Library - Regular Meeting

I'll call our meeting to order at 04:00 and we are actually gonna go to recess. Recess.

Okay,

here we go. Okay. I'll call the order at 04:07. Let's just jump right into our approval of the minutes. Has everyone read the minutes?

We have.

Yes. Okay.

Do we need a motion to approve the minutes? All right, would someone like to make a motion to approve?

I will make a motion to approve the minutes from May 22 of the Public Art and Design Board meeting.

I second that motion.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye.

All opposed? Motion passes.

Item number three, citizens to be heard.

Hi there. Betsy Adler with the Clearwater Arts Alliance. I just wanted to give you guys a couple updates on things that we've done recently. Thanks to the city of Clearwater's health, We have a new contract to work on signal boxes that are within Pinellas County, within the City Of Clearwater, but aren't city boxes. So they're county boxes.

And so we've done five new boxes in the last just month or two. We have one at Sunset Point Road and Keene Road, one at Sunset Point Road and Old Oakhurst, one at McMullenbooth and Drew Street, one at Belcher And Oak Neck Road, and one at Belcher And Harn. So hopefully you'll see those as you go around the area. Several of them are reused designs. We always pay our artists a fee to use their design more than once as long as it's not close to the other boxes.

One of them is a brand new design. We also have opening tomorrow night at the Clearwater Main Library. We have Chris Van Voren's solo exhibition. So if you want to come out tomorrow and see his show, it's opening from 05:30 to seven tomorrow night here at the library. And then our big thing is we have our annual event for the Clearwater Arts Alliance, Monday, November 3, 05:30 to 07:30. It will be at the Cleveland Street Market this year. And it has a public art component. So we will be voting on a new piece of art that will be within the city. It's going to be a dolphin sculpture, and it's going to

be right outside the library here right near the Bay

Care Sound. So everyone who comes to this event, we hope everyone will come. If you're there, you get to vote on the piece that will be displayed and created for that dolphin. So there'll be some artists. I'm going to we're going to send it out to local artists for their submissions. Our committee will narrow it down, and then there'll be three choices that night. So there'll be a new public art piece as a result of this event. So we hope that you all come. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to item four, new business items. Item number 4.1, we are to discuss and vote on the mosaic sculpture at the Marina Walk.

Good afternoon. Amber Brice, Arts and Cultural Affairs Manager. So previously, this board had voted on the floaty totem piece by artist Eileen Gay for the Clearwater Marina. However, after discussions with marine aviation and some of the marina tenants, there were concerns raised about the elements resembling mooring balls, which are illegal in Clearwater. So they just didn't think that was a very good fit for that area. So we went back to the artist. Luckily, she's a previous commercial artist, so she wasn't upset or anything. So she came up with two alternative designs. One is called catch, which is a type of a boat. I didn't know that but that's it is.

And

you can see this.

So catches a boat. It has dolphins on it. It'll be mosaic in blue and then white. And this is kind of the side view of it. And then there's consciousness which is spelled like conch shell. And it is a essentially a conch shell with white mosaic gold and then in the middle it'll be blue. So I had sent you guys these designs previously so you could look at them. We did send out a vote to the Clearwater Marina tenants. I got a couple of votes back. Nine votes for catch, six votes for consciousness.

Some comments they made, they're both beautiful, but the colors of the dolphins and Catch sees like everything we see at Corridor Beach. Catch represents the majority of what the fleet does, boats and dolphin watching. So that's where the tenants kind of I mean, it was pretty evenly split but majority. And the artist also sent me an email saying that she thinks Catch might be a better fit because she feels this one is a little castle y as she put it. But in the end, we are asking the board to decide which design to move forward with. Comments? I'm heartbroken. I know.

I'm really upset about this.

You were pushing floaty toad them really hard.

I really was. I really like that piece a lot. It was fun.

So are we between these two, we're not going to go and consider any of the previous

No. These two are have been approved by Marine and Aviation Department. That's we're moving forward with one of these. And we're at the point now where fabrication has to start for it to be done on time. I

think if the tenants are good with catch, that was kind of where I was going. The other I just was worried about like it falling over or something like but I know that wouldn't be the case. But if they like that one, I was going to

go for that.

I agree with that.

May as well.

I agree as well.

Anybody want to make a motion? We're asking for an official vote.

I'll make a motion to approve catch as the piece for the Marina Walk.

I'll second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye.

Yes. So moving on to item 4.2, City Hall's suspended sculpture proposals.

So the City of Clearwater is constructing a new City Hall. Completion will be 2026. As part of the architectural design, a location has been designated for a suspended sculpture. It's kind of, close to the stairway when you walk into the building. Drawing from previous sculpture calls from Fire Station 46, the Beach Arena, as well as the PSTA call which I helped facilitate, we picked kind of we went to, like, the top 10 artists and then picked some artists that had suspended sculpture experience.

I asked five artists to go over proposals, only four sent proposals back. I would like I'm asking the board to narrow either down to two designs or two artists so that we can do a public vote. This is a pretty big deal. We've been waiting for a new city hall for quite some time, so we're hoping to have a little bit of staff public input on the final design. You do have images in front of you. This is the piece by Virginia Kissler. It's supposed to be a play on the shells. It's an aluminum structure that will be painted and then inside the holes will be a resin. So there's two designs. They're very similar.

One is a little wider. One is a little bit slender, more slender. So this is that. We have Davis McCarty who was the artist that we liked the moon piece that we were going to put the sculpture but we thought the acrylic maybe would be too hard to clean. So these are his two proposals.

Ocean. So this is acrylic and then sky. So these are flat pieces that create a cylinder and there are spaces in between them. And then there is MGA. Their two designs would be similar to this one.

So they're cut metal like this. Radiant loop. I mean, they're both very similar. Radiant loop and then so one is a little more slender at the bottom like this. One is a a little bit more like an infinity symbol.

And then the fourth one is James Peterson. The piece there's two different pieces, very different from each other. Ripple. So this one kind of looks like seaweed, I guess. And this one is it's hard to tell, but it'll be stacked acrylic pieces that will make a three d design that's supposed to resemble water, I believe.

Okay. And

those are the four. So any initial thoughts, conversations?

Any discussion?

Wanna see another one visually up here?

That's pretty interesting.

This one?

The last one. This person to the is kind of fun too. Yeah. We can talk about it.

Sorry.

Discussion wise.

I actually really like this piece quite a bit. I mean, if I had if it was up to me, I would choose one from this artist or the last artist.

Which one's the last one?

This one?

This one?

Yeah. I'm torn between I'm torn between between those two pieces. I like

Well, like I said, if we like two artists, we can narrow it down to two artists and then have four designs for people to choose from as opposed to two designs.

Okay. That's easier.

Think it's definitely for me, it's between the first artist and then the last artist.

Okay. That's where I

was too. I mean, like some of the other pieces in the MJ proposal, but I'm not crazy about the infinity symbol being in a public space in the city of Clearwater.

Okay.

Yeah. It doesn't seem to

I think it's has some well

as the shell and the Yeah. Yeah.

So can we get rid of this one then?

Are you you all Yeah. It's a it's a really good proposal. I mean, they always do a great proposal on all of their public design pieces, call for entries. But I'm not it it doesn't look like it fills up the space or activates the space as much as some of the other pieces. So

is the entire board okay with getting rid of MG as an option?

Yes.

So then we have Peterson, which are these two pieces, McCarty, which are these two pieces, and then Kissler, which are these two pieces.

So you said it's cut aluminum and then resin?

That's what it says in here. So it says one eighth thick custom resin product. Opacity is customizable. So I guess it,

you know Yeah.

Okay. Because we want it to be and then one eighth aluminum painted with a polyurethane automotive paint. So I guess it kind of like is an ombre and blue to white. Yeah. But obviously, can change the color if we want

to. Yeah.

I like how it picks up a little bit of the arch for the is this supposed to be representative of the actual atrium in the

Yes.

City

hall? So the stairs kind of That's cool. So you'll be able to actually see it from the stairs when you're coming down as well, like you'll see from that space. There

seem to be a lot of other fairly hard lines in that atrium, and this seems to kind of

Soften it.

Soften it and kind of stand

in Also, scale wise, looks pretty big. And I like that translucency that you could see, like, you know, kind of the other elements through it.

Just so you guys know, they were given parameters. It can only be six feet wide, I think, is the max. And then 17.5 feet

long. That's big.

That is pretty big.

It is big. But that's it's hanging from the 2nd Floor. And then there has to be 10 feet of clearance from the floor to the top the bottom of the sculpture. So most of them filled that space where they tried to. This one's a little smaller.

Can we see the reference image for the first design again?

This one? Yeah.

Shell. The

shells. Oh, yeah. Yeah. This is kind of the inspiration, I think.

Yeah.

That. It

pretty symmetrical compared to the Yeah. Inspiration. Yeah. And

then there's this one. That's has lights.

Yeah. Yeah. It looks a lot. Yeah. Yep. What is the material choice on this one?

What did they put? Plan materials. Stainless steel, aluminum tubing, PETG, and acrylic. I don't know what PETG is.

It's like soda bottle plastic.

Okay. He has similar pieces. This one right here kind of off to the left is a piece that it doesn't move, but it kind of looks like it moves and he puts lights in it to give it almost like a wave effect. If you saw, like, right here. Wow. Is kind of

the piece. Yeah. That's really nice.

So we could do something like that with this. You know, it's kind of our choice. If we want to add lights, we can.

Right. That was kind of my question is what's the lighting in there? It's kind of hard

to see. So there's a window off to the right right here in this concept. You can kind of see it. So it'll be getting a lot of natural light.

Has a kind of change throughout the day.

Right. That's kind of that's cool. Spacing.

And those are all durable materials. Mhmm. You know? The or we're not concerned about weather, but, I mean, that my concern with the first one is, like, epoxy might yellow over time.

That's fine.

Yeah. From the sunlight, from the UV exposure. I don't know.

So how do you all feel about McCarty? Are we saying no to this artist? Are we I guess we just need to narrow it down to artist if we kind of like all of the designs the other two have.

That's like the dichroic acrylic.

The So Yes. Material is Correct. Plexiglass, gradient panels, marine grade aluminum frame, stainless steel suspended hardware.

So It's nice. It doesn't for me, have it's not quite as exciting as the first the other two, Kessler and Peterson.

Anything else?

I mean,

I like that one. So this kind of shows, I think, the atrium a little better. So you do have that rounded space as you walk in. It's gonna be wood paneled. Nice. And then those are stairs that go up to the city council chambers.

Yeah.

When you compare the sky sculpture to the ocean, it really kind of brings out how that space seems to need something to bring some movement and energy to it.

Yeah.

And so, like, the sky, I can I can see it kind of mirrors some of the shapes, but it never it seems kinda static? Yeah.

There's not enough contrast, is what you're saying, in the space? Yeah. Yeah. Does someone want to make a motion to move forward with Bernie?

Peterson and Kissler? Are those the ones? This one and this one?

Yeah, I'll make a motion to, I guess, put forward Kissler and Peterson as our recommendations from the board for the public to vote on.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye. Motion carries. I just like having conversations like this. It's kind of fun.

Yes. Moving on to item 4.4, world's no.

4.3.

4.3, sorry. East Pollution Control Facility mural.

Okay. So in the past, we partnered with public utilities for the water tanks that we did on the countryside murals on those water tanks. So public utilities reached out about doing another mural on the East Pollution Control Facility. So this is a building located on Polk To Bay right before you get on to the Courtney Campbell Causeway. I think you all are familiar with the gas station kind of right free down to McMullen booth. That gas station right there is a it's the facility across the street. So you can actually see it from that gas station, but you probably just don't pay attention to it. So we you know, this is a really highly visible wall. I think it's a great opportunity for public art. Thousands of cars pass by there every day.

We reached out to Holland King who is a Tampa based artist. He did the grad chalk walk. He did a really great job, and we, thought he would be a strong fit for this project. So here are some of the designs. Here's the building to kind of give you some context. And here are some of the designs. So public utilities did ask for sea life, underwater life, conservation themes. So this would be on the main building. And then if you see to the right, there's kind of like these panels. Like there's latticed walls, but in between, they're solid panels.

We cannot remove any of the trees, but the bushes and some of the weeds can all be taken out. And so each panel can be painted with kind of less underwater you know, the ones that are more covered by trees would just be this underwater theme, but the ones that are not would have different sea life on them. So we could do a dolphin, a manatee, fish, a swordfish, all different things. So public utilities loves these designs. We're really just looking for an official vote to move forward with design and artist on this.

Any discussion? I kind of like these.

I guess one question I had, especially since there's so much traffic there, will is part of the plan to light those murals?

I don't know if there's any plans for lighting. To be honest, this building probably won't exist in ten years. I think they're going to move it. So this mural is not going to be a permanent fixture in our city. We already know that. So I don't see them investing in lights for that unless they already exist on the space. Or unless there's maybe some solar lights you can kind of just put in there.

Okay. It's a high visible A high visibility spot. I think it's a good spot for a piece of public art.

I agree.

It is kind of a weird, like, intersection with that gas station and then the little beach thing, and they're putting in that bridge, you know, that bike bridge.

Mhmm. That's why I need to.

Yeah.

You're being that the case with someone like to make a motion.

I'll make a motion that we move forward with, I guess, what funding this or allowing

Just the design?

Are they going do a call for proposals or are we

going to So we just took from the

artist Yeah. Then that we are we move forward with this project.

I'll second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye.

Moving on to item 4.4, world's largest rubber duck coming to Clearwater.

Okay, guys. I know you're really excited about this because I am. The world's largest rubber duck will be coming to Clearwater January 8 through the twenty fifth. We have a full slate of events that we've planned around the dock, including the market marie that already happens monthly, but that'll be that first Saturday. Then we're gonna do a or Parks and Rec is going to do a duck dash five k, which will be really fun.

We're going to do a Rubber Ducky Birthday Bash which will be a family celebration, Bouncy House's face painting, live concert by Jack Hartman which you know, you know. He's like a local child entertainer YouTube sensation. He's like 5,000,000 followers on YouTube. He's a big deal. And then to close it out, we're going to have a Jeep Fest the last weekend.

Name still TBD. But we're hoping that this will draw strong attendance, be kind of something unique and fun and memorable, bring people down to Downtown Clearwater, you know, giving everybody a cool photo opportunity. So no real vote, just PSA that it's happening. And if you want to make any comments about it.

I'm just sorry, Kevin. Grass isn't here for this.

Man.

Feel like it's kind funny.

Where is the duck gonna be?

Coachmen Park. Just in the park. Yeah. So you'll be able to see it from the bridge. You'll be able to see it from all the buildings downtown. It's six stories tall. So it's she's big.

When is it? What's the

January 8 is like install date. The tenth will be the first and then the twenty fifth will be the last day.

Oh, okay. Six stories. Well past hurricane season.

Yes. I was thinking that Yeah.

Could ride it in.

World Large Ex Duck comes unmoored and attacked city of Clearwater.

Right at Alabama. Oh, my gosh.

I think that's fantastic.

Yeah. I think it's funny.

Yeah. That'll be fun.

Activate the space and get people down there.

Yeah. Especially, did you say there's a

I was just

a Jeep fest.

Yeah. There's gonna be a Jeep fest.

Of course, there will be a

Jeep Yeah. Excited about that.

Yeah. Cool. Item number 4.5, New Merrimont Park mural.

So Clearwater Merrimont Park is located at 1900 Gilbert Street. It's near the Clearwater Air Park. During the hurricanes, it was well, after the hurricanes, it was used as a temporary debris site for all the hurricane debris. As a result, the park was closed for several months, you know, created an inconvenience and an eyesore for the surrounding residents. So in response and, you know, it's an all our branch. The city has renovated the park. They hosted a community event, included a survey where residents got to select new playground equipment that will be in there. They're going to redo the entire bathroom structure, like stucco and new doors and everything. And the idea was to put a mural on the building on one side. And I said, well, let's just put a mural on the whole building because you can see it from the road.

And they agreed. So Laura Thomas, who is an artist we've worked with a couple of times for the Grad Chalk Walk and another event that we had. But I wanted to give her an opportunity to actually do a mural in the city. So I had originally uploaded these designs. This was the design that I showed you. But then after this agenda was already published, she sent a second design. So what we're planning to do this was the first design with the birds. But this was the second design with flowers. So what we're planning to do is have very hyper local vote. So put a signage in the park with a QR code and let the neighborhood actually decide which design that they want.

And then the cool part about this is we're going to have a community event and there'll be a paint by numbers kind of set up so the community and the children and everything can help paint whatever design they pick. They'll be able to help paint the mural. Nice. So we're excited about this. This is just the building now for some reference. So just looking on a vote to move forward with the artist and then whatever design the community chooses.

I'll make a motion to move forward with this project. I'm excited about it.

I'll second.

Yeah. Motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye.

Motion carries.

Yeah. Super. This is great too. Yeah. They're all really nice. I'm glad I'm not painting them.

Moving on to item 4.6. That's the restoration of city public art pieces.

Okay. So I'm going to kind of combine this with 4.7 because they kind of bleed into each other. So it's a little out of order. So the city has hired Burke and Co, which is a fine art consulting and certified appraisal company, to complete condition reports of city's major public art assets and to appraise other works in our collection such as the highway paintings that are in the library. So these condition reports are now complete and they're helping us identify pieces that need immediate cleaning or restoration.

So with these condition reports in mind, we have hired public artworks for basic maintenance on some of the sculptures. So the middens piece, which is in Coachmen right here in front of the dock master's office, the stainless steel piece, that was pretty rusted. So we did some rust remediation and cleaning, which I guess I didn't put on here. But I did in the agenda is attached before and after photos, and it looks really, really good. He also did the torches which are technically public art because we didn't hire an artist to do them, but they're considered a city asset.

They were looking pretty rough too on the backside of them. So those are now cleaned. And then we're next month, he's going to do Ocean Swirl, which is the new sculpture in front of Clearwater Beach. But unfortunately, with the hurricane, there was a lot of flooding and there's a very clear discoloration between the bottom and top where standing water was. And then there's two other pieces that are frequently brought up by the board, so I thought I'd bring them up.

One of them is Centennial Oak which is in front of this the main library. Unfortunately, there's construction happening in the parking lot. They're breaking ground very soon. So if we clean, I just feel like it's going to be a waste of money because it's just going to get dust and debris and everything all over it. So I think we're just going to wait until that construction is complete and then possibly even rotate the piece so that there's even wear on the acrylic on both sides and then do a polish and a clean.

And then the reaching for knowledge piece is the one in front of the East Library which many of you have mentioned. We've gotten some public comments on that as well. It's significantly faded. It was put in, I think, 2018 so it's not that old. Unfortunately, the artist in their documentation claimed that they powder coated it.

I've had two conservators look at it and say that it's not powder coated. So it almost just looks like basic acrylic paint which is not meant to withstand the elements. So this is going to be more than just a repaint job which is kind of what the original thought was. It's going to be we have to strip the piece, clean the piece, repaint the piece with like a marine grade type paint. So we're looking at a lot more expensive job than we originally thought. So library knows it has to be done and I know it has to be done. We are working towards it to try to figure out the best way to move forward with this.

They have to take it down for this.

So that was the if they can take it down, that's actually less expensive than if you have to time it with somebody on-site. That costs more money.

Yeah, that'd be a nightmare.

So Is there a way that that could be an opportunity to showcase another piece to where what the public would see was, here's another piece up for a while and then the other piece comes back?

Yeah, that's a good idea. If we end up taking it down and they don't do work on-site, that's definitely a good idea. We can put something else there in the meantime. But we are going to move forward. It's just a matter of getting some quotes and deciding when is the best time to do that. And that's that.

You're moving right into 4.7?

Yeah. Kind of combined that.

You just covered

from all

those. Just wanted to make sure because I have this tendency. Moving to the 4.8, Art Oasis Mural Festival.

So the Arts and Cultural Affairs Division plan to host the second Art Oasis Mural Festival late February, early March twenty twenty six. This festival will take place within the North Greenwood CRA. I presented the concept of the North Greenwood CRA Neighborhood Committee, which Mr. Voltahn actually sits on that committee.

Yes.

You weren't there that day, so you didn't hear my pitch. But it was received very positively. We got some good feedback. And right now there's a business application open. So any business within that CRA boundary that wants to receive a mural for free on their building can apply. And then we're going to move forward after that to decide maybe which ones have the best visibility. We're really excited about that. But that'll be a CRA kind of funded project.

Fantastic. Item 4.9, Crest Lake Park giving wall mural.

Okay. We're almost there, guys. Skycrest Neighborhood Association, which borders Crest Lake Park has been requesting a mural on the opposite side of the giving wall, which faces the street. They've been requesting this for a couple of years now. So based on what they were asking for, we thought artist Frankie G. Would be a good choice for this project. So the artist and I both attended the neighborhood's meeting. We got feedback on design elements they were looking for. So they wanted to see nature that you could find in the park, the highly utilized dog park, the history of gladiolas in that area. The artist came up with a couple of different designs.

So we actually did a public boat just like we wanted to do in Marymount with signage. Use a QR code to kind of keep it hyper local to people that use the park. We received two twenty two votes which is great engagement. And the neighborhood chose so these were the two designs. Neighborhood chose this one, the one with the dog chasing the duck.

The dog.

So it was a 136 votes for this and 86 votes for the two dogs. They're very similar, but one has two dogs and one has one dog and

a duck.

So we're asking for a formal vote to move forward with the artist and design selected by the community. This one.

I'll make a motion to move forward with the artist and design chosen by the community.

I second that motion.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye. Motion passed. Great.

Moving on to item number four point discuss the use of AI technology for scoring artist applications.

Okay. So I wanted to have this discussion with you all about a company called Monochronicle. They use AI technology for various different ways, but just for what we would use at board, sort of whittle down artist applications. So for context, our last call for Mural Artists had two seventy seven applications. Now that's a lot to ask the board, community members to take time to score those applications. We don't ask DRS to look at resumes, social medias, letters of interest. We only score based off of images. A couple of you, I think Mr. Barnes and Mr. Volatyn didn't even finish scoring the two seventy seven.

So that in itself skews scores. And another factor, you know, when you flipped at thirty, forty, your eyes start to glaze over. Everything kind of starts to look the same. Maybe it skews the way we score and this happens to all of us. And there's also bias that comes into play even though these are scored blind. A lot of us maybe know artists just based off of their work, right? Or an artist puts themself in a photo even though they're not supposed to. So there can be bias based on that. So I asked for a trial from this company. It was very vague.

Didn't you you can kind of get as granular as you want with the ask to AI. For this, it was find artists top artists that have large scale mural experience based on how good their designs are and skill set basically. And so interestingly, interestingly, this this is is what what the the AI came back with. Top four and these aren't in any order. They're just top candidates.

And of these top candidates, we actually have hired three of them and three of them are local, which it took into account. I didn't ask it to take into account local artists, but that's what it did. And this I'm not going to go through all of this, but this is the kind of the criteria that it used. And then I said, you know, we're going have a mural festival. We have a dock master's office. Here's the what we need artists for. So it picked Cecilia Luisa which we've used and it kind of explains the artist excellence. It goes through the resumes. It goes through the social media of the artists. It goes through all of the stuff so we don't have to.

And then it picked Frankie G who we've worked with and is doing the Crest Lake Park mural. It also picked Naomi Haverland who's we've hired her for two pieces. And then it picked Timothy Robert Smith who that was one of the ones where you didn't get to score, so it skewed his scores. And this was an artist based in California. So I think he was automatically kind of for some of the stuff just taken out of the running.

I would like to use this as a tool to maybe whittle it down to a top 40 or a top 50. And then we still have a jury. We still have Public Art and Design Board But it's not asking you to pick, you know, go through two seventy seven applications, some of which are not even qualified. So I can get more granular with it. I can tell you exactly how we all scored these specific artists. I don't know if we need to go into that much detail, but I just wanted to kind of open it up as, like, topic of discussion and how you all feel about this.

I mean, a positive would be that it saves a ton of time with incomplete applications or people that maybe don't have any qualifications, you know, experience in public art. Right? Like, we use things like this when we fill out job applications. Like, they don't have this degree or whatever. The maybe negative is it cuts out those people that don't have a lot of public art experience. You know, it's gonna bypass it could bypass them. And then how do they break into public art?

It's a good point. But we

But also 277 applications is nuts. Right. I mean, I I agree with you sitting there click, click, click, click, click. And the interface is is okay, but it's not efficient. Know?

But we wouldn't hire well, not every job is the same. Right? But some Yeah. For big jobs, we wouldn't want an artist that doesn't have some sort of Right. Neural experience anyway. So we can ask that, like, hey, So for some up and coming emerging artists for one project we're gonna do versus we need somebody with a lot of experience in this project.

I mean, especially if they're doing, like, the water tanks or whatever on 580. Like I had to rent a cherry picker and all this other stuff. I mean, that's a way bigger project than the Crest Lake Park, you know, wall that I can do without a ladder.

So is that how it works? It's like you can do a prompt for each of the calls to get your

top 50.

50 of the project? Yes. And then Okay.

Is it a recurring expense or a one time fee?

So it's a would be a one time fee for each call.

Oh, okay.

So that's why we want to make sure we got the right with AI because they're not gonna let us go. I mean, maybe there's a couple edits. But

Right. How much?

$600 Okay. Per AI generated Yeah. Yeah. Review.

I I I'm it's a fine way. I mean

It's the way of things.

I'm happy to not look through 275

ever again in

my life. So, no, I'm at all.

I think getting down to 50 is fine to be able to go over. Yeah. And it takes out a lot of redundancies as well with regard to fatigue because there's a lot of times where I even know for myself, I thought I completed it, some techniques, some styles kind of run together, sometimes you just feel like you're looking at the same piece, and it's you just click through. So I think it'll help just kind of isolate what we need and then be able to pay special attention to the artist that rise at the top of that selection.

Yeah. I mean, I see primarily using this for the mural stuff, not for for the three d pieces. You know, we don't get as many applications for those because the resources needed are much higher than, you know, paint and ladders and whatnot. You know, not everybody has a water jet and a CAD designer and all that stuff. So we don't get anywhere near the level of application the quantity of applications.

And I your excuse me. Your suggestion about also asking it to look for up and coming artists or something at some point kind of that was one of my issues, kind of like what Jonathan said about there are you know, how do you find maybe somebody who's doing something really cool that just doesn't have the same, you know, same presence.

You know, like if the top pick that it chose was Cecilia Loiza, we have three of her murals or two of her murals already, and there's several in St. Pete. Like, it's like, this will be bad. The MGA sculptures, I mean, there's like 15 of them in St. Pete, and they're really nice. But it's not a shrine to MGA or it's not a shrine to Cecilia Luisa, who makes great work. Groups make great work. But, you know, it's nice to have the variety.

And

if I mean, I guess maybe that is a hesitation of mine if that's who it populated as like

Well, wasn't the top. So just so you know.

Well, really

These aren't they're not ranked. It's just these are top contenders, top candidates. Okay. And to play devil's advocate, that in itself is a bias that this doesn't have. So like we have Cecilia Luisa pieces. We're not going to hire her because of that reason. AI doesn't take that into account. We can later, but it's saying she has

a And I like her work. I mean, and she's very nice.

Is very

nice. Her work's great. She's easy to work with, but and obviously very professional because her job her work gets completed and stuff.

Is there a way to add into this that we would like you know, if we're asking for 50 top 50 that we want five wildcards somehow that, you know, are lesser known or somewhat different than the standard criteria or something like that? Just to

Yeah. We could say, you know, pick five that based on, you know, design alone, not looking at resume that you would choose. Because maybe those people don't have as much experience, but their skill set is very high. You could do something like that. We could, you know, just word it very carefully to what we need. For each project, it's going to be a different look that we're going for different styles. Right.

And we would probably find out fairly soon if those wildcards were always just, you know, that is not going to work at all. And we just it's a waste of time. Or maybe we're finding some really cool stuff there.

Yeah. I think this is especially useful for the pieces that were they don't have any mural experience period. And it was they have its paintings on a wall that they're submitting. And then we have to go through and go, well, let's just score that as one, but you still have to score it and take the time to do that. That filters all of that.

I think this is a great use of AI. I I really do. I didn't think I'd ever say that. I was really waiting to see what you're I know. I was thinking of you too with all the papers you have to read. And I know your colleagues are probably freaking out about that.

Do we need a vote on this

or No. It was just discussion. And if the Board kind of has no big issues, I would like to maybe do this on the next call that we have, which is supposed to end in December and just see what it comes up with.

Yes.

I mean, worst case, we'd only use it again. Mean, that's how you learn. Right. That's cool. Good find. Yeah. Good find on that. That's cool. Alright. That's it.

Item number five, do we have any old business?

I have one question. Amber, do you have to do we have to make like a motion or anything about moving the meeting to 04:00?

No. That would be next year we would decide and as long as the majority of the I mean, it's good with the board.

Cool. Okay. No business. Business. Business. Item number six, director's report.

I have nothing new.

Nothing new for director's

report. Except for all these things we already talked about.

Item number seven, board members to be heard.

I think I mentioned this to Amber in passing at some point. I'm wondering about, you know, should we be asking for some Trump loyal kind of stuff? I've seen that in different cities, and I noticed we don't seem to have quite so much. And it's kind of fun. You see the side of a building, which appears to have a tunnel going into it or it appears to have when I was in Albania, one of the big things that the mayor of Tirana did with all these really terrible old Soviet buildings is he had them painted all these different colors.

And then most people there don't have dryers. So they would hang their clothes out. And so one of the things they did was to paint on a lot of the buildings you would see. It looked like people hanging their clothes out. That's cool. And just, you know, I'm not enough of an artist to know what kinds of things someone would do. But should we have a call for something specific

about There would be kind of

particular spaces or something?

Yeah, like theme I mean, they're kind of themed already, but maybe more specific themes.

So I did bring that up to our public art grant recipient which was Clearwater Brewing Company. And they were really about it and then they went a different direction which was Sea Life and it looks really good. But I do like the style a lot and I think it would definitely be possible for a Coachmen Park wall. Even this mural festival that we have coming up, maybe that's just to find artists that specialize in that and give that as an option to one of the business owners. I don't know if we can specifically say we have to do this thing, but we can definitely put it out there for especially the city owned buildings would be easier for us to do that.

Yeah. That would be fun.

And has the city done anything with like kinetic

art? I don't think so.

Because that was one of the questions I had for the, you know, you answered it, but

The things that move?

Yeah, the ones that was in the city hall, I had a question of like, you know, is that supposed to move at all?

I don't think they're like move, move. They're suspended, so they move a little.

The air movement in the in the building. Yeah. You know, depending on maybe where the vents are. Mhmm. I don't know.

Because they're moving There's some There's some like move with the wind.

Ruben Margolin is a sculptor that makes these kinetic pieces. They're stunning.

We've never had any submissions for kinetic pieces.

Well, maybe even for, like, a sculpture. Expensive. They're really cool. I love them, but I don't know if we've ever had a budget high enough for I'm

worried too about maintenance. Like if we already have an issue with like the piece of the library, you know, where the artist misrepresented the finish on the work. And here we are seven years later having to take it down and probably going to be $20,000 to repaint it. Yeah, that's what I was going to say, but I didn't a lot of money to repaint it. I worry about something that like has to be greased and like who or, you know, whatever. The rope's tightened on and like who's going to do that? Can we fly the artist out every six months to adjust the pulleys or whatever?

Yeah. I really don't know.

Yeah, no, no. Mean, something else too that might be kind of fun to explore would be like video mapping, you know, where like on three-dimensional objects, the video only projects onto that object. You know, you can it's almost like if you had your projector and you put some electrical tape over it and masked it out, but you can do that digitally. So it, projects, you know, moving images or or whatever in a certain space, but but not in the rep whole space. I mean, that might be kind of fun to And that would glow well in that interior, you know, of lobby of the new building, new municipal or new city hall.

Yeah. That'd be cool. I mean, not now, but going forward. And that would be Connecticut. Connecticut.

Not Connecticut. Not Connecticut. We

don't have anything slated, but we're not against it.

Put it

like that.

Well, cool. There is no other feedback or input. I think our meeting can be adjourned. All right. Do we have to make a vote? Okay, so meeting adjourned at 04:57.

Thank you all.