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The Maine Arts Commission is pleased to invite all artists who are permanent Maine or New Hampshire residents to submit proposals to design, create and install artwork for the new Molly Ockett Elementary School in Fryeburg, ME. The total project budget is approximately $45,000 and the submission deadline is Tuesday, December 20, 2016, at 5:00 p.m.

All professional artists who reside in Maine or New Hampshire are eligible for consideration to this project. Artists who are employees of the University of Maine System are ineligible for Percent for Art projects at the location where they are employed, as are members of the selection committee and their immediate families. Students at any level are ineligible. The project is open to all artists age 18 and over, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical disabilities. Artist teams are eligible to apply, including teams of artists from multiple disciplines.

“Public art is one of the best ways for everyone to enjoy art that enriches our landscapes and work places, as well as one of the best ways for an artist’s work to be visible,” said Julie Horn, Visual Arts Director at the Maine Arts Commission. “Maine’s Percent for Art law represents great economic and artistic opportunities both for Maine artists and Maine people.”

Molly Ockett, after whom the school is named, lived in Fryeburg in the 1760s and was from the Pequawket Tribe. She was a homeopathic medicine expert, with instances of her cures recorded in local histories, as well as a famed storyteller. Proposals should respond to the area’s vibrant history and the notion of storytelling, and create opportunities for curiosity and open-ended questions. Artwork should also reflect the ideas of wonder, imagination and play. Artists with local ties to the Mount Washington Valley are encouraged to apply, although this is not an eligibility prerequisite.

The Percent for Art law in Maine reserves one percent of the construction funds for all state-funded building projects to provide artwork for the public areas of these buildings and /or their exterior renovations and additions. The artwork commissioned through this program takes on many forms. Traditional representative sculpture, abstract wall-mounted works, projects that integrate artwork throughout the building in a holistic manner, mobiles, earthwork and new media are just a few of the categories that have been commissioned.

If you have questions about the facility, please contact District Superintendent Jay Robinson at jay.robinson@msad72.org. All other questions should be directed to Anne Marie Purkey Levine, Percent for Art Associate for the Maine Arts Commission, through e-mail at Annemarie.mainepfa@gmail.com or via phone at 619-892-5545.
Additional information on the Percent for Art program, including all calls for proposals and access to applications, can be found at https://mainearts.maine.gov/pages/public/public-arts.