What's Coming?

Visual Art Grants for 2024-2026 were approved on April 16, 2024 $120,500 was approved for eight artists.  Seven of the eight have completed their murals, mosaics and sculptures.  These works can be seen in the Public Art Dashboard.  New grants will be available in 2026.

Conceptual artist Packard Jennings is exploring sculpture for his first public commission and will be installing three opulently sculpted bird abodes (with a standard bird house fitted inside these sculptures).  The works will be sighted along the Emeryville Greenway at 65^th Street. Doyle Hollis Park, and the Emeryville Community Organic Garden.  The works are located and fitted to attract native birds while raising awareness about the loss of biodiversity.  Works will recreate Emeryville’s Town Hall  (reconsidered after the power of another capital building lost its universal appeal)  St. Peter’s Basilica, and  the Al-Qarawiyyin, (the world's oldest, continuously running library, dating back to 859 AD) to evoke a sense of power; of reverence and awe; and of wisdom – all desirable preserving our more vulnerable avian friends.   The sizes would range from about (Height/Width/Depth) 24x24x18" to 32x24x20”.

Rendering by Packard Jennings from proposal.

Carved work in progress using the wood working workshop at Compound Gallery.

The Sharon Wilchar Bus Shelter Art Program installs four new works by local artists every four months.  The next call for artists submittal is anticipated in 2028. See How to Submit Work to the Bus Shelter Program if interested in submittal 

The four bus shelters included in the program are at 40th Street and Emery Street; Hollis Street and 62nd Street, Shellmound Street and Bay Street; and Powell Street and Commodore Street. The artists to be installed in Phase VIII of the Sharon Wilchar Bus Shelter Art Program include the following artists with their schedule as listed:

The Bus Shelter art installations brighten the mundane with original works from Emeryville artists celebrating the fertile ground of Emeryville. Artists are chosen through a juried process and employ a wide range of media, including pen and ink, digital collage, drawings, mixed media sculpture, oil on canvas, painting and collage, scanned plant material, acrylic and oil on panel, and neon sculpture. Learn more by visiting the Bus Shelters page.

*This program which features local artists, was named on her retirement from the Public Art Committee, for Sharon Wilchar who served for over 30 years as chair of the committee and is singularly honored for the City’s prolific art programs.

The 2024 work commissioned under this program was a 9-foot sculpture by Roberto Gastelumendi, Lanzón de Chavin Totem viewable in the entry way at City Hall 9-12 or 1-5 Monday -Thursday or Friday by appointment.

Should you wish to be added to the mailing list for future Purchase Award Receptions please contact: Amber Evans at aevans@emeryville.org

Mural Look Book

Additionally, there are millions of dollars in new public art required of private development spread across sites at the Public Market, The Emery, Biomed, EmeryStation Overland, Bay Street and numerous others developments as required by the local Art in Public Places Ordinance requiring 1% of commercial development costs be devoted to Art and .5% of residential developments costs. More information about requirements for private developments is available here.

Ann Weber’s Personage was installed in May 2024 in Chiron Plaza behind Biomed’s new Garage on Hollis along with Mildred Howard’s Kissee Currancies on the same campus at Horton Plaza, Marcus Guilliard’s Momentum at 6455 Christie Avenue, and Ilan Auverbach’s Wind and Stone at Emery Cove at 3300 Powell Street on the Marina.