PORT ANGELES — Artists have been given an additional month to submit mural designs for the city water tank on East Lauridsen Boulevard.
The submission window for proposed murals for the water tank has been extended to Dec. 14 and will be considered by the Port Angeles Fine Arts Board on Dec. 15, said Leslie Robertson, founder of Revitalize Port Angeles.
The water tank is located at the entrance to Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Designs in the form of a sketch or mock-up should be brought to the Fine Arts Center with the artist’s contact information.
Artists must be prepared to donate their concept; there will be no payment for the winning design.
Organizers have said that the surface of the tank is so rough, the mural design will have to be simple, without details that would be lost in the surface irregularities.
Additional information and examples of water tank murals in others areas are available online at www.revitalizeportangeles.org.
The next meeting for those who are interested in the water tank project will be at 5 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. 4th St.
Fewer designs than hoped for were submitted by the original Nov. 13 deadline, and new designs continued coming in until the last minute, Robertson said.
“Most of them were based on a similar concept of water, trees and mountains,” she said.
Robertson said that of the 12 designs already received, several could easily be selected as the final design, but the committee is seeking a wider variety.
“We have some fantastic artists in this town, and some of the submissions were very impressive,” she said.
However, she added, many of the designs all came in right at deadline, and the deadline may have been too short for some artists to have something ready.
The Fine Arts Center is working on a separate project to improve the entryway to the center and to Webster’s Woods art park behind the water tank. The tank design is hoped to complement that project.
The city had money in the 2016 budget to repaint the tank as part of the regular planned maintenance, and those funds could be used toward a mural instead of another coat of beige paint, Robertson has said.
The additional cost of paint needed to create a mural, and a clear coat to protect it, is not covered by the city, and Revitalize Port Angeles plans to raise the additional funds. The cost of the additional paint is not yet known.
All painting will be completed by volunteers.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
