Title
City Council Discussion of Mildred Howard’s Proposed Design for the Work of Art to be Installed Along the Front Façade of the San Leandro Main Library
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Consistent with the City Council’s direction at its July 15, 2019 meeting, staff brings forward for the City Council’s consideration, based on the City of San Leandro Arts Commission’s recommendation, the draft design of a sculpture to be installed along the front façade of the San Leandro Main Library.
BACKGROUND
At the July 15, 2019 regular City Council meeting, the Council approved a $135,000 contract with award-winning Bay Area artist Mildred Howard for the design, fabrication, and installation of a bronze sculpture to be installed at the San Leandro Main Library. Ms. Howard spent the subsequent months formulating design concepts.
As part of her development of the proposed sculpture, Ms. Howard worked collaboratively with a committee of the City of San Leandro Arts Commission consisting of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission. She also received input from the City’s Library Director as part of the process. The proposed sculpture would be cast in bronze from a local foundry in the East Bay and would be approximately 12-15 feet in height and mounted on the front façade of the Main Library, below the exterior clock on the lower portion of the building, adjacent to the main entryway. As part of the project, Ms. Howard also secured an agreement from Quincy Troupe, nationally-acclaimed author, poet and professor, to develop a related poem that would be installed along the façade of the retaining wall located immediately in front of the Main Library building, adjacent to the Library’s front lawn area. It is envisioned that the poem would provide additional context for the proposed sculpture. A visual rendering of Ms. Howard’s proposal is attached as an exhibit to this staff report.
Consistent with the City Council’s prior direction, the proposed design was presented to the City of San Leandro Arts Commission at its February 19, 2020 meeting. That meeting was publicly noticed and took place in City Hall’s Sister Cities gallery; it was attended by members of the public. Following a presentation by Ms. Howard, and comments from the public, the Arts Commission unanimously recommended that the proposal be presented to the City Council with a recommendation for approval.
If authorized by the City Council, the artist would move forward with development of construction documents for the proposed sculpture, in conjunction with a structural engineer who has already been retained for the project. In advance of bringing forward the proposed design to the City Council for its review, staff from the City’s Engineering and Public Works departments were also consulted to confirm that the proposed design would be viable from an engineering, building code and maintenance perspective.
About Mildred Howard, the artist
Mildred Howard is a local Bay Area artist who grew up in Berkeley. She has a strong track record of developing significant works of art in prominent locations across the country. Known for her sculptural installations and mixed-media assemblage work, Howard received her MFA from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, CA. In 2015 she received the Lee Krasner Award, in recognition of a lifetime of artistic achievement. She has also been the recipient of the Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Artists (2017), the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (2004/05), a fellowship from the California Arts Council (2003), the Adeline Kent Award from San Francisco Art Institute (1991), and, most recently, the Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts and the Douglas G. MacAgy Distinguished Achievement Award from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Large-scale installations she designed have been mounted at Creative Time in New York, InSITE in San Diego, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the New Museum in New York. Public commissions and installations were also executed for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, the City of Oakland, and for the San Francisco Arts Commission and San Francisco International Airport. Mildred Howard’s works are represented in the collections of SFMOMA, the de Young Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Museum of Glass and Contemporary Art, Tacoma, the Oakland Museum, and the San Jose Museum of Art. The Anglim Gilbert Gallery in San Francisco has also shown Ms. Howard’s work since 1990.
About Quincy Troupe, the poet.
Quincy Troupe is the author of 20 books, including 10 volumes of poetry and three children’s books. His awards include the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement, the Milt Kessler Poetry Award, three American Book Awards, the 2014 Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, a 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from Furious Flower, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History Award, January 25, 2018, in Detroit, Michigan. His writings have been translated into over 30 languages.
He is co-author with Miles Davis of Miles: the Autobiography, and author of Miles and Me, a chronicle of his friendship with Miles Davis, re-issued by Seven Stories Press (Fall 2018) and scheduled for release in 2020 as a major motion picture for which Mr. Troupe wrote the screenplay. Also forthcoming from Seven Stories Press are Duende: Poems from 1966 Until Now (Fall 2020) and a memoir, The Accordion Years, in 2021. Mr. Troupe was also a contributor to the Pursuit of Happyness, which became a major motion picture. Quincy Troupe is Professor Emeritus from the University of California, San Diego. He edits Black Renaissance Noire a literary and culture journal published by the Institute of African American Affairs at New York University.
Summary
The Arts Commission recommends that the City Council approve the proposed sculpture design as developed by artist Mildred Howard, and authorize the Arts Commission and City staff to work with her to execute the fabrication and installation of the sculpture and related poem at the San Leandro Main Library.
Fiscal Impacts
Sufficient funding for this project was appropriated in the FY 2017-18 and 2018-19 Arts Commission budgets and encumbered with the existing contract that was authorized by the City Council at its July 15, 2019 meeting. No additional appropriations are requested.
Budget Authority
Funds for the project are appropriated and encumbered in the current Fiscal Year 2019-20 budget, account 010-14-010-8516.
ATTACHMENT(S)
Attachment(s) to Related Legislative File
• Proposed design simulation
PREPARED BY: Eric Engelbart, Deputy City Manager, City Manager’s Office