Third, and final, artist for Pedestrian Mall public art project to present Monday

IOWA CITY - With the third and final candidate scheduled to visit Iowa City on Monday, officials are nearing the point of choosing which artist will begin developing a public art project slated for the north side of the Pedestrian Mall.

Cecil Balmond, of Balmond Studio in London, will attend an open house at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Iowa City library.

Vito Acconci, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Hans Breder, of Iowa City, already attended their respective open houses last month.

Marcia Bollinger, Iowa City public art coordinator, said the final artist, who will be chosen by the Artist Review Panel, then will begin working with Des Moines-based Genus Landscape Architects to fit the future art piece - planned for the area of the Pedestrian Mall known as the Black Hawk Mini Park - into the city's Streetscape Plan.

'They want the artist to work with Genus Landscape to develop a plan that works within the scope of what they plan on doing,” Bollinger said. 'All of that is going to be key to how the artwork operates in that space.”

Public input will be collected throughout the process, Bollinger said.

'It's very important that this have community support and involvement,” she said.

Geoff Fruin, assistant to the city manager, said it's possible the art piece will fit into the first big Streetscape Plan project - updating the two blocks of Washington Street on the north end of the Pedestrian Mall. That portion of the project is planned for 2016.

Blending the art project with other updates to the Pedestrian Mall including lighting, benches, planters, and pavers will be key, Fruin said.

'This is a signature public art piece for the Pedestrian Mall, really for the entire downtown,” he said. 'When you have a piece of this magnitude and this stature, you don't fit it into some predetermined design, the piece really influences the design around it.”

Bollinger said another desire for the art project is to incorporate an interactive element, which could include electronics, lighting, water, or sound.

Funding has not been identified for the art portion of the Streetscapes Plan, and Bollinger said it might require a fundraising effort.