Jackson, Wyoming – Submit your grand scale public art idea to be the featured 2025 ArtSpot artist. The ArtSpot is a project of JH Public Art, in which artists are invited to create whimsical, site-specific installations that inspire moments of discovery, laughter, and joy for the more than 30,000 daily drivers that pass by along Broadway in the Town of Jackson. Local and regional artists can apply now through December 1st to be the next featured artist! 

Receiving an ArtSpot commission propels the visibility of local artists beyond the walls of their studios. The ArtSpot currently displays Sarah Jeffrey’s Fabric of the Community, a 1970’s style Ford Truck paying homage to the ranching lifestyle. Jeffrey collected materials from community members who wanted to declutter and give their old belongings a second life as part of a public art display they’ll be able to drive past every day. 

The ArtSpot has hosted other memorable installations including A Puzzling Escape by Shelley High School Art Students that depicted a puzzle half-done, with brightly-colored pieces in the process of escaping down the Karns hillside, and Charlie Brown’s Sweater by Suzanne Morlock, which she knit with 10-foot-long PVC pipes as knitting needles. 

ArtSpot artworks can be made from most anything and should amaze without unduly distracting motorists: that rules out optical illusions, strobe lights, lasers, oversized projections. (No one wants to cause a pileup.) The selected artist will receive a $3,000 stipend to create a one-of-a-kind artwork that will be installed for 6 months to one year and that can withstand challenging and ever-evolving weather conditions. 

JH Public Art is looking for universally appealing ideas that people from all backgrounds will appreciate. Winning ArtSpot ideas should be whimsical, inspire joy and happiness, be playful in spirit and positive in attitude, and remain memorable. Concepts should additionally be feasible and appropriate for the budget. 

Timeline: 

Applications due by December 1, 2024

Artist announced January 2025

Final concept and engineering review January/February

Fabrication February-May

Installation June 2025

Find the full Call For Artists online here.

ABOUT JACKSON HOLE PUBLIC ART
Jackson Hole Public Art forges partnerships for the integration of art into any environment to inspire lasting cultural, educational and economic benefits. JH Public Art is a non-profit organization and our community’s leading presenter of artist-driven projects in public space. We place artworks outside traditional venues of museums and galleries to provide access to art for all people. www.jhpublicart.org 

ABOUT THE ARTSPOT

Over the years, many local artists have created installations, including: Suzanne Morlock, John Frechette, Ben Roth, Doris Florig, Jenny & Sam Dowd, JH Wild – faces of JH, Cal Brackin, Wilson 5th Grade art class, Camille Davis, Olaus Linn, Cary Tijerina, Erin Ashlee Smith, and Wendell Field.

In 2008, the Center of Wonder funded Bland Hoke to create the first edition of the ArtSpot, which was a repurposed gas station sign. “It was covered in black plastic and an eyesore,” said artist Bland Hoke.

Hoke contacted the owner to use it for art installations and began to create art installations with his friends. Olaus Linn commented on his collaborative installation with Camille Davis in 2008, “It’s such an interesting thing to explore doing work at a scale that is almost too big to fathom when you’re putting brush to canvas. Suddenly individual brushstrokes cease to matter and the work becomes about big blocks of color and line to produce form.” Many artists work on two canvases, one for each side, that are 10 feet by 6 feet wide.

Eventually, the gas station sign left, providing Bland an opportunity to improve upon the ArtSpot design. “I wanted to build a structure that folded over on the side so loading it would be easier and safer,” Bland said. “I used a chairlift tower donated from the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and carved intricate designs on the sides. The hinge needed to be super strong, and luckily, I found an old bank vault and torched off the hinge. The counterweights on the arm are snow plow scraper blades and it raises and lowers with a car battery.” Bland said, “At the time, I envisioned the ArtSpot as a stepping stone for artists to create public art pieces for the community while building their competitive resumes for public art commissions.” One lesson learned was that while the ArtSpot is a box able to hold art, other artists respond by thinking outside of the frame.