Artists are herby invited to apply to renovate a public drinking fountain in Winona, Minnesota’s Lake Park.

Artists from Minnesota as well as Wisconsin and Iowa may apply. Designs will be due by December 15, 2008 and the winning design will be announced in January, 2009. The chosen artist(s) will be awarded $12,000 to implement the renovation. This amount includes an estimated cost of materials of around $6,000. We will all celebrate the newly renovated drinking fountain on Winona’s Earth Day celebration, April 18, 2009.

Background
The Drinking Fountains project was created to inspire stewardship of our public local water and to promote a broader understanding of regional, national and international water issues by refurbishing a local drinking fountain in Winona as a public art initiative—one that is enacted and celebrated with a substantial public education component.  The public drinking fountain will serve as a symbol of a community committed to the honor, protection, and celebration of water as central to the health and wealth of our city. 

Our goal is to inspire a mindful reverence for water that we believe is instrumental towards educating citizens and policy makers about the stewardship of water. To that end, we are engaged in an academic year of experiential education about some of the water concerns that plague our world.  For example, we are working with the universities and community organizations to provide a Fall Lecture Series on Water, to include water as a major theme of the Frozen River Festival, to have a water-related book as WSU’s Common Book for the year, and to host two week-long residencies with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre to create water-themed dance performances and puppet/mask making workshops.

The ramifications of such education and engagement move beyond the quality of the water from the fountains alone into other important actions that impact the source of the water—the public Waterworks, the Mississippi River, storm water provisions, wetland protection, and consumer habits tied to agricultural and industrial practices. We hope that this year of learning, culminating in the public art decoration of one of our city drinking fountains, will invigorate public consciousness towards the gift of water as an inter-connector of all life, and will inspire practices (in homes, schools, places of work, and in legislative and engineering practices) toward sustainable futures concerning water quality, conservation and ownership.

The Site
The fountain to be renovated and decorated is located in Lake Park, near the shore of Lake Winona and in full view of towering bluffs. The site was selected by the City of Winona and other project partners because the area is also near the Lake Winona Band Shell, a playground, and a well-traveled bike path. It is therefore accessible to a broad range of people who use the community park.

Fountains Pictures

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Design and Technical Guidelines

• Artists may submit up to three (3) designs. Submission of a design does not guarantee its selection.
• Each design submitted must include an official design form.
• Designs may not be political or derogatory, but created with the intent of the project in mind.
• Designs should be true to color.
• Fountain renovation materialsused must offer outdoor resilience for at least 20 years.
• The final fountain renovation must comply with all applicable codes and comply with ADA regulations.
• Artists will modify preliminary designs as necessary to address plumbing, maintenance, and code issues.
• Personal use of the selected design must be approved by the Our Drinking Water, Our Fountains Committee.
• One artist, or a team of artists, will be selected. The total award for the renovation is $12,000. This amount includes expenses for materials, delivery, installation, maintenance planning, documentation, etc. We expect that these expenses will total at least $6,000.
• The artist, or team, will be required to document the project—before, during, after—as well as the expenses for the renovation.
• The artist, or team, selected is required to sign a contract and to assign the rights for the design to the Our Drinking Water, Our Fountains Committee.
• Artists will submit their designs along with a portfolio showing 10 images of related past work through photographs, slides, or CD.
• Artists will describe their professional experience with weather resilient materials.
• A Design Submission Form must be submitted by December 15, 2008 to Our Drinking Fountains, Our Water Project, c/o City of Winona, Park and Recreation Department, 207 Lafayette St. Winona, MN 55987.

Design Selection Process

• Three (3) designs will be approved by the selection committee and the final selection will be determined by an electronic vote conducted via the Our Drinking Fountains, Our Water website: http://water.southeastmn.edu.