Well known Edmondite, and a fellow Rotarian, Randall Shadid, was our guest speaker at the September 4th meeting and his topic was the Visual Arts Commission that overseas the public art that graces the streets and parks of Edmond.
In October 8, 2001, Ordinance No. 2653 was passed to provide for means to fund the acquisition of works of art by the City, which would become the City's collection, and to provide a means of selection of works of art for the collection and to provide for the display of the collection and to provide for the maintenance and repair of the works of art in the collection. Randall said that an initial $100,000 fund was set up by the city council mostly funded by private individuals and matching money. The collection of "Art in Public Places" has grown to over 200 pieces at the time of his talk. The latest was at the OnCue station just up the street at the 15th and I-35 Service Rd. intersection. I looked at it on the way home and it is a very impressive abstract piece. A list of the art pieces can be found at http://edmondok.com/DocumentCenter/View/2749 An interactive map of most of the pieces is available online at http://gis.edmondok.com/artinpublicplaces/ If you go the the Edmond Convention Center site http://visitedmondok.com/public-art.php you will find a list of many of the best of the pieces and a brief description of the art work and artist.
Randall has been a big part of moving the structure of Edmond for over 40 years. He lists the Art in Public Places as probably the biggest impact due to the impact it will have long after his memory and any of ours has turned to vapor. We think so too!