Gateway Art Feature

DDEELLRRAAYY BBEEAACCHH CCIITTYY CCOOMMMMIISSSSIIOONNThomas Carney, Mayor

Adam Frankel, Vice-MayorAngeleta Gray, Deputy Vice-Mayor

Al JacquetChristina Morrison

DDEELLRRAAYY BBEEAACCHH CCRRAA BBOOAARRDD OOFF CCOOMMMMIISSSSIIOONNEERRSSHoward Lewis, ChairPeter Arts, Vice Chair

Cathy Balestriere, First Vice ChairBill Branning, TreasurerVeronica CovingtonHerman StevensAnne4e Gray

SSppeecciiaall tthhaannkkss ggoo oouutt ttoo tthhee mmaannyy ppeeooppllee aanndd oorrggaanniizzaattiioonnss tthhaatt ccoonnttrriibbuutteedd ttoo tthhee ssuucccceessss ooff tthhee GGaatteewwaayy FFeeaattuurree pprroojjeecctt aanndd ttooddaayy’’ss rriibbbboonn ccuu44iinngg cceerreemmoonnyy::

Ribbon Cutting CeremonyThursday, March 14, 2013, 10 a.m.

For more information about the Gateway Feature, visit www.delraycra.org.

Event photography services generously provided by:

Treasure Coast Regional Planning CouncilAtkins Global

Coastal Contracting & DevelopmentHenry, Inc.

Doowntown Master Plan Steering Commi4ee

Michelle NewmanWest Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition

Greater Delray Beach Chamber of CommerceDelray Beach Marketing CooperativeDowntown Development Authority

ORDER OF CEREMONYWWeellccoommee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elizabeth Burrows, Delray Beach CRASSppeeaakkeerrss

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard Lewis, Delray Beach CRA Chair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mayor Thomas Carney, Delray Beach City Commission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Al3ed “Zack” Straghn, West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle Newman, Gateway Feature Artist

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My challenge was to find a way to visually represent theCity of Delray Beach’s past, present, and future. I visu-alized Delray Beach as an ‘Enlightened Community’,one that is vibrant, alive, and progressive. At the sametime, I noted that the community has maintained a civicsensibility to its environment, embracing its naturalflora and fauna. This caring community is exceedinglyprotective of its charm, beauty, and ‘small town’ feel.

The many cultural, architectural, and natural facets ofDelray Beach have provided an abundance of raw material from which to draw….the lush subtropical landscape, the unique regional architecture, and the history of the community.

With such a rich heritage, it is important to recognizeand celebrate the cultural blending, gifts, and impactof the community’s varied ethnic ingredients. In preparation for this project, I researched, examined, dissected, sketched, photographed, and compiled manycomponents into a ‘cultural collage’; if you will, reflecting aspects of the community’s rich heritage. Interviews with civic leaders, historians and citizens provided me with invaluable input as to how residents envision their community and what they consider as important images and icons that tell the Delray Beachstory.

While it was not possible to include all of the diversegroups that contributed to Delray’s history, the six Gateway icons reflect a harmonious blending of many ofthe city’s past and present cultures and ethnicities. Mygoal was to select artwork that symbolizes and honors the diverse cultural mix and historic backgroundof the community. For example, while researching theCity archives, I was surprised to see a copy of an oldFlorida military map that showed the locations of Seminole Indian camps around what is now Lake Ida.The Seminoles depended upon the indigenous Saw Palmetto palm for shelter, clothing and baskets. Hence,the fan-like depiction of this significant palm and the Seminole geometric symbols of water, turtles, lightning,and birds are portrayed in the panel designs.

The arrival of African Americans at the end of the 19th

century, their settlement in neighborhoods such as theSands and Frog Alley, and their extensive contributionsare reflected by the frog and other traditional African motifs of the Adinkra tribe symbolizing harmony, humility, strength, friendship and interdependence.

Many farmers raised pineapples in the region, including Japanese farmers who arrived at the turn ofthe century. The welcoming symbol of the pineapple is evident throughout the community, incorporated intocut outs on window shutters and picket fences, plasterpineapple reliefs on local buildings, and painted ontomurals and signs in downtown’s Pineapple Grove ArtsDistrict. This image was incorporated into the panel design, as were traditional Japanese umbrella symbolsto acknowledge the influence of those settlers. Themore recent arrival of Haitian immigrants and their vibrant culture and music is depicted through the use ofa bright tropical palette.

A Victorian architectural accent from the window trim atthe historic Sundy House was enlarged and incorporated as a floating curvilinear design element.Another panel includes a depiction of the fence thatprotects the vegetation along the dunes of Delray’sbeautiful beaches.

Delray’s subtropical environment is reflected on several panels by images of native sea oats and seagrapes, a brilliant sun, and water, wave and coquinapatterns, The gladiola flowers are a reminder of the social and economic importance of gladiola cultivationin the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, an industry that inspired the city’s annual Gladiola Festival (now knownas the Delray Affair).

Finally, the panel’s illumination at night is both an aesthetic and spiritual reference to ‘internal illumination.’ Just as a magnificent stained glass window in one of the great historic cathedrals of theworld allows light to dance, filter, and penetratethrough, enhancing the rich colors of the panels showcasing the artwork, the illuminated gateway willsymbolize the beauty, harmony, and enlightenment ofthe Delray Beach community.

Artist Statementby Michelle Newman, project artist

East of the icons, fences of tall aluminum spikes line the winding sidewalks of the Gateway Feature. The spikes lean

inward and outward, mimicking the shape and rhythm of thefences found along the sand dunes at the city’s shoreline.

Bougainvillaea flowers have been planted at the base of each fence. As they grow, they will cover the trellises along the side of the

fence and eventually create a flowered canopy over the walkway.

The VisionThe idea to create a Gateway Feature for Delray Beach originatedin the Downtown Master Plan, adopted by the City Commission in2002. Created with the input of hundreds of community stakeholders, the plan called for a unique gateway feature to identify the western entrance to the City’s downtown. At the timeonly a barren right-of-way belonging to the Florida Department ofTransportation (FDOT) flanked West Atlantic Avenue, giving no impression of one’s arrival to a special part of the City.

The Downtown Master Plan proposed a two-story civic building inthe median of West Atlantic Avenue. When that concept was rejected by FDOT, the City and CRA began pursuing an alternateplan. The consulting firm of PBS&J (now Atkins Global) was hiredto engage the community in creating a different design. Their concept plan involved a concrete arch over Atlantic Avenue, whichproved to be cost prohibitive. The Downtown Master Plan Implementation Committee decided to organize a special focusgroup to work with the consultants on a feature that would makeuse of the open space areas north and south of the corridor.

The final design for the project consists of landscaped berms,lighting, meandering sidewalks and flower-covered trellises. Mostnotable are the six 30-foot high icons, each decorated with anartistic cultural collage. San Antonio artist Michelle Newman wasengaged to create the designs for the icon panels. Each visual element is inspired by the diverse cultural heritage of early Delraysettlers, historic architectural elements, and the area’s native floraand fauna (see Artist Statement for descriptions).

As important as this project was to the surrounding communityand to the City as a whole, it was delayed for several years due to budget constraints. Construction was finally begun in July2012. Funding for the Gateway Feature was provided by the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency ($983,082) anda grant from the Florida Department of Transportation($199,760). Construction management services were providedby the City of Delray Beach.

My challenge was to find a way to visually represent theCity of Delray Beach’s past, present, and future. I visu-alized Delray Beach as an ‘Enlightened Community’,one that is vibrant, alive, and progressive. At the sametime, I noted that the community has maintained a civicsensibility to its environment, embracing its naturalflora and fauna. This caring community is exceedinglyprotective of its charm, beauty, and ‘small town’ feel.

The many cultural, architectural, and natural facets ofDelray Beach have provided an abundance of raw material from which to draw….the lush subtropical landscape, the unique regional architecture, and the history of the community.

With such a rich heritage, it is important to recognizeand celebrate the cultural blending, gifts, and impactof the community’s varied ethnic ingredients. In preparation for this project, I researched, examined, dissected, sketched, photographed, and compiled manycomponents into a ‘cultural collage’; if you will, reflecting aspects of the community’s rich heritage. Interviews with civic leaders, historians and citizens provided me with invaluable input as to how residents envision their community and what they consider as important images and icons that tell the Delray Beachstory.

While it was not possible to include all of the diversegroups that contributed to Delray’s history, the six Gateway icons reflect a harmonious blending of many ofthe city’s past and present cultures and ethnicities. Mygoal was to select artwork that symbolizes and honors the diverse cultural mix and historic backgroundof the community. For example, while researching theCity archives, I was surprised to see a copy of an oldFlorida military map that showed the locations of Seminole Indian camps around what is now Lake Ida.The Seminoles depended upon the indigenous Saw Palmetto palm for shelter, clothing and baskets. Hence,the fan-like depiction of this significant palm and the Seminole geometric symbols of water, turtles, lightning,and birds are portrayed in the panel designs.

The arrival of African Americans at the end of the 19th

century, their settlement in neighborhoods such as theSands and Frog Alley, and their extensive contributionsare reflected by the frog and other traditional African motifs of the Adinkra tribe symbolizing harmony, humility, strength, friendship and interdependence.

Many farmers raised pineapples in the region, including Japanese farmers who arrived at the turn ofthe century. The welcoming symbol of the pineapple is evident throughout the community, incorporated intocut outs on window shutters and picket fences, plasterpineapple reliefs on local buildings, and painted ontomurals and signs in downtown’s Pineapple Grove ArtsDistrict. This image was incorporated into the panel design, as were traditional Japanese umbrella symbolsto acknowledge the influence of those settlers. Themore recent arrival of Haitian immigrants and their vibrant culture and music is depicted through the use ofa bright tropical palette.

A Victorian architectural accent from the window trim atthe historic Sundy House was enlarged and incorporated as a floating curvilinear design element.Another panel includes a depiction of the fence thatprotects the vegetation along the dunes of Delray’sbeautiful beaches.

Delray’s subtropical environment is reflected on several panels by images of native sea oats and seagrapes, a brilliant sun, and water, wave and coquinapatterns, The gladiola flowers are a reminder of the social and economic importance of gladiola cultivationin the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, an industry that inspired the city’s annual Gladiola Festival (now knownas the Delray Affair).

Finally, the panel’s illumination at night is both an aesthetic and spiritual reference to ‘internal illumination.’ Just as a magnificent stained glass window in one of the great historic cathedrals of theworld allows light to dance, filter, and penetratethrough, enhancing the rich colors of the panels showcasing the artwork, the illuminated gateway willsymbolize the beauty, harmony, and enlightenment ofthe Delray Beach community.

Artist Statementby Michelle Newman, project artist

East of the icons, fences of tall aluminum spikes line the winding sidewalks of the Gateway Feature. The spikes lean

inward and outward, mimicking the shape and rhythm of thefences found along the sand dunes at the city’s shoreline.

Bougainvillaea flowers have been planted at the base of each fence. As they grow, they will cover the trellises along the side of the

fence and eventually create a flowered canopy over the walkway.

The VisionThe idea to create a Gateway Feature for Delray Beach originatedin the Downtown Master Plan, adopted by the City Commission in2002. Created with the input of hundreds of community stakeholders, the plan called for a unique gateway feature to identify the western entrance to the City’s downtown. At the timeonly a barren right-of-way belonging to the Florida Department ofTransportation (FDOT) flanked West Atlantic Avenue, giving no impression of one’s arrival to a special part of the City.

The Downtown Master Plan proposed a two-story civic building inthe median of West Atlantic Avenue. When that concept was rejected by FDOT, the City and CRA began pursuing an alternateplan. The consulting firm of PBS&J (now Atkins Global) was hiredto engage the community in creating a different design. Their concept plan involved a concrete arch over Atlantic Avenue, whichproved to be cost prohibitive. The Downtown Master Plan Implementation Committee decided to organize a special focusgroup to work with the consultants on a feature that would makeuse of the open space areas north and south of the corridor.

The final design for the project consists of landscaped berms,lighting, meandering sidewalks and flower-covered trellises. Mostnotable are the six 30-foot high icons, each decorated with anartistic cultural collage. San Antonio artist Michelle Newman wasengaged to create the designs for the icon panels. Each visual element is inspired by the diverse cultural heritage of early Delraysettlers, historic architectural elements, and the area’s native floraand fauna (see Artist Statement for descriptions).

As important as this project was to the surrounding communityand to the City as a whole, it was delayed for several years due to budget constraints. Construction was finally begun in July2012. Funding for the Gateway Feature was provided by the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency ($983,082) anda grant from the Florida Department of Transportation($199,760). Construction management services were providedby the City of Delray Beach.

Gateway Art Feature

DDEELLRRAAYY BBEEAACCHH CCIITTYY CCOOMMMMIISSSSIIOONNThomas Carney, Mayor

Adam Frankel, Vice-MayorAngeleta Gray, Deputy Vice-Mayor

Al JacquetChristina Morrison

DDEELLRRAAYY BBEEAACCHH CCRRAA BBOOAARRDD OOFF CCOOMMMMIISSSSIIOONNEERRSSHoward Lewis, ChairPeter Arts, Vice Chair

Cathy Balestriere, First Vice ChairBill Branning, TreasurerVeronica CovingtonHerman StevensAnne4e Gray

SSppeecciiaall tthhaannkkss ggoo oouutt ttoo tthhee mmaannyy ppeeooppllee aanndd oorrggaanniizzaattiioonnss tthhaatt ccoonnttrriibbuutteedd ttoo tthhee ssuucccceessss ooff tthhee GGaatteewwaayy FFeeaattuurree pprroojjeecctt aanndd ttooddaayy’’ss rriibbbboonn ccuu44iinngg cceerreemmoonnyy::

Ribbon Cutting CeremonyThursday, March 14, 2013, 10 a.m.

For more information about the Gateway Feature, visit www.delraycra.org.

Event photography services generously provided by:

Treasure Coast Regional Planning CouncilAtkins Global

Coastal Contracting & DevelopmentHenry, Inc.

Doowntown Master Plan Steering Commi4ee

Michelle NewmanWest Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition

Greater Delray Beach Chamber of CommerceDelray Beach Marketing CooperativeDowntown Development Authority

ORDER OF CEREMONYWWeellccoommee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elizabeth Burrows, Delray Beach CRASSppeeaakkeerrss

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard Lewis, Delray Beach CRA Chair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mayor Thomas Carney, Delray Beach City Commission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Al3ed “Zack” Straghn, West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle Newman, Gateway Feature Artist

** ** ** ** ** ** ** RR II BB BBOONN CC UU TT TT II NN GG ** ** ** ** ** ** **