Call for Artists Chapman Cultural Center seeks woodworking artist

Chapman Cultural Center is looking for a professional South Carolina artist/craftsperson with experience in producing functional and large-scale wood sculptures. That person will lead a design team that will make four performance stages — Artlets — as part of Spartanburg’s redevelopment of its Northside neighborhood.

The lead artist will be paid $15,000, with additional funds for materials, civil and structural engineers, and other project expenses. Tools and workshop space will be made available. Volunteer college students and community residents will assist with construction and landscaping. As a collaborative endeavor, Chapman Cultural Center staff, community residents, the City of Spartanburg, and Northside Development Group will participate in this public art project. The project schedule is expected to run approximately 3-4 months for design, three months for fabrication, and one month for installation. The overall schedule is from January 2016 to January 2017. The artist will need to participate in one or two community meetings to explain the project designs and answer questions.

Chapman Cultural Center was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA ) Artworks Grant to design the prototype four Artlets as part of a larger neighborhood-wide redevelopment initiative to create a more livable neighborhood. This project is the next step in the cultural planning process funded by an Our Town Grant. The plan for the Northside Neighborhood of Spartanburg identified short-term and long-term goals for arts infusion in this underserved neighborhood with innovative approaches to how the arts may be experienced and appreciated.

The team will design and build four Artlets, measuring roughly 10’ x 10’ with movable/shifting walls at the perimeter edges that will provide a background for performers using the space as a stage, a private zone, a play area, or other impromptu activities. Each unique Artlet will sit on a concrete pad.

For additional information about the Northside redevelopment, please visit online: SpartanburgNDG.com and ChapmanCulturalCenter.org (search “northside”).

For more info on this Call for Artists, contact Melissa Earley at (864) 278-9685. Please submit a letter of interest, a resume or CV, a summary of project oversight experience (or experience working with volunteers), and up to five JPGs of recent works, or include a link to an online gallery of your work, by Feb. 12, 2016, to [email protected].