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WHAT IS "PLACEMAKING"?

A Cultural Evening With Artist Kristine Kollasch

 

 

 

Kristine Kollasch has been creating "placemaking" public art for more than 30 years. She began with murals and evolved into larger installations in outdoor public areas.

Kris characterizes her work as "evidence-based design," or how an artfully designed environment can have a positive impact on health and well-being.

Her interactive environments create this positive impact in settings as diverse as pediatric dentist offices, community centers, utility camouflage, public parks and a fire station.

All of Kris's work is unique to its place and reinforces its identity.

 

CITY OF GLENDALE

"Soar! Thunderbird Field" was commissioned by the City of Glendale to commemorate the rich history of Thunderbird Field, which was used for training more than 10,000 pilots during World War II. After the war ended and pilot training was no longer needed, the location became the site of ASU's Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Her installation documents the airfield that used to be there through a scale model of an historic Stearman PT17 biplane, educational panels and handmade tiles created by local school students.

The installation was dedicated in March 2024.

CITY OF SCOTTSDALE

Kris's most recent project is installed at the City of Scottsdale's McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park on Indian Bend Road. Objectives for the project included:

• Placemaking — create a gathering place, a photo op and a place to learn, explore and interact.
• Involve the community.
• Include a train, but not overtly.

The completed project is a large tile mural that incorporates many state designations, a nine-foot tall saguaro cactus made from railroad rails and hundreds of community-made tiles.

The installation evokes the Arizona state flag and its golden sun rays. More placemaking elements include mountains resembling those east of the park's Scottsdale location and a desert landscape with some local critters that slyly peek out at the visitor, inviting gathering, close-up inspection and lingering. In the landscape's distance, a small train appears, with tiles in the shape of railroad cars.

Coincidentally, the wall and murals camouflage electrical utility boxes.

 

"I HAVE FUN WITH IT!"

In addition to public art, Kris also does private commissions such as sculptures with personal elements relating to the client.

Of her work, Kris says, "We do the art of placemaking when we make our spaces our own. I love working with groups of people! I have fun with it!"

For nearly 20 years Kris has worked with youth and served on the board of Free Arts for Abused Children in Arizona. She says, "Art heals."

See more at her website: www.artandenvironments.com

 

PLACEMAKING
SLIDE SHOW

 

 

 

Placemaking: Art that saved a city

 

As a placemaker, the Guggenheim Bilbao museum designed by architect Frank Gehry transformed a failing industrial city into a thriving cultural hub — it is quite literally art that saved a city.

In the 1980s and early 90s, Bilbao in the Basque country of northern Spain was a dying industrial town reliant on steel and shipbuilding. It had become mired in industrial waste, business closings, 30 percent unemployment and declining revenue and population.

Four years and a $100 million investment later, the Guggenheim Bilbao opened, spurring a tremendous, culture-driven revitalization of the city known as "The Guggenheim Effect" that has since been emulated in cities around the globe.

The museum alone now brings Bilbao more than a million tourists and almost $500 million in revenue each year.

One photographer wrote, "In the heart of Bilbao, the Gugenheim shines like a living sculpture. Each line reflects the history of a city that learned to reinvent itself."

See more at: https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en

 

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