Call to artists issued for Weymouth tide pole project
Proposal is part of Wake Up Weymouth, an initiative of Weymouth Waterfront Development Committee
Among the recurring ideas that have come up about the revitalization of the village of Weymouth is one involving a tide pole that also could be a local piece of art.
A request for proposal was drawn up and, according to an anticipated schedule for the project, the submission deadline is March 10, 2020, with finalists to be selected a month later.
The artwork is expected to be a sculpture, the RFP says, but other ideas will be considered.
The piece will have to be durable, capable of withstanding, among other things, tidal currents, ice, winter storms and other extreme outdoor elements, as well as being periodically submerged and exposed.
A village revitalization survey was conducted this year as part of Wake Up Weymouth, an initiative of the Weymouth Waterfront Development Committee (WWDC).
“We received 156 ideas, all types,” said Eleanor Johnson, a member of the WWDC. “After listing all of them, we grouped them into 27 themes. We then had a number of meetings with various parties to try to get some of them completed and have had some success.”
As for the tide pole project, she says the idea is to “not just have a tide gauge, not just a pole sticking out of the river with marks on it ... try to make something more of it.”
She notes the piece will have to be built to last.
“As mentioned in the RFP, the piece will have to withstand extreme tide and temperature variations,” she said. “I have little idea of how this can be done, so we hope that opening the proposal up to the community and artists at large will generate something original, interesting and artistic.”
Artists looking to do the project will have to provide installation details, budget and timeline.
That the submission deadline is a few months away hopefully will give people enough time to learn of the project and, if they’re interested, prepare a proposal, Johnson said.
“I’m just trying to make people aware of it and see what we can come up with,” she said.
For details on the project and to view the RFP – and to learn more about Wake Up Weymouth – Johnson invites people to visit the website of The Weymouth Bridge, an event newsletter she runs, at www.theweymouthbridge.com