STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Quality of Life
AGENDA DATE: May 12, 2021
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S): 2
DEPARTMENT: Office of Arts and Culture
EXECUTIVE: Joey Zapata
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SUBJECT
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Authorize a contract with Allbritton Lee LLC for the fabrication and installation of a site-specific artwork at Martyr’s Park located at 379 Commerce Street - Not to exceed $150,000.00 - Financing: DWU Public Art Fund
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BACKGROUND
By resolution in April 2018, City Council directed the creation of a working group to recommend the scope to contextualize the full history of Fair Park and memorialize the lynching of Allen Brooks. As previously communicated by memorandum in October 2019, the Working Group recognized that there are many victims of racial violence that need memorialization, and recommended Martyr’s Park for this City of Dallas Memorial to Victims of Racial Violence.
The published scope of the Memorial to Victims of Racial Violence Project is to create a tribute to the memory of victims of lynching and racial violence in Dallas, with references to victims in Dallas between 1853-1920. The Public Art installation is expected to be visually accessible and durable. Artists reviewed the comments from community meetings about the project conducted in 2019-2020 and incorporated the input into the design proposal. The design by artists Shane Albritton and Norman Lee, in collaboration with poet Tim Seibles, were recommended for this public art project by the Selection Panel composed of community members, artists, and a representative from the Park and Recreation Department.
Artist Background
Artists Shane Allbritton and Norman Lee, co-founders of RE:site have completed 13 memorials in recent years, including the memorial of Botham Jean installed at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas. Their work explores the intersections of community, identity, and story-telling in public spaces. They focus on local history and events to create installation spaces that invite the public to engage and share experiences of history.
Tim Seibles is one of America’s foremost African-American poets, whose work investigates themes of race and memory. A previous resident of Dallas for nearly 25 years, Seibles has strong connections to Dallas and its history. Seibles is a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts and recently the Poet laureate of Virginia.
Project Description
The proposed Memorial for Victims of Racial Violence, titled “Shadow Lines” (Exhibit A), references time, memory, shadow and light. It consists of a semicircular wall of weathering steel around a circular plaza. The space creates a place for public commemoration of events of racial violence in Dallas. In the center of the circular plaza, a spire emerges casting shadows onto the plaza and wall.
The curved wall around the outside of the circle is intersected by vertical cuts providing a metaphor for lives cut short and communities dissected by violence.
Interpretive text will be included on the plaza wall; one side presents the purpose of the Memorial and the other side presents a poem by renowned poet Tim Seibles, created to speak to Dallas’ difficult times. The poem will address a sense of renewal, resilience, and hope for the future.
The artwork is composed of a semi-circular array of 1/2 inch thick weathering (Cor-Ten, A588) curved steel plates surrounding a 35-foot diameter circular concrete plaza. The curved plates will be laser cut and rolled and fastened to the grade beam at the perimeter of the concrete plaza. The plates will each be CNC laser cut and rolled to a 35-foot diameter. A base plate will ensure accurate curved forms, and the top edges of the plates will be joined by a minimal (invisible), field welded CNC-cut curved plate so that the plates are aligned and maintain a pure semi-circular form. The names and dates of the victims of racial violence are laser cut into each of the vertical individual plates, along with a poem on the large, curved plate to the right of the individual plates. Additional lighting from the ground is also part of the artwork plan.
At the center of the composition is a 20-foot weathering steel gnomon - a sundial armature creating a shadow that falls on the name of deceased where the longest shadow is cast by the morning sun on the anniversary date of each victim’s death.
ESTIMATED SCHEDULE OF PROJECT
Contract Award May 2021
Complete Installation July 2022
PRIOR ACTION/REVIEW (COUNCIL, BOARDS, COMMISSIONS)
On April 25, 2018, City Council authorized the City Manager to form a working group to recommend the scope for adding a full historical context to Fair Park, commemorating the Hall of Negro Life, and for a proper memorial of the lynching of Allen Brooks by Resolution No. 18-0626.
Information about this item was provided to the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission on October 17, 2019.
On October 24, 2019, the Park and Recreation Board approved the location of the Memorial for Victims of Racial Violence to be located at Martyr’s Park.
FISCAL INFORMATION
|
Fund |
FY 2021 |
FY 2022 |
Future Years |
|
DWU Public Art Fund |
$75,000.00 |
$75,000.00 |
$0.00 |
OWNER
Allbritton Lee LLC
Shane Allbritton, Co-Founder
Norman Lee, C-Founder
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