Call for Artists
Imagination Station Entrance Doors at Lionshead Parking Structure

The Vail Recreation District and Town of Vail’s Art in Public Places invites local artists to submit for consideration of a public art project at Imagination Station. Imagination Station, located within the Lionshead Parking Structure, is a year-round hands-on interactive children's museum for all ages and their families. This thoughtful play space has many features encouraging creativity and exploration. The adjacent community programming room offers additional activities including pottery, painting, virtual reality, and science projects.

The intent of this call is to attract local artists to create an original mural on the entrance double metal doors and adjacent concrete pillar drawing attention to this community amenity. Ideally the selected work will evoke vibrancy, playfulness, creativity, and animate what resides within Imagination Station. 

Application Requirements:

• Letter of interest indicating your vision, approach for the project, qualifications, previous art experience and contact information. Artists with experience painting on a large scale will be preferred.
• Renderings and description of your proposed art for entrance. Up to two drawings or paintings may be submitted. Any medium can be used for submittal purposes including marker, watercolor, acrylic or colored pencils.
• Two professional reference contact information.
• Visual support materials of previous work (5 images max) – website, jpegs (not to exceed 8 MB). Please note that ZIP files are not accepted. If your flies are too large, you may also send via dropbox.
• Information list to accompany submitted images.

Paint Materials Requirements:

Only paint may be applied, for metal surfaces, suitable for outdoor conditions, and applied over a base coat of paint.  Artist is responsible for applying the base coat and taping all areas of the doors where paint will not be applied (ie. windows, signage, key holes, hinges, doorknobs). The artist will be provided an anti-graffiti coating to apply upon completion of the mural. Artist is responsible for cleanup of their area and safe disposal of all paint materials. Do not paint over keyholes or keyholes covers.

Checklist of recommended supplies (This may not be a complete list as all artists work differently): 

• Step ladder
• Bucket to hold water for paint brushes
• Paint brushes
• Painter’s tape, masking tape
• Drop cloth or plastic sheeting, newspaper for protecting surrounded area
• Rags and/or paper towels

Budget: $1,250.00 - Budget is inclusive of artist’s fees, materials, travel, insurance, permits, fabrication, and labor.

Measurements: Double door 96 (h) x 75 (w) inches; Concrete pillar 89 (h) x 18 (w) inches

Anticipated Timeline:

• Call issued: April 22, 2024
• Deadline for entry: May 17, 2024
• Feedback and Direction from AIPP Board & VRD Representative: June 3, 2024
• Artist notification: June 4, 2024
• Proposed installation: June 24 – 28, 2024

Contractual agreement with Vail Recreation District must be signed prior to installation.

Materials and questions may be emailed to: artinvail@vail.gov