Project Development and Management
The Past Supporting the Future
承前啓後 – The Past Supporting the Future, is a mural that was inspired by the Chinatown and AAPI communities throughout Philadelphia: their migration stories, the uniqueness of the neighborhood, and their visions for the future of Chinatown. The ten-story mural found on the side of the Crane Building in Chinatown, is filled with cultural symbolism for both the Chinese and widespread AAPI communities across Philadelphia. Read more about the project in our blog post
Common Waters
Lady Bird Lake is often referred to as the heart of the City of Austin, Texas, providing thousands of residents and tourists alike with a variety of opportunities to get involved with activities on the lake and with the surrounding nature and trails. Common Waters, a collaborative art installation, highlights the beauty and importance of Lady Bird Lake through the incorporation of art, activism, community and environment into the installation. Common Waters will serve as a demonstration project that will be used to inform the Trail Conservancy’s Art & Culture Plan, which Bressi is leading the process for developing. The plan will be completed in Spring 2023.
Under the Viaduct
Bressi led the project in its planning, development, artist selection and design phases.
He played a key role in inter-agency approvals and was key liaison with the Art Commission at the both the concept and final approval phases. Read more here.
A project of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.
Future Valley
Bressi curated and assisted in the early stages of this project by David Guinn and Robert Goodman in the Brewerytown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Read more here.
A project of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Percent for Art Program.
Rassambleu
Bressi curated and manged this project by Cliff Garten Studio in the Logan Square neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Fort McMurray Airport
Bressi and Via Partnership planned and commissioned three public art projects for a new airport in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Heights Park Rocket
For decades, one of the most beloved civic places in Richardson, TX, was the rocket playground in Heights Park. When the playground equipment finally needed to be replaced because of its age, the City faced a dilemma. How could it remove a civic icon, while keeping the memory of the playground, and all of the associations it raised, alive? Via Partnership and Bressi were asked to help the City commission a new public art project that would help make the transition. The result, a new Rocket sculpture by Jeff Larramore, immediately became a new community icon and already is the source of a bit of urban folklore itself. A collaboration with Via Partnership.
Narberth Avenue Bridge
Bressi is managing the art commission for a new bridge in Narberth, Pa. The project will involve cast-stone panels insert into the bridge walls. The project is being developed in collaboration with Venturi Scott Brown Associates. It is currently in the preliminary planning process.
Manayunk Public Art Initiative
The village of Manayunk, and design and entertainment district in Northwest Philadelphia, has committed to a multi-year program of commissioning new public artworks. Business leaders turned to the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and Bressi to develop a multiyear strategy, and to identify and facilitate projects. Bressi is currently managing several start-up projects that will roll out in summer and fall of 2011.
A project of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Manayunk Special Services District and Manayunk Development Corporation.
How Philly Moves
Bressi led with the concept planning for a major artwork at Philadelphia International Airport – identifying options, developing concepts, and outlining an interagency partnership that led to support and funding from the airport for a $500,000 project. He subsequently managed the selection of photographer J.J. Tiziou as the artist for the project, called How Philly Moves.
A project of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and J.J. Tiziou.
Light Drift
Bressi organized the early phases of this dramatic installation by Meejin Yoon, exhibited for three days in October 2011, on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Center City Philadelphia. Bressi helped the Mural Arts Program identify the site for the temporary exhibitions, raise funds and select the artist.A project of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and MY Studio.
Curtain Call
Bressi was retained to manage the artist selection for Garden Passage, a major new open space next to Pittsburgh’s new Consol Energy Center arena. He organized, with Via Partnership, an international, invited competition that asked artists and landscape designers to form collaborative teams and selected artist–designer Walter Hood. He managed the day-to-day aspects of the implementation of the $1.5 million project, Curtain Call, through schematic design approval.
A project of the Pittsburgh Sports and Exhibition Authority.
Metamorphosis!
After completing the Girard Avenue Public Art Master Plan, Bressi was asked to help the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program implement the first project – a sculptural series on a knoll that serves as a gateway to Fairmount Park, and a mosaic series that ornaments a nearby bridge, both by artists Bob and Cheryl Philips. Bressi served as external project manager, facilitating community process, artist selection, design development and review by numerous city agencies.
A project of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and Phillips Metal.
Project undertaken at Brown and Keener Bressi.
Update: In Memorium: Robert Phillips
Corridor of Light
When Arlington County’s public art program assembled funds from capital projects, developers and civic groups to build new civic infrastructure in Rosslyn, it asked Bressi to manage the artist selection and concept design process. Bressi, working with Via Partnership, managed an invitational selection process, developed an unusual contract, and worked with selected artist Cliff Garten to define the initial approach.
A project of the Arlington Public Art Program and Cliff Garten Studio.
Collaborations with Artists
Evacuspots
Bressi collaborated with Civic Center and Rebar Group on this proposal for a network of spaces throughout New Orleans where people could gather in the event of a flood evacuation.
The concept involved a series of 40-foot tall periscopes, that serve as landmarks peeking above the cityscape, and a playful new type of civic infrastructure that gives people a chance to survey their cityscape. The periscopes are labeled with key evacuation instructions. Situated in open spaces and medians in the city’s main boulevards they could also become gathering places for classes and hurricane-awareness events.
The proposal was a finalist in a competition organized by the New Orleans public art program in collaboration with Evacuteers and the Department of Homeland Security.
Peeks!
Bressi collaborated with Thoughtbarn on this proposal for artistic streetscape elements in downtown Denver. The metal, mirrored panels would capture reflections of the everyday pagaent of life in the city, and offer glimpses of the distant landscape and mountainscape. They would be organized in clusters that could form screens, hug the edge of buildings, or sprout from sidewalk planters like reflective flowers.
Prairie Line Trail
Bressi collaborated with Thoughtbarn on a master plan and demonstration artwork for the mile-long Prairie Line Trail in Tacoma, a critical connection between the city’s waterfront, the University of Washington Campus and the emerging Brewery District. The master plan will set a standard for trail design and trail art on projects throughout the city.
A project of the Tacoma Art Commission.