01/10/07
Architectural Firm Svigals + Partners Collaborates with Regional Artists to Make New Haven Elementary Schools Functional and Beautiful
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Imagine your child’s school enlivened by steel animal and insect motifs and oak leaf inlays, a colorful 60-foot glass wall depicting ocean creatures, or even a giant mobile with hundreds of fluttering reflective panes. Parents of students in four New Haven, Conn. elementary schools don’t need to… thanks to the collaborative efforts of Barry Svigals, founder and managing partner of local architectural firm, Svigals + Partners, four talented artists, and a city of New Haven program entitled Percent for Art.
Created by municipal ordinance in 1981 for the purpose of building community awareness of, and appreciation for, fine art in public spaces, the Percent for Art program requires up to one percent of a new school’s total construction cost be allocated toward the commissioning of a significant piece of artwork for placement within that facility. Not only is Svigals a champion of the program, which encourages synergy between artists and architects, he helped make it a reality.
As a former chair of New Haven’s Cultural Affairs Commission, Svigals worked jointly with preceding Commission chairperson, Christina Spiesel, who set the Percent for Art program in motion during her 1984-1988 administration. A senior research scholar in law at the Yale Law School, Spiesel is a visual artist and author. She served on the Cultural Affairs Commission through 1991, working to change the dynamic of New Haven’s cultural life through the creation of the city’s International Festival and the founding of ArtSpace – a local non-profit arts organization. Together, she and Svigals brought the Percent for Art program to life with the installation of several large commissioned pieces in New Haven’s city parks and newly renovated public library. In 1996, the ordinance was applied for the first time to a New Haven public school – the Edgewood Avenue K-8 Arts Magnet School – designed by Svigals and his firm.
Art for Art’s Sake
Svigals viewed the Edgewood School project as an opportunity to bring art and architecture together in a unique way. He teamed up with Gar Waterman, a New Haven-based sculptor known for shaping stone, wood and metal into organic forms, and the two started looking for innovative ways to express the life of the school in the artistic details incorporated into the architecture.
“Gar beautifully employed stainless steel cutouts of snakes, butterflies and animals to create railings along the concrete walkways and oak tree entry columns, among other artistic elements, and it inspired us to add oak leaf inlays in the building’s linoleum floor tile to form a dialogue between architecture and nature throughout the school,” observed Svigals.
He added, “We strive to create such accord between our architectural concepts and the work of every artist with whom we affiliate through Percent for Art.”
The program has since continued throughout the city, and now encompasses a total of a dozen New Haven elementary schools, four of them designed by Svigals + Partners: Edgewood Avenue, completed in 1999; John S. Martinez School (Fair Haven), completed in 2004; and two schools currently under construction: Beecher School (Jewell Street) and Columbus School (Grand Avenue), slated to open in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
A Collaborative Effort
As the architect on each of these projects, Svigals + Partners interfaces directly with the individual artists to carefully integrate his or her work into the flow of the school’s overall design.
“The Percent for Art Program allows us to establish a resonance between art and architecture… to engage our creative thinking with that of the artists,” said Svigals, a noteworthy sculptor in his own right who has been exploring the inclusion of sculpture in the vernacular of his architectural work. “It’s a very fluid relationship, one in which we conceptualize together to find the most appropriate place for the artists’ proposals to engage the architecture.”
The Martinez School features the work of former West Haven, Conn. artist, Liliana Mejia, a native of Colombia.
On this project, Svigals and Mejia joined forces to leverage the impact of the art budget. Incorporating Mejia’s design into the entire wall of the school’s Media Center, Svigals used colored architectural glass to expand her stained glass windows… thereby creating an 1,800 square foot “underwater world” in the school’s entrance hall.
“It made her work more impressive,” said Svigals, “as if she had designed the entire wall.”
Renowned Puerto Rican sculptor, José Buscaglia, who now resides in Providence, R.I., has been commissioned to create a bronze for the Columbus School. The sculpture – that of Triana, the sailor reputed to have first seen land on Columbus’ ship, the Pinta – was initially placed by the artist on a side wall, but Svigals and project designer, Fernando Pastor, specified a more prominent position at the school’s entrance canopy and created a column which serves as the “mast” for Triana’s “crow’s nest.”
Concurrently, Tim Prentice, an artist famed for his large-scale mobiles and other kinetic sculptures, will be creating, at his studio in Cornwall, Conn., a kinetic mobile for the atrium of the Beecher School. With the building under construction, Prentice and Svigals are exploring ways in which the ventilation system can animate the entrance space piece.
“Each project has allowed us to work collaboratively with wonderful artists,” Svigals stressed, “bringing art and architecture together in a highly memorable manner.”
Involving the Community
According to Svigals, members of the various schools’ communities are invited at the outset to help choose the artist whose work will be showcased in their respective elementary school.
“The artists are selected by committees representing the city and community. By playing an active role in the decision-making process, those who participate become pivotal in developing an appreciation of culture in New Haven,” he stated. “In fact, they become ambassadors for the program.”
By virtue of that input, the pool of initial artist proposals is eventually culled down to three with final selection made by a jury composed of area residents and artists. While Svigals + Partners does not actually sit on the individual selection committees, the firm does serve as an informal guide regarding what opportunities are afforded for art in the buildings identified for the Percent for Art program. The Cultural Affairs Commission then commissions specific pieces based on those recommendations.
“Our goal, again via collaboration, is to take the selection process to another level,” said Svigals. “This allows the artwork to become a more prominent part of the school’s overarching design, providing greater exposure for the piece and the artist. Needless to say, it’s very rewarding to work with artists whose visions contribute to our effort to create beautiful learning environments.
“The outcome is always interesting and inspiring, and most certainly gratifying,” he concluded.
Since its inception in 1981, New Haven’s Percent for Art Program has commissioned 31 works of art – with pieces on display in many of the city’s public schools, fire stations, parks, libraries and other public buildings and spaces. New Haven was the first city in Connecticut to enact such legislation, which is currently in place in more than 26 states and 90 counties and municipalities within the U.S. For additional information, contact Barbara J. Lamb at (203) 946-8378. For more information on the artists mentioned herein, visit www.garwaterman.com; www.josebuscaglia.com; www.timprentice.com and http://ursamajor.hartnet.org/iccd/artists/mejia.
Christina O. Spiesel, professional visual artist, painter and writer, is an adjunct professor of law at Quinnipiac University School of Law, Hamden, Conn., and New York Law School, New York, N.Y. She teaches Visual Persuasion in the Law at both institutions. She is also a senior research scholar at the Yale Law School. In addition, she is a faculty associate of Bard College’s Institute for Writing and Thinking, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. A veteran of many solo and group exhibitions, she has been exhibiting her art since 1972 and is a founder of ArtSpace – a non-profit arts organization in New Haven. Spiesel has published academic papers interpreting art, on visual issues within legal discourse, poetry and memoirs. She holds a B.A. from Shimer College, Waukegan, Ill. and an M.A. from the University of Chicago.
Svigals + Partners, a full-service architectural design and master planning firm based in New Haven, Conn., is reviving figurative art in architecture and is bringing its beauty, relevance and distinction into the 21st century. Established in 1983, Svigals + Partners employs 25 and serves clients throughout the U.S., offering a complete range of architectural services from master planning, site selection and feasibility studies through design and construction. The company specializes in four project areas: education, laboratory, corporate and master planning. The firm is known for its original and imaginative integration of planning, design, sculpture and artwork. For more information, visit www.svigals.com.
