Portsmouth to Spend $100K on New Public Artwork

PORTSMOUTH, NH - This week, the Portsmouth City Council voted to spend almost $129,000 on public art for the city’s Foundry Place Garage project. According to WickedLocal, the money will be split between $88,900 on a sculpture that will be created by Terrence Parker of Eliot, Maine, called “Hammer-Heads” and $40,000 on an “Etched Glass Mural” by Seth Palmiter of Rockport, Maine.

The project is being paid for through the city’s Percent for Art ordinance, which requires the City Council to spend 1 percent of any municipal project that costs at least $2 million on an art element, with a maximum budget of $150,000.

City Councilor Nancy Pearson served as co-chair of the Percent for Art Project Planning Committee, which oversaw the selection of the art projects that she recommended to the City Council. The council’s vote to authorize the spending “means that all members of our community can have access to high-quality works of contemporary art that speak to the unique history of that part of Portsmouth,” Pearson said.

“Public art is always open, always available, and touches each individual in a different way,” she said. “Any person, any time of day can interact with these works and think about Portsmouth through the centuries; where we were, where we are and where we are going.”

The City Council approved the Foundry Place garage in May and has since approved $23.2 million for the project. It is expected to open in the fall of 2018.

To read the full article, visit WickedLocal.

Courtesy Photo / City of Portsmouth