Council approves 'Land of Contrasts'

Sisters City Council concurred with the recommendation of the Sisters Art Selection Committee and voted unanimously to select Danae Bennett Miller's art proposal, "A Land of Contrasts," for the roundabout at the Highway 20/Barclay Avenue intersection.

In making the recommendation to Council, Public Works Director Paul Bertagna said, "It was clear who the preferred artist was," based on the over 700 comment forms filled out by the public. The committee reviewed those comments and then set them aside. Using score sheets designed specifically for the art selection, each committee member individually scored the three finalists and came to the same conclusion.

The original theme for the entire project was "A Journey Through the Passes is a Journey Through a Land of Contrasts." Robin Gyorgyfalvy, Scenic Byways program leader and landscape architect with the U.S. Forest Service, proposed that theme. She also served as a member of the Roundabout Art Selection Committee as well as a member of the selection team that chose the landscape architect for the project.

Other members of the Roundabout Art Selection Committee were: local Sisters artists Paul Alan Bennett, Kathy Deggendorfer, and Gary Cooley, as well as Bob Burgess and Dennis Schmidling of the Sisters Arts Association.

Bennett told the Council that serving as a member of the committee was "a joyful experience." He was impressed by the way the "members shared equally in the discussions and were considerate of one another" throughout the process.

Deggendorfer thanked the Council for "allowing us to do this." She also gave credit to the Art in Public Places group in Bend who provided "incredible structure" for the process. She was proud of the citizens for the quality and quantity of their input to the process and said Sisters "should be proud of the fact that the Forest Service considers Sisters a gateway."

Schmidling said that going into this process, there were "no codes or standards for art on public highways." He believes the Sisters process will probably become the standard. He said he was proud of the City and the way it worked with the Oregon Department of Transportation on the project.

Burgess said he thought the roundabout art sends a real "WOW message that this is a real WOW place to be."

Cooley said he enjoyed working with a "very knowledgeable committee." He thinks the proposed sculpture definitely "says Sisters and Central Oregon."

Contract negotiations on the sculpture began this week and installation is scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2018.