The St. Petersburg Pier Art Committee has selected six finalists out of 270 applicants to create original art for the Pier District currently under construction.
- Committee has $480,000 for artists to create work
- Renderings from finalists expected at start of 2018
- 270 applicants narrowed down to six finalists
Finalists Jun Kaneko, Nathan Mabry, Xenobia Baily, Ball-Nogues Studio, Ned Kahn and Jeppe Hein will visit the Pier site in the weeks ahead and then create a rendering for the committee to consider.
Committee chair Laura Bryant said it is leaving what kind of art will go in the space up to the artists.
"You know, when you ask an artist to give you something and you don't constrain them, you often get something even more fantastic than what you expected," Bryant said.
"So that's why we're trying not to constrain them, but to really keep it kind of wide open."
Benjamin Ball of Ball-Nogues Studio works out of Los Angeles and said he's excited about the opportunity.
"You know, I've been traveling to the Tampa Bay region and St. Petersburg since I was a kid, so it's exciting to be considered for a project there," Ball said. "And I've seen some preliminary drawings of the Pier and I think it's an interesting project."
The committee has $480,000 to commission to artists to create work on the Pier site.
Officials hope to have renderings of the proposals after the first of the year.