Three artists/artist teams – Sheila Ghidini, Gerald Heffernon, and Wowhaus – were selected by the Ortega Branch Community Artist Selection Panel to create proposals for an artwork to be placed at the new branch library.

The proposals will be on view from March 10th to March 24th, 2009 at Ortega Branch Library, 3223 Ortega Street at 39th Avenue. A notebook will available inside the library for written public comment.

The proposals can also be downloaded and viewed here:
English: Ortega Branch Library – Artist Proposals (PDF 766 kb)
Chinese: 新Ortega圖書館分館—公共藝術之藝術家的提案 (PDF 827 kb)

More information about the artists can be accessed on their websites:
- Sheila Ghidini (http://sheilaghidini.com/)
- Gerlad Heffernon (http://www.geraldheffernon.com/)
- Wowhaus (http://www.thewowhaus.com/)

Comments may be emailed to Mary Chou by March 24th at 5 pm at the following email address: mary.chou@sfgov.org. Please briefly describe your opinions about the strengths of each artist’s preliminary design approach and its appropriateness for the new Ortega Branch Library.

Overview of Artist Selection Process

The Arts Commission is working with Sunset residents and staff from the Branch Library Improvement Program, the Public Library, and the Bureau of Architecture to commission a public artwork for the new Ortega Branch Library. As part of the process, the Arts Commission created an Ortega Branch Community Artist Selection Panel in September 2008 that includes three elected community representatives – Richard Chafian, Judi Gorski, and Margaret Jarrett-Eshia – Ortega Branch Manager Tiffany Lac, and Project Architect Youcef Bouhamama.

The Ortega Branch Community Artist Selection Panel met in November 2008 to review artists’ applications from a pre-qualified artist candidate pool. At that first meeting, the Selection Panel selected three finalists – Sheila Ghidini, Gerald Heffernon, and Wowhaus – to prepare artwork proposals for the new Ortega Branch Library. The three finalists, along with members of the Selection Panel and the community, met on January 12, 2009 for a project orientation. Each of the artists spent six weeks developing their proposals, which are on view from March 10 to March 24 at Ortega Branch and on the Arts Commission website for public comment.

At the Selection Panel’s final meeting in early April 2009, the panelists will interview each of the three finalists, discuss their proposals with them, and then decide which artist/proposal to recommend to the Arts Commission for final approval. The Selection Panel will receive all written public comments from the proposal exhibition prior to their last meeting.

The final Selection Panel meeting will take place at 25 Van Ness. All artist selection panel meetings are open to the public. Please visit the Arts Commission website for the specific room, date and time of the meeting at: http://www.sfartscommission.org/pubartcollection/