One Heart – Diversity Public Art Project

Vision
The intent of this public art installation is to give the local community and visitors an opportunity to reflect on the city’s path to inclusivity while enjoying one of Sarasota’s most beautiful greenspaces. It will be a visual representation of the importance of diversity and inclusion to the ethical, economic, and cultural well-being of Sarasota and its citizens.

Mission
The mission of the Diversity Public Art Project is to create an iconic artwork installation for Sarasota’s Bayfront Park, representing our city’s aspiration and commitment to equality, inclusion, and diversity.

Unifying Through Art
Art is a great equalizer. Two people can view the same sculpture, at the same time, in the same light, and feel vastly different emotions. Hope, despair, validation, confusion, elation, euphoria, inspiration, anger, joy, sadness, confidence, fairness, beauty, bleakness, something, nothing, anything. Art makes us think and feel. What each of us experiences is different—different from each other, and maybe even different from the way we felt just the day before.

The act of experiencing provocative art at once unifies us and lets us be unique. It allows us to honor difficult feelings and feel the elation of positive emotions. That is what the Diversity Public Art Project will bring to Sarasota.

Next Steps
The Diversity Public Art Project committee is committed to seeing this important project through to installation and introduction to the community. Once the installation is complete, the city of Sarasota will officially take ownership of this artistic public display and will manage its upkeep for as long as the piece resides in Bayfront Park.

What is Needed to Bring the Art to Life
This important work that will result in an iconic public art installation that celebrates The City of Sarasota’s path to inclusivity is well on its way to coming to life.

It Has

• A dedicated committee led by former City Commissioner Ken Shelin
• A sponsor organization, The Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County
• The commitment of the city of Sarasota to partner throughout the project and manage the art’s physical home into the future
• Input and resources from the talented students at Ringling College of Art and Design

Selected artist and sculpture: One World United Through Diversity by Simon Donovan

About the Artist: Simon Donovan (lead artist, concept, design and project management) & Ben Olmstead (design, fabrication and installation) met in Tucson, AZ where they each currently live and work, though coincidentally, both are originally from Boston, MA. Each is a multi-media artist. They combined forces when they realized the beneficial results of collaboration include strengthened ideas and added perspective, the collective mastery of a variety of mediums, and thorough trouble shooting in project management. Their process is to distill the best design solutions through discussion, critique, and debate.

As collaborators they have prospered from an ongoing creative discourse, consequently developing a complimentary aesthetic sensibility. Their philosophy is to create a distinct sense of place, through realized beauty and conceptual relevance in object making.

Meet the Committee

Committee Photography by Nicholas Ferris / nicholasferrisphotography.com