Minutes of April 19, 2022

City of Chandler — Regular Meeting (2022-05-17)

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MINUTES OF THE 
CHANDLER ARTS COMMISSION MEETING 
TUESDAY, April 19, 2022 
5:00 PM 
 
Commissioners Present: Kathleen Escobedo, Michelle Hirsch, Tim Wiant, José 
Benavides, Shachi Kale, Farhana Ahmed, Julie Ray 
Commissioners absent: None 
Staff Present: Peter Bugg, Caroline Hudson-Naef, Michelle Mac Lennan 
CALL TO ORDER:                                                                                                                                                
The meeting was called to order at 5:04 PM by Michelle Hirsch  
UNSCHEDULED / SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES / CALL TO PUBLIC 
- 
John Sefton, new Director of the Community Services department, 
introduced himself and shared a little bit of his background. He has 
experience with public art going back to 1998 with various municipalities. He 
thanked commissioners for their artistic guidance. 
 
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE MARCH 15 MEETING: 
a) Michelle Hirsch had a question about the abbreviation, “CAC,” which Caroline 
identified as standing for “Chandler Arts Commission.” Kathleen made a 
motion to approve the minutes as amended. Farhana seconded the motion. 
The motion passed unanimously. 
ACTION AGENDA   
a) Peter shared the proposals from the finalists for the Fire Department 
memorial project. Kathleen shared how the selection meeting with Fire 
Department representatives went, saying that they went over the proposals 
in detail. The committee selected two of the four artists, Nicholas Rascona 
and Rachael Slick, to send in revised proposals, as they were close but still

not quite what the Fire Department was looking for. The committee agreed 
that Gabriel Vinas and Bobby Zokaites’ proposals were not a good fit for this 
project. The commissioners gave some feedback on all the proposals, and 
José pointed out that the overall quality of the proposals was very 
professional. José made a motion to ask for refined proposals from Nicholas 
Rascona and Rachel Slick. Michelle Hirsch seconded the motion. The motion 
passed unanimously. 
b) Peter reminded the commissioners of the Portable Public Works initiative 
and shared options for artists to approach, selected by staff based on the 
commissioners’ previous comments. The artists shared were Yuke Li, Edgar 
Cardenas, Frank Ybarra, Sapira Cheuk, Ashley Czajkowski, Alonso Delgadillo, 
Jason Begay, Christy Puetz, Laura Spaulding Best, and Mary Meyer. After 
looking through these artists, the commissioners each voted on their top 
three. The artists with the most votes were Yuke Li, Frank Ybarra, and Edgar 
Cardenas. Kathleen made a motion that gallery staff should reach out to 
these three artists to get available works to select from for purchase for the 
next meeting. Michelle Hirsch seconded the motion. The motion passed 
unanimously. 
 
BRIEFING ITEMS 
a) Ongoing public art projects 
a. Peter finished the paperwork for the Zora Folley mural and the Request 
for Qualifications is live. He will share the RFQ with the commissioners 
so that they can help spread the word, and then the commission will 
review applications at the May meeting. 
b. Caroline gave an update of the Hightown neighborhood project. She 
and Peter have worked with Espo’s Restaurant to host a neighborhood 
kick-off party on Sunday, May 1 to meet residents, discuss the project, 
and gather initial input. Michelle Hirsch asked if any commissioners 
should attend, and Peter said that two commissioners would be a good 
number so as not to overwhelm the gathering with City officials. 
Michelle Hirsch suggested that José attend, and volunteered to go as 
well. José said he should be able to attend. 
c. Peter is working with Administrative Librarian Sue Van Horne on the 
mural project for the Downtown Library but needs to gather a few more 
details before the RFQ is ready for review. He pointed out that this 
project is a good opportunity to have some more relevant artwork for 
the library than what was previously on display.

d. Peter shared that this year’s INFLUX project is still moving along, if 
slowly. Lily Reeves has provided better options for the more verbose 
signs. 
e. Peter shared that the Police Memorial project should be completed by 
late May. It has been delayed because of supply chain issues, but will 
still fall within the terms of the contract.  
b) Maintenance Projects 
a. Peter shared that there are currently no in-progress maintenance 
projects. A photographer is coming this week to document public 
artworks that staff does not have good images of for the website. 
c) Discuss public art component for Spring 2023 exhibitions 
a. Peter gave a refresher of this idea and what was discussed at the last 
meeting, that he is proposing that the Arts Commission commission 
Gerald Clarke, a Native artist, for a public artwork as a companion 
project to Jacob Meders’ and Daniel Nez’s exhibitions. He provided 
another opportunity for input from the commission. He also reminded 
the commission that they are allowed to select an artist directly without 
producing an open call if the project budget is under $10,000. There 
were no comments, so Peter will make this an action item at the next 
meeting. 
 
MEMBERS COMMENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS 
- 
As this was her last meeting as a commissioner, Kathleen thanked everyone 
for a wonderful experience on the Chandler Arts Commission and expressed 
that she will miss everyone.  
- 
Michelle Hirsch thanked Kathleen for her service and leadership, adding that 
she felt welcomed from the very beginning by Kathleen.  
- 
Tim wanted to make sure that there was an addendum in the contract for the 
library mural that will allow the artwork to be used for multiple purposes.  
 
CALENDAR 
a. Next regular meeting will be May 17, 2022 via webex 
 
 
INFORMATION ITEMS 
Current Exhibitions

a. Vision Gallery – Chasing Ghosts – April 2 – June 18, 2022.  
b. Chandler Center for the Arts Gallery – CUSD 2022 - April 20 – May 12, 
2022. Reception: Wed, April 27, 5:30pm in the Bogle Theater 
 
Upcoming Exhibitions 
a. Vision Gallery – Melting Point: Artisans of Bollinger Atelier – June 25 – August 
20, 2022. Reception: Friday, June 24, 6-8 p.m. 
b. Chandler Center for the Arts Gallery – Out of the Blue – May 21 – July 30, 
2022. Reception: Friday, May 20, 6-8 p.m. 
 
Upcoming Events 
a. Moving through Grief with Art. Thursday, April 21, 6-8pm in Vision Gallery 
b. City Council Budget Review. Thursday, May 26, 6pm, Council Chambers 
 
ADJOURNMENT 
a) At 5:53 PM, Kathleen made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Tim seconded 
the motion. The motion passed unanimously.  
 
________________________________ ____________________ 
Michelle Hirsch, Chair 
 
 
Date