2011-12-27T10:13:00.078-05:00

THREE POE FINALISTS UNVEIL DESIGN PRESENTATIONS; PROPONENTS SEEK PUBLIC FEEDBACK THROUGH FEBRUARY 2012

BOSTON – On September 16, 2011, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, theEdgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston, and the Boston Art Commission -- as a result of the investment of a planning grant from the city's Edward Ingersoll Browne Trust Fund -- announced the selection of three finalists in a competition to develop public artwork celebrating the Boston-born writer, Edgar Allan Poe, andhis creative work.

The finalists were selected from a pool of 265 artists from 42 states and 13 countries who submitted their qualifications for consideration. Working with the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston, the Boston Art Commission will oversee the installation of the public artwork in Edgar Allan Poe Square, the city-owned plaza located at the southeast corner of Boylston Street and Charles Street South between Park Square and Boston Common.

The artists are Jennifer Bonner and her teammate architectChristian Stayner, both of Los Angeles; Ann Hirsch of Cambridge and herteammate Boston architect Robert Olson; and Stefanie Rocknak of Oneonta, NewYork. Their design proposals were first presented by the artists on Monday, January 9, 2012, at the Campus Center of Emerson College (at 150 Boylston St., four doors east of Poe Square). The artists' concepts were presented once again at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square by project manager Jean Mineo on Thursday, January 19, 2012, the Boston-born Poe's 203rd birthday.

“The high caliber of the artists selected as finalistssignifies not only the commitment of the Poe Foundation to create anexceptional artwork for the City of Boston but also the excitement felt inBoston and beyond for Edgar Allan Poe and his work as an artistic subject,”said Staff Director Karin Goodfellow on behalf of the Boston ArtCommission.

Thethree finalists were each awarded a $1,000 grant from the Browne Trust Fund to create their design plans for publicinspection. As of January 10, 2012, community feedback -- comments and suggestions about the proposals -- are welcome on this "Poe Square Public Artwork Public Forum" blog, as they will be at other public meetings, as well as via the E-mail, Facebook and Twitter accounts of the Poe Foundation of Boston.

A five-member review committee of the Boston Art Commission will recommend a final design selection in March 2012. At that point, proponents of the project, led by the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Poe Foundation of Boston, plan to be prepared to take on an estimated $100,000 fundraising challenge in order to complete the project.