July 25th, 2011

Center for Architecture, New York City

Presented by AIA (NY Planning & Urban design committee), cultureNOW

The advent of digital technology and smart phones has completely transformed cultural tourism by giving users access to a wealth of information previously unavailable. Cities throughout the country are showcasing their public art collections online and creating websites, maps, videos, podcasts, virtual guidebooks, and apps which are GPS based. In an era of tight budgets, this program will focus on the various approaches different cities are taking to make public art accessible through digital mapping.

Introduction & Moderator: Abby Suckle, FAIA, President, cultureNOW; AIANY VP of Outreach

Panelists:
Karin Goodfellow, Staff Director, Boston Art Commission
Laura Macaluso, art & cultural heritage consultant
Margaret Bodell, Manager Project Storefronts, New Haven
Sara Reisman, Director, Percent for Art, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
Sandra Bloodworth, Director, MTA Arts for Transit


Abby Suckle received her Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to opening her own architectural firm, she practiced architecture with Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer, Sert Jackson Associates and SITE. At Pei, her major projects include the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management, the Los Angeles Convention Center, and the San Francisco Main Library. Recently she has worked on two additions to the waters' edge at NY Presbyterian Hospital. Ms. Suckle is also President of cultureNOW, a nonprofit dedicated to cultural mapping. To date, she has completed cultural and historical maps of downtown and Harlem both in print and online as well as a public art map of Manhattan, ManhattanArtNOW, and the AroundManhattanNOW Map. The current project is a Museum Without Walls which is online and on the iPhone. In March, it won a NYC Big Apps2.0 award as one of the best apps of 2011.

Karin Goodfellow, a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard University, has a background in visual arts, museum education and community outreach.  As Staff Director of the Boston Art Commission for the City of Boston, she oversees and shepherds both temporary and permanent public art projects.  She also provides care, custody and inventory maintenance for the 450+ pieces of public art located in and on public property, including Faneuil Hall and the Parkman House.  The Boston Art Commission, the oldest public art commission in the United States, seeks to raise the profile of existing works of art in the city and create opportunities for new works.  Ms. Goodfellow coordinates with the Art Commissioners, city departments, project proponents, community groups and funders to further public art projects in the City of Boston.

Laura A. Macaluso recently saw the completion of a year-long project to document the City of New Haven, Connecticut's public art collection. 250 works of art were uploaded to publicly accessible websites, to the Department of Cultural Affairs' internal database and were tied to the city's internal GIS map system. She has two master's degrees in art history and is currently working on her PhD at Salve Regina University where she will write about the multiple and changing identity of New Haven as viewed through its 600-plus public art collection. She hopes to expand the way the city uses public art for cultural heritage tourism initiatives.

Margaret Bodell is the public art consultant for the City of New Haven and also manages Project Storefronts, a collaborative project between the city, property owners and creative entrepreneurs in an effort to utilize empty storefront space. Project Storefronts was the recipient of NEFA's 2011 Creative Economy Award. Bodell is an artworld veteran having run galleries in NYC and CT for 30 years and currently is a partner in Umbrella Arts on 9th Street in the East Village. Bodell is widely know for her expertise in the field of inclusion in the arts for persons with diversities and helped found NYC and Brooklyn's first studio art/gallery programs for these underserved populations. She frequently consults with social enterprise businesses on development.

Sara Reisman is Director of New York City's Percent for Art program which commissions permanent artworks for City-owned public spaces. Reisman has organized exhibitions and written about public engagement and public art, social practice, the aesthetics of globalization, and site-specificity for the Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art, Queens Museum of Art, The Cooper Union School of Art, Smack Mellon, Bronx Museum of Art, Socrates Sculpture Park, Momenta Art, and Aljira, among others. Reisman is the 2011 Critic in Residence at Art Omi.

Sandra Bloodworth is the director of Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit and Urban Design. As director, she is responsible for the Arts for Transit programs, whose mission it is to commission public art that enhances the transportation environment. In addition to the Arts for Transit award-winning permanent art program, she is responsible for Music Under New York, Poetry In Motion, the Transit Poster program and the Light Box Project. She represents the MTA on station aesthetics and urban design issues, with a focus on promoting design excellence. She joined Arts for Transit in 1988 as a manager and became deputy director in 1992 and director in 1996. Her previous experience includes working as a development associate for the Studio in a School Association. Sandra has taught Visual Art and Urban Design in the Department of Art and Arts Professions graduate program at New York University and in the fine arts studio departments at Florida State University and the University of Mississippi. Ms. Bloodworth is an artist and holds a B.S. from Mississippi College, an M.A. from the University of Mississippi and an M.F.A. from Florida State University.