State arts council receives about 25 applications for public art installation west of Fordville
Apr. 10—GRAND FORKS — The North Dakota Council on the Arts has received about 25 applications from artists across the country for a large-scale public artwork planned for a site between Fordville and Dahlen, according to Rhea Beto, the council's public information officer.
This is part of the council's "Arts Across the Prairie: Placemaking in Rural North Dakota," a first-of-its-kind initiative whereby one public art piece will be installed in each of the state's eight geographic regions.
The public artwork in Region 4 — Grand Forks, Walsh, Pembina and Nelson counties — is planned for a site near the Dahlen Esker, midway between Fordville and Dahlen. The esker is a prominent ridge that can be seen to the west of the point where State Highway 32 crosses the Grand Forks-Walsh county line.
Members of the Region 4 stakeholders group have been asked to review the roughly 25 applications and select three final candidates, who will be informed of their selection in the coming days. Then, the finalists will be asked to complete and submit a detailed request for proposals by May 12. The RFP will provide more specifics on the artist's vision for the public artwork. The finalists are expected to be interviewed online May 18.
The arts council plans to announce the artist or creative team selected to carry out the Region 4 project by May 25.
The public artwork should reflect the unique history, landscape and cultural heritage of each region, according to the council's guidelines. The Region 4 project, titled "Endless Sky — Dynamic Layers," is the second to get underway in the state; the first was Region 1 in northwestern North Dakota. Plans for six other regional projects are at various stages of progress, Beto said.
The Region 4 stakeholders have been meeting since late fall 2021 to work out timelines and other plans for this project. Members include: for Grand Forks County — Al Boucher, Becca Cruger, Kathy Armacost, Ann Brown, Hazel Sletten and Sarah Heitkamp; Pembina County — Patricia Caylay, Zelda Hartje and Becky Ratchenski; and Walsh County — Agatha Frisby, Dawn Mandt, Emma Narloch, Cheryl Osowski and Crystal Voth, according to the NDCA website.
The initiative is being funded by a $1 million appropriation by the state Legislature, specifically for the interest earned on this amount to be used for infrastructure and maintenance costs over the life of the program, according to the NDCA website. The program has a $5 million budget over seven years.
This public art initiative is being conducted in collaboration with the state's Department of Commerce's tourism division and Department of Transportation. Collaboration with the transportation department is the first of its kind in the nation, according to the NDCA website.
The "Arts Across the Prairie" initiative has been developed by the NDCA to celebrate the cultural heritage of rural areas, foster creative relationships across counties and regions, bolster NDCA's role as a rural development partner, and spur economic development through tourism.
