My First Public Art Project
“You know I design quilts, right?”
That was my response to then City of Chattanooga Public Art Director Kat Wright in February 2022, after learning she wanted me to submit a proposal to create artistic elements for the floor of an indoor basketball court at East Lake Community Center. But Kat was confident I had the skills to assemble a design worthy of installation. She’d seen my quilts hanging in a local art gallery and said the bold, graphic motifs were precisely the sort of vibe Public Art Chattanooga was seeking for the basketball court.
I’m glad she persisted because she was right—the community center reopened to the public earlier this year after an extensive renovation, and the design I created shines in the space.
The Timeline
During our initial phone call, Kat said I would be one of three local artists to present a portfolio to the artwork selection panel for consideration. The timeline was quick; I sent her my CV and five images of my work that same week. (Only one of those images showed a finished quilt—my beloved Felicitous Pickle—the others were digital designs created in Adobe Illustrator.)
Less than two weeks later, in late February, I learned the panel enthusiastically voted to hire me for the project. I had three weeks to create three preliminary designs for consideration by the panel and local community members. They would select the final design, with the goal to install the artwork on the court in late May or early June 2022. With March Madness officially underway, I got to work.
Community Research
First, I met with Jazmine LeBlanc of ELLA Library. She lives in East Lake and serves as a creative strategist for public art projects in the neighborhood. Jazmine and Audrey Menard conducted several rounds of community engagement surveys between 2019-2021, and their final reports provided a wealth of knowledge about East Lake’s history and residents.
Established in 1887, the neighborhood is one of the oldest in Chattanooga and was once a thriving manufacturing hub connected to downtown and North Georgia by trolleys and railroads. East Lake Park, which is just a few blocks away from the community center, features an expansive duck pond and was donated to the city in 1896 as Chattanooga’s first park. In one report, Jazmine writes, “The park is also said to have housed Chattanooga’s first arboretum/greenhouse. … Gardening clubs stayed part of the community culture in East Lake until the 1990s. East Lake Academy has also made efforts to introduce students to horticulture as community beautification.”
Initial Designs
The surveys also indicated local residents’ preferred colors for public art design elements were purple and white. All of this information informed my designs, and I focused on three neighborhood features as a springboard for my preliminary drawings: East Lake’s gardening history, the duck pond’s feathered occupants, and the park’s existing architecture.
The first design featured traditional Drunkard’s Path quilt blocks—quarter circles—arranged in the shape of a tulip flower with gradations of purple and magenta. Duck bills and feathers inspired the second design of overlapping ovals in shades of purple, gray, white, and green. And finally, the wavy roof of a picnic pavilion in East Lake park (pictured above) lended its shape to the third motif.
I presented Illustrator mock-ups to the artwork selection panel and East Lake community members during a public meeting in mid-March 2022. The group selected the tulips as their preferred motif and requested I create several variations of it for consideration at a second and final public meeting in early April.
Round Two
They also asked me to incorporate brighter/bolder/more vibrant colors into the design for round two; in addition, meeting participants wanted to see an option with quieter gradient changes, and they requested I move the dark colors toward the outside edges of the court to prevent interference with various game markings. Following that feedback, I created these three variations.
The final vote was very close, but the design featuring gradations of blue, orange, magenta, and purple was crowned the winner. The color-block variation was runner up.
The End Result
Construction took longer than expected due to weather delays, but the revamped community center opened to the public in late January 2023. The long-awaited space has already hosted a number of events, including a Black History Festival in February.
It’s such a thrill to see people enjoying the space! I’m delighted by the installation of the artwork, which was coordinated by the city. I also love the way the colors are incorporated into various elements around the community center, including the color-blocked walls of the gym.
Would I do it again?
Absolutely!
Kat made it easy to work with the City of Chattanooga Public Art. The licensing contract was clearly defined and I successfully negotiated a few small changes. Because it’s a matter of public record, and because I believe this information benefits the artistic community as a whole, I’m happy to share that the city paid me a total of $3,000 to license my design: half when I signed the contract and half when I submitted the final files in April 2022.
I still pinch myself every time I see the basketball court, and I look forward to another public art project in the future.
