STEELE CREEK NEWS

Community Input Requested for New Police Station Artwork

(October 2, 2011) Construction has begun on the new Steele Creek Division Police Station at the corner of South Tryon Street and Westinghouse Boulevard. (See New Police Station to be Accessible and Environmentally Friendly, March 10, 2011.) A key component of the new facility will be public artwork in front of the building.

In March 2011, the Arts and Science Council (ASC), the City of Charlotte, and a Steele Creek community representative selected artist Billy Lee for the commission for the artwork. He would like to solicit participation from community residents before he begins the design of the sculpture. "I need specific information I can translate into a simple visuals which would be recognized by the residents. When I say simple visual, it is rather like designing a logo which can communicate a person or place," Lee said.

Questions you might want to consider in crafting your ideas are:

If you are interested in participating, please send your comments in the form of an email to Nicole Bartlett of ASC by Friday, October 21st at nicole.bartlett@artsandscience.org. Please put "Steele Creek CMPD Project" in the subject line.

Charlotte City Council adopted an ordinance in May 2003, allocating 1% of capital improvement projects construction funding to public artwork.  Eligible capital improvement projects include buildings or open space that are accessible to citizens.  ASC manages the Public Art Program for the City of Charlotte. The budget for the Steele Creek artwork is $36,000.

Artist Billy Lee was born to Chinese and Dutch parents in South Africa. He was educated in England and holds an MFA from the Royal College of Art, London.  He was awarded the designation of  Kennedy Scholar, which enabled him to study at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT where he is a Fellow. He is the only artist to ever receive the award of Kennedy Scholar.  Exhibiting and creating sculpture internationally for more than 20 years, his works are located in collections worldwide – the UK, Hungary, China, Japan, Chile and recently Abu Dhabi, UAE.  Lee is currently living in the US and is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Lee works with stone, steel, and bronze. Images of some of his work are below.

Reflections Stainless Steel, 14' x 6' x 6' Shanghai Sculpture Park, Shanghai, China
Untitled 1995 Black Painted Steel 10.5' x 5' x 5' & 7' x 5' x 5'		Sentinals 1994 Black Painted Steel, 12' high & 10' high Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro NC
EOS 2004 Black Granite, 16' x 6' x 7.5' Chin Pao San Memorial Rose Garden, Taipei, Taiwan
Billy Lee designed and fabricated a 20 foot diameter polished stainless steel sculpture with Arabic calligraphy, reflecting the culture and environment of Abu Dhabi at the 2010 Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) International Sculpture Symposium.

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