Women’s Group Looking For Creative Types to Bring Public Art to South Station

South Station photo Uploaded by Tony Hisgett on flickr

In 2012, for the first-time ever, the MBTA hired a woman to become the general manager of the agency’s daily bus and train operations in the Commonwealth. So it’s fitting that the T recently teamed up with a non-profit women’s group to bring public art to South Station to pay homage to the progress women have made in the transit industry.

The Women’s Transportation Seminar Boston Charitable Fund, Inc. released Requests for Qualifications last week for the “Women in Movement” public art project and competition, to adorn empty spaces inside of Boston’s historic South Station with new installations. “We are very excited about it,” said Jean Mineo, a public art manager and non-profit consultant, who’s helping round up interested artists during the selection process. “The MBTA and MassDOT have been extremely supportive of our project. They’re very much on board, and we have collaborated with their office on this.”

According to organizers, the project will enhance South Station, which serves as one of the main transit hubs in the city, and continue the tradition of bringing public art to the MBTA system.

The RFQ’s for the site-specific project were released last week, and deadlines for interested sculptors, painters, and artists working with other mediums is July 21. Before all of the qualified applicants submit letters of interest, Mineo and members of the Women’s Transportations Seminar will host a question-and-answer session on Tuesday, July 1, at HDR Engineering headquarters on Atlantic Avenue. After the session, organizers from the non-profit group will bring artists over to South Station, where they will show them the three sites where the commissioned artwork will go.

From the pool of applicants, the Women’s Transportation Seminar will cut the list down to three potential artists, who will each be allotted $2,000 to submit renderings and designs of their proposed work. From there, a panel of judges—with the help of the general public—will pick one artist as the winner, who will then begin their work to bring a new, large installation to South Station by 2015.

The winning artist will be awarded a $150,000 stipend to complete their project, Mineo said,a cn can choose where it will go based on what they plan to construct. The budget includes all costs related to the artist’s project management fees; the artwork’s final design, fabrication, transportation, delivery, and installation costs.

“It will be up to the artist to pick which one of three space they want to work with,” she said. “What we’re envisioning is either sculptures, murals, [or other works] to go up at South Station.”

Images of the spaces where the art could go will be available on the Women’s Transportation Seminar website later this week. More information about the project can be found here.