Few artists interested in Batavia bridge art contest

Putting a second sculpture on the Wilson Street bridge may cost more than the city planned to spend.

It seems few artists were interested in the commission, according to a memo from Batavia city administrator Bill McGrath to the city council’s city services committee.

The city council offered a $22,500 prize earlier this year in the contest for the sculpture, which is to express the theme of “History” — specifically, Batavia’s history. It is to be one of four sculptures installed on the bridge, which was rebuilt in 2007.

The first sculpture, “Nature: Sounds of Harmony,” was installed in 2008, and cost the city $30,000. The stainless-steel work was done by Kai Schulte of Sugar Grove.

Like before, the city held a contest. The idea was to display models of the sculpture for the public to view and submit comments about, then have the city council pick one. When it did this in 2008, it received more than 15 proposals.

This time, it received three. One was from a person who has not done a public sculpture before, and two are existing pieces not designed specifically for the competition.

McGrath then spoke to one of the artists, an artist who submitted two years ago, and a sculptor who also runs a foundry. All three said that, due to an increase in cost of metals (particularly bronze) the last two years, it was likely artists felt the prize was too small to cover their costs. The theme of “history” lends itself to a statue that has a human figure, and those typically are made of bronze, according to McGrath. The prize money might cover the cost of the materials, but not the artist’s creative and labor time, according to McGrath.

The money comes out of a tax increment financing district property tax fund dedicated to improving the downtown. The city originally planned to install a sculpture a year, but decided not to do so in 2009 and 2010, feeling it wasn’t the right thing to do while the economy was bad.

The committee will discuss the matter at its meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Batavia Government Center, 100 N. Island Ave.