High-dollar art installations commissioned by the City of Lawrence begin to take shape

After a competitive process, artists have been selected to create some of the city’s highest-dollar public artwork in recent years.

The City of Lawrence has budgeted about $450,000, as part of its Percent for Art program, for three art installations at the newly renovated building that houses Fire Station No. 1 and the Senior Resource Center; the new police headquarters in northwestern Lawrence; and the new transit center on Bob Billings Parkway. Artists have been selected for the first two projects, and the selection process for the transit center is forthcoming.

The city has a long-standing resolution, enacted in 1986, that allows it to set aside up to 2% of a building project’s budget for public art, and the City Commission elected to allocate the funds as part of recent budgets.