Art Spaces-Wabash Valley Outdoor Sculpture Collection invites community residents to participate in Turn To the River - A Design Charrette with nationally known artist Stacy Levy. The event will take place March 31-April 2 in the Mayflower Room of the Hilton Garden Inn, 750 Wabash Ave., Terre Haute.
A charrette is an open forum to generate ideas and create actual design concepts, in this case for the connecting area that includes the four-block government campus surrounding Terre Haute City Hall and the Vigo County Courthouse. Attendees will focus on designing a new public space at the west end of Wabash Avenue on a city-owned property, One Wabash, adjacent to the river. The charrette will also determine ways to connect these spaces to the downtown, Fairbanks Park, and Indiana State University's riverside trail and property.
The charrette will be highly interactive, with ideas drawn, presented, and revised throughout the three days. Renderings will be created “live” as participants generate ideas.
Stacy Levy is best known for unique incorporation of nature into urban art and has created large-scale works throughout the United States and Japan. She elegantly integrates natural forms and systems, frequently related to water. By integrating natural processes into an urban environment she reveals the character of forgotten and neglected places.
John Jackson, principal and director of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design for Ratio Architects in Indianapolis, is co-leader of the charrette and will facilitate the rendering of ideas in visual form.
The charrette will begin on Tuesday, March 31 at 9 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn and continue through Thursday, April 2. Activities will take place on each of the three days. Participants may attend as few or many public sessions as they wish. Advance registration is not required to attend the charrette.
Art Spaces is providing art activities on Wednesday afternoon only, for children (ages 7-14) of those wishing to attend the Wednesday, April 1 afternoon session. The activities will take place in a room adjacent to the Mayflower Room, where the charrette will be held. Advance registration is required for the children's art activity. Call 812-235-2801 or sign up your child at wabashvalleyartspaces.com. Space is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis.
This important phase of Turn to the River is sponsored by the Terre Haute Department of Redevelopment and Indiana State University with added support from the Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission and Hilton Garden Inn.
Art Spaces plans to begin implementation of Turn to the River in time for the 2016 celebration of Terre Haute and Indiana’s Bicentennials.