Qualifications and a letter of interest are requested from artists and/or artist teams interested in creating site-specific art for the new library on the campus of Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.

DEADLINE FOR PRELIMINARY MATERIAL: JUNE 27, 2008 (not a postmark deadline)

LIBRARY USE
The New Library: a Place for Learning

A key component of the vision for the new library is “Learning is the measure of library success”. In other words if we design a building where learning is enhanced then we have succeeded. Where does learning occur on campus? In a formal way it occurs in the classroom and the labs on campus. We hope it happens outside the classroom as well. This is where the library comes in. A major role in a library designed for learning is to provide inspiring, comfortable spaces conducive to learning. The library will be the primary informal learning space on campus. The building will accommodate different types of student learning styles and noise levels. Besides providing space for traditional library materials such as books and microforms, the new library will provide continued access to subscription internet content in the ever-expanding web. Much of the library's content is online. To support this, a critical element of the new facility will be appropriate technology infrastructure; wireless access throughout, and hardwired network connections including lots of power outlets. Ideas to incorporate in the new building included:

● Lots of tables, wide spaces, plenty of light – Natural and manmade
● Wide, open carrels with power connections
● Heavy duty, moveable, comfortable chairs
● Flexible space - folding chairs and tables for easily reconfiguring rooms
● Lots of Study rooms, extended hour study spaces
● Locally created art – creative space(s)
● Café/food services
● Automated check-out systems, (Like bank ATM’s but for checking out books)

The building will be a 21st century library and a place to learn, collaborate, inspire and belong.

BUILDING DESCRIPTION

The new, three-story, 55,000 square foot Snow College Library has been designed to help ground the historic quadrant at the west end of the Ephraim City campus. To be constructed in the image of a historic building dating from the founding of the institution, the interior architecture will represent the present while providing all of the modern amenities of an academic library.

Built of brick with local limestone stone cladding and stone detailing, the building will also have wood trim, fascia, and soffit, wood clad aluminum windows and a standing seam metal roof. The building will be placed on axis with the historic Noyes Building, the administration and classroom building dedicated in 1908, to form two sides of a new academic quad.

The building is grounded in the site, with three stories above grade and a day light basement level below. The public entrance into the building is from the north and west into an extended-hours entry arcade. The main entrance is accessed by a monumental stair and inside the entry vestibule there are two large niches. Bound on the north by informal seating areas and the south by a pedestrian circulation area, the entry arcade provides a “Main Street” for the small institution of approximately 2,500 student and 300 faculty and staff. It also provides an area on the building’s primary public floor (level two) that can remain open into the wee hours of the morning when the library staff has closed up shop. The west end of the entry arcade will have a gallery wall for rotating display as well as a permanent display highlighting the sustainable feature of the planned USGCB LEED Silver project. To the east of the main entry is small café. Serving as flex-space for the library it has operable panels and sliding doors that allow staff to reconfigure the space to face outward to the entry arcade or face inward to the library lobby. At the far east end of the entry arcade, a 215-seat auditorium with state-of-the-art instructional resources.

The library lobby has a coffered ceiling, wood trimmed columns, windows and doors, limited wood paneling and limestone tile floors. These will be standard building materials that highlight a sustainable palate which includes bamboo, limestone, cherry veneer, aluminum trim, and frosted glass which lend a contemporary sophistication to the building. A focal point of the main entry floor (level two) is the Reading Room, a comfortable but upscale space bound by a large limestone-clad fireplace and generous box bay window facing south. A grand main stair sits opposite of the circulation desk and serves as a tool to entice pedestrian circulation to the other two main floors of the building. The four-story stair features a curving steel-ribbon of risers and stringers which rise up through the four-story space which is day lit by a 12’ diameter skylight/oculus on the roof.

The building features a Learning Commons on Level One, a contemporary social space dedicated to student’s access to digital resources, research, and collaborative action. Bound on the west by library instruction classrooms, the Learning Commons looks to the south onto a below grade plaza which steps up to Center Street. Window wells to the north bring natural light in and through glassy group study rooms that flank the grand stair.

Level Three houses the bulk of the library’s bound collection in compact shelving, leaving a broad expanse of the floor open for user seating and study tables. This floor will have a number of areas with digital resources serving the faculty as areas available to break away from classroom learning to utilize library resources. In addition, a small flexible area will be set aside for a small gallery. On the west end of the floor, a Quiet Study Reading Room will have an area for display of Special Collection materials, user seats, and broad views to the west through a large box bay window. A future terrace is planned to the east on the roof of the auditorium. Level Four is currently planned as a shelled space, but an additive alternate that may be funded concurrent with this project would complete this space as a large reading room day lit by three eight foot square skylights. The 2,700 square foot reading room would be flanked on the north and south by glass enclosed group study rooms.

The future plaza will be developed between the library and the Noyes Building that will support campus wide activities and feature a sculpture of the schools founding fathers, Lorenzo Snow and Erastus Snow.

Snow College has an enrollment of approximately 2800 students, and offers some of the smallest classes in Utah -- with the finest "teaching" faculty anywhere. Teaching, because unlike some larger universities, professors at Snow College spend their time in classrooms and labs with students ….no teaching assistants here! http://www.snow.edu/

Founded in 1888 by Mormon settlers in Sanpete County, Snow College was first called Sanpete Stake Academy and was begun at the urging of local Latter Day Saints stake president Canute Peterson. Built entirely with local donations, the school had a rocky start as the locals struggled to finance their dream. The first classes were held on the top floor of the co-op store, a building still standing at the corner of 100 North Main Street in Ephraim. Newton E. Noyes served as school principal for twenty-nine years (1892-1921) and gave his name to the administration building, which was dedicated on 5 November 1909. Financial woes sent Noyes to LDS Church headquarters to plead for church assistance for the school, and Mormon Church President Lorenzo Snow authorized $2,000. In gratitude, the Sanpete patrons named the school Snow Academy after Lorenzo and his good friend and fellow Mormon leader Erastus Snow. The name of the school was changed to Snow Junior College, and in 1923 to its present name of Snow College.

Snow became a state college in 1932-33. A celebration of the school's first fifty years in 1983 revealed the remarkable characteristics of this small school, including a strong and loyal alumni group, which boasts a long list of distinguished people; dedicated faculty who were willing to sacrifice salaries for the school's survival; and a common feeling that those affiliated with the school have called the "Spirit of Snow."

Besides having an outstanding staff, the school has been recognized for its theater productions, music contributions, women's volleyball program, football program (including the 1985 Division II national championship team), a nationally ranked forensics program (which also took top honors in 1985), and an award-winning 1987 yearbook. The school is internationally recognized for its ESL (English as a Second Language) program, which draws students from all over the world. Snow was the first two-year college in Utah to begin an honors program that was recognized by the state universities, allowing students to enter those schools' honors programs as juniors at the completion of their two years at Snow. Snow College takes its greatest pride from being recognized as a premier transfer institution.

By Elaine J. Burnham

EPHRAIM

Ephraim is a city in Sanpete County, Utah. The population was 4,505 at the 2000 census.. Ephraim located in the middle of the state approximately two hours south of Salt Lake City area and seven miles north of Manti on U.S. Highway 89.

Ephraim, the largest town in Sanpete County, was founded by a lone settler, Isaac Behunin, who claimed 40 acres on Pine Creek in 1853. By 1854, Behunin found that he was no longer alone. Several families tagged along and built homes in the place they called Cottonwood Creek. For security the community soon erected a fort approximately one square block in size called Fort Ephraim, getting its name from one of the tribes of Israel mentioned in the Old Testament. The security of the fort drew a diverse group of settlers to the area, Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. When the Danes moved in, they called it “Little Denmark”. For more information about Ephraim http://www.ephraimcity.org/ For more information about Central Utah and San Pete County http://sanpetecounty.org/

ART SELECTION COMMITTEE STATEMENT

The future Snow College Library will serve a growing community of undergraduates, faculty and staff. The exterior of the building reflects the historic architectural elements on campus while the interior looks to contemporary design and materials referencing the past. As the social center for campus, the new library will be a place where intellectual communities are formed and where students go when they want to do serious work and be part of a community. Our hope is that the library will serve as a collaborative center for learning, be the leader on campus for state of the art technology, and create spaces that will provoke creativity. The art selection committee would like artist proposals to reflect and promote these ideas.

The committee, in cooperation with the architect, has identified some areas that may be appropriate for public art to include: Exterior: 20' x 50' exterior lower level plaza - Interior: Interior stair tower (East) with 40+ vertical opening - Glass partitions at extended hours study area on the north side and two entry “niches” at the main North entrance. This listing, however, are only suggestions and does not preclude the committee from considering proposals for different sites proposed by the artist. The committee may consider multiple sites within the overall budget.

BUDGET

$139,000 is available for all related expenses of this Public Art commission(s) including (but not limited to) artist fees, engineering, fabrication, insurance, shipping, travel, installation, documentation, etc.

ELIGIBILITY

Resident American or legal resident artists / artist teams are encouraged to apply. Art selection committee members and immediate families, and employees or consultants of CRS Associates are not eligible for this project. Artists residing in Illinois are not eligible due to Utah statute that requires artists considered for Utah commissions live in states where Utah artists are also able to apply for public art commissions.

Specific requirements for submitting applications:

All applications must include the following:

• A letter of interest not more than three typewritten pages. This letter should include the artist’s reasons for interest in this project in particular. In doing so, the artist should also describe how his/her work and/or experience relates to the project.
  
  
• A PC compatible CD Labeled with applicant's name, contact information and number of images (not to exceed 10) Images must be JPEG format, 1920 pixels maximum on the longest side, 72 dpi, with compression settings resulting in the best image quality under 2MB file size. The file or files should be named so that the list sorts in the order of the image listing.
  
  -- OR–
  
  
• Slide documentation of previous work that represents site-specific art in public places. Up to ten (10) slides in 35mm format with 2" x 2" paper or plastic mounts of applicable work labeled with artist' s name and identification number (for ID sheet.) Indicate on the slide the top of the image. Slides should be submitted in a 9" x 11" clear plastic slide file sheet.
  
  -- OR –
  
  
• DVD (of no more than 3 minutes) or VHS (of no more that 3 minutes cued to the point you wish the committee to view) are also acceptable media as documentation of artist’s projects that cannot be documented well with still image. Only one media, film or stills, will be presented to the committee per artist.
  

• An identification sheet must accompany documentation. This sheet should include title, year, medium, dimensions

• A professional resume (do not staple or double side resume.)

• An addressed and stamped envelope of ample size for return of documentation. Material that is not accompanied by a stamped envelope cannot be returned.

The Utah Arts Council will not be responsible for applications lost in transit. While all reasonable care will be taken in the handling of materials, neither the Utah Arts Council nor the Snow College Library Art Selection Committee will be liable for late, lost or damaged materials. We strongly suggest originals or one-of-a-kind material not be submitted for this preliminary phase. Faxed or e-mailed applications cannot be accepted.

The Snow College Library Art Selection Committee reserves the right to withhold the award of a commission or re-release the call for entries should it be determined that the proposals submitted are unacceptable.

DEADLINE

Complete application packages must be RECEIVED on or before June 27, 2008 by 5 p.m. (THIS IS NOT A POSTMARK DEADLINE.) All supporting materials must accompany application.

Please send, deliver or courier applications to:

Jim Glenn, Utah Public Art Program
Attention: Snow College Library
Utah Arts Council
617 East South Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84102

SELECTION PROCESS AND SCHEDULE

The Selection Committee will review all material properly submitted. A short list of semi-finalists will then be selected and invited to interview and submit a proposal and maquette to the committee. An honorarium will be extended to the finalists with the amount determined by the number of finalists selected. This honorarium will be applied toward the commission amount for the artist(s) awarded the commission. Final selection(s) will be made from the semi-finalists. The schedule follows:

June 27, 2008 Deadline for receipt of preliminary material

July 23. 2008 Committee reviews material

September 10, 2008 Finalists proposal presentation

December 2009 Building occupation

Artist Selection Committee

Kurt Baxter Division of Facilities Construction & Management
Paul Gardner Biology Professor, Snow College
Amy Jorgensen Artist, Art Professor, Snow College
Adam Larsen Artist, Art Professor, Gallery Director, Snow College
Jon Ostler Director, Snow College Library
Scott Phillips Utah Arts Council Board of Directors
Kathy Wheadon Project Architect, CRS Associates
Rick Wheeler VP College Relations, Snow College
Scott Wyatt President, Snow College

If you have any questions about this or other projects information is available at: www.utahpublicart.org
Or contact: Jim Glenn at 801-533-3585 or e-mail at: jglenn@utah.gov
Fletcher Booth at 801-533-3586 or e-mail at: fbooth@utah.gov

All plans, photographs and renderings courtesy CRS Associates