Wyoming Arts Council

Jackson Hole Public Art selects finalists for its 5-Way Intersection Project

Featured News | March 5, 2014

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News from Jackson Hole Public Art:

From a pool of more than 170 submissions, two nationally-acclaimed artists have been chosen as finalists in the 5-Way Project. Thomas Sayre of Raleigh, NC and John Fleming of Seattle, WA will receive a stipend to travel to Jackson in March and develop a concept for the busy intersection. The project’s Selection Panel and the Town-appointed Public Art Task Force will then review the artists’ proposals and choose the artist they feel best understands Jackson Hole and the challenging site. With a $190,000 budget, the 5-Way Project is the largest public art opportunity to date offered by JH Public Art and the Town of Jackson. To ensure that the artists fully understand the currents coursing through the 5-Way, we are hosting an open house on the 5-Way to gather community comments on the site and the public art possibilities on March 13 at the Center for the Arts.

John Fleming, “Grass Blades,” Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington

John Fleming’s resume reads like many Jacksonites’ with its braiding of profession and passion. Early on, he worked as a ceramic artist, studio artist, ski instructor and rock climber. Then, he studied architecture and taught design and ceramics in India before planting himself in the Pacific Northwest. Drawing on his diverse background, his portfolio spans art, architectural and conceptual environmental projects, and much of his work blurs the lines between all three. His “Grass Blades,” planted outside the Seattle Center, evoke colorful spires of grain waving in the wind while visually complementing the silver bellows of the Frank Gehry building beside them.

Thomas Sayre, “Steward,” Calgary, Alberta, Canada Photograph: Kelsey Frank

Thomas Sayre has designed and built public art projects all over the world, including “Scintillation,” a stainless steel column constructed in the Ralph Carr Colorado Judicial Center in Denver. Sayre studied sculpture at the University of North Carolina, University of Michigan and Cranbrook Academy of Art. Most of his work lives in the public arena. “It is here where the idea of producing art intersects with the realities of life,” he has said. “The art will work only when disparate opinions come together through collaboration to form a coherent vision.”

The artwork will be owned, insured and maintained by the Town of Jackson and is funded with support from the LOR Foundation.

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