The Madison Arts Commission (MAC) has selected four (4) finalists to provide proposals for a public art project for the Metro Transit Maintenance Facility near the corner of East Washington Avenue and South Ingersoll Street. The finalists are: Actual Size Artworks (Gail Simpson and Aristotle Georgiades), Deborah Aschheim, Vito DiBari, and Jenie Gao.

This is the first public art project funded by Madison’s Percent for Art Ordinance established in 2019 to ensure that the City’s major public work projects have a designated funding source for the inclusion of public art and design.

MAC recognizes that the Metro Transit Maintenance Facility occupies a highly visible location passed by thousands of daily commuters and residents as well as visitors to Wisconsin’s State Capitol and therefore they would like to involve the public to participate in the process.

Each finalist has provided a 15-minute artist talk with information about past projects and their approach to public art. These brief artist talks give residents the chance to learn more about the artists and how they might approach the Metro Transit location on East Washington. Please review their artist talks at the links below:
Actual Size Artworks
Deborah Aschheim
Vito DiBari
Jenie Gao

After you watch all the artist presentations, please share your thoughts in feedback form here: https://airtable.com/shrngRkqAkZMUdrvq. Feedback must be submitted by 12 PM (noon) on July 12, 2022 in order to influence the selection and design process.

This is your opportunity to offer your initial response on the candidates, and share what is important to you about the Metro Transit location on East Washington, the neighborhood Metro Transit is part of, and public art in the City as a whole. Your comments will be provided to the artist finalists, City staff, and members of the Madison Arts Commission and will become part of the permanent public record.

During the next phase of the review process, each applicant will design a proposal for a site-specific artwork for this site. Your input will help inform their proposal. Site proposals will be submitted to the City of Madison in late August. We will seek additional community input on the design proposals at that time.

The public is invited to attend the meeting of the Madison Arts Commission at 5:30pm on September 7, 2022, where we anticipate commissioners will discuss proposals and may determine which artist to recommend for this opportunity.

The Madison Arts Commission (MAC), an 11-member citizen commission appointed by the Mayor to advise the City about matters of arts and culture. MAC’s mission is to foster arts appreciation by initiating partnerships, developing new audiences, and sponsoring diverse artistic activities by emerging and established artists and arts organizations while preserving Madison’s rich artistic tradition. To support a full creative life for all, The Madison Arts Commission commits to championing policies and practices of cultural equity that empower a just, inclusive, equitable city.