Hoffman Center for the Arts is pleased to announce our commission of public art for the entrance to our horticultural Wonder Garden at 596 Laneda Ave, Manzanita, Oregon. This project is funded in-full by a generous donation.
About the project
The objectives of this project are to honor the long lineage of artists and artistic practices in Oregon, celebrate the artistic diversity of our region, and to increase awareness of the Hoffman Wonder Garden and Hoffman’s continued presence as a dedicated cultural center in our growing community.
About the location
The Wonder Garden is a small botanic garden the size of a city lot that sits on a corner of Manzanita’s main street, Laneda Avenue. The garden is three blocks west of Highway 101, directly in the line of sight of cars and pedestrians as they head to the beach. The Wonder Garden is laid out with beds of varying sizes and shapes surrounding a central meeting area, which, half the year, is covered by a shade sail to accommodate gatherings and outdoor classrooms. This area is covered by a shade sail for about half the year so that it can be used as a common area or outdoor classroom.
The flora in the Wonder Garden, labeled with common and Latin names, features plants from around the world that thrive in our coastal climate, particularly genera from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South and Central America, as well as locally native plants. Emphasis is on the unusual and the unexpected, consistent with the Horticulture program’s mission to excite the imagination and introduce visitors to foliage, textures and flowers they have, perhaps, never played with before.
About the process
The process begins today with an open Request for Qualifications (RFQ link) from interested artists who live in Oregon. The RFQ will be open for one month, through May 15th. Three finalists will be selected from these applications to submit full proposals, from which one artist will be selected to complete the project. The scope of this art commission includes artwork design, fabrication, transportation to the project site, and installation. Companion landscaping will be provided by Hoffman Center for the Arts. For more information and application guidelines, please refer to the RFQ contest page on the Hoffman website, www.hoffmanarts.org.
The success of this project relies on the quality and diversity of the applications. You can help by sharing this opportunity widely. Thank you for helping us support the arts in our flourishing community!
