[KHTS] – The Santa Clarita Arts Commission approved the final artist selection to create a public art piece to be implemented in the Valencia Public Library on Oct. 10, city officials said.

Emma Anna from Australia is expected to create the public sculpture intended to celebrate the Valencia Public Library and represent the themes that the Valencia Public Library adheres to:community, vibrancy, education, exploration, technology, history, and fun.

A total of 82 artists applied to create the prominent art piece to be displayed in the surrounding context of the Valencia Public Library. The art piece is expected to be highly visible to motorists driving westbound on Valencia Boulevard and within the expanded parking lot between the Valencia Library and Valencia Boulevard.

On September 23, three finalists, consisting of Emma Anna, Patricia Zader and Anna Snyder, were selected and each given a $300 stipend to develop their concept design proposals for the project, according to Phil Lantis, City of Santa Clarita arts and event administrator.

The project’s ad hoc committee, consisting of Arts Commission Chair Susan Shapiro, Valencia Public Library Manager Nancy Kerr, Field Deputy Rosalind Wayman for Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, Photographer Ted Dayton, and Assistant Engineer Carla Callahan in the City’s Capital Improvement Projects Division, ranked the concept proposals and made a recommendation to the arts commission on the selected artist.

“The Ad Hoc Committee selected the three finalists and then received their concept proposal presentations and based on those presentations made the recommendation of Emma Anna to the Arts Commission,” said Lantis. “The arts commission approved the recommendation.”

The selected concept proposal, the “imag_ne” project, is composed of large wordplay letters that spell out the word “imagine,” although the second “I” of the word is missing.

“This absence operates as a blank canvas, inviting the audience to physically engage with  the work in order to complete the word. There is the potential for audiences to directly engage with imag_ne, photographing themselves occupying the missing ‘I’,” according to a statement provided by the City of Santa Clarita.

The piece is expected to be installed between late 2013 and early 2014, according to Lantis.

– Luzzei Tsuji