Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, honors 31 outstanding public arts projects created in 2014 through the Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review program, the only national program that specifically recognizes the most compelling public art. The works were chosen from more than 300 entries across the country and recognized today at the 2015 Annual Convention in Chicago. 

 

At the PAN Year in Review conference session, three independent public art experts presented their choices for the most exemplary, innovative permanent or temporary public art works created or debuted in 2014. The 31 public art works selected can be seen on this page. This is the 14th year that Americans for the Arts has recognized public art works. 

 

“The best of public art can challenge, delight, educate and illuminate. Most of all, public art creates a sense of civic vitality in the cities, towns, and communities we inhabit and visit,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “As these Public Art Network Year in Review selections illustrate, public art has the power to enhance our lives on a scale that little else can. I congratulate the artists and commissioning groups for these community treasures, and I look forward to honoring more great works in the years to come.”

 

The 2015 PAN Year in Review jurors were Peggy Kendellen, Public Art Manager, Regional Arts & Culture Council in Portland, Oregon; Laurie Jo Reynolds, Assistant Professor of Public Arts, Social Justice and Culture at the School of Art and Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Ernest C. Wong, Principal, site design group, ltd in Chicago.

 

The 2015 PAN Year in Review presentation, which includes photos and descriptions of these works, are available through Americans for the Arts’ store. 

 

The Public Art Network (PAN), a program of Americans for the Arts, is designed to provide services to the diverse field of public art and to develop strategies and tools to improve communities through public art. The network’s constituents are public art professionals, visual artists, design professionals, and communities and organizations planning public art projects and programs.