areas. And if we really wanted to get a bang for our buck we could have commissioned 200 murals at $5K a piece to help beautify some of those drab building walls downtown.

There is probably a whole host of other things we could have spent the million on that would have really boosted visitors to our downtown.

Let me hear your ideas!

Arc of Dreams Sioux Falls

UPDATE: More Silence from the Arc of Dreams

l3wis 11Comments

Recently there has been several ads in the Argus about their proud sponsorship of the Arc of Dreams and the NEW design, but zero information about why the design has changed.

Hello? Anybody?

UPDATE: As I suspected it had to do with the wind’s affect on the sculpture. I would like to thank artist Dale Lamphere for coming clean on the design change. Remember folks, art is fluid.

I pointed this out when the sculpture was first announced almost a year ago;

1. Since the large structure does not connect in the middle, there could be issues with it’s weight when it comes to high winds and counter balance.

I find it ironic, just like my badgering about how SculptureWalk was juried, funded and insured, they slowly made changes to it. This time it only took them a year to wise up to the fact that the wind would blow it down. SW really needs to start paying me for my consulting work instead trying to get me fired from my job for writing letters to the editor about ugly goose sculptures.

Arc of Dreams Art Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls

Is the ‘Arc of Dreams’ getting tweaked

l3wis 21Comments

Top image is the new and improved design, bottom is the original.

I guess I haven’t heard any announcements that the design of the sculpture was changing, in fact if you go to their website, they still have the old image up.

I caught it on the site sign yesterday next to the proposed location. It must have just recently changed because I ride my bike by this sign almost everyday.

What do you think of the new design compared to the old? I kind of liked the simplicity of the first design.

But the artist may not have a choice in the matter. When it was first proposed I was told by and engineer and a person who has worked around large scale public art projects that since the piece was flat and didn’t touch (held together) it would need massive counterweights because of the wind. I’m sure the new design helps with wind flow and is much lighter without the panels of polished stainless steel. I’m also wondering if it is a little cheaper to?

I’m curious if there will be an official announcement about the change, I also wonder if they will tell us why it had to be changed. Things that make you go hmmmmm. I guess sometimes your dreams have to be tweaked to come true 🙂

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