Collaboration with Artists

Downtown Urban Design projects provide a particular challenge to public artists and designers working together to create a "sense of place". Finding the artists with the appropriate medium and materials is a process that Bender Wells Clark Design has takenon with excellent results. Allowing artists to take part in the design phase, to express a given theme, and to create art objects that are sometimes whimsical, sometimes inspirational, and always integrated into their surroundings is encouraged on our projects. We love good public art that lets people know where they are while also telling a story. On the Mission Trails project Bender Wells Clark Design reviewed qualifications for 113 artists. Four nationally known public artists were selected: Jud Fine, Micheal Davis, Stacy Levy and Clark Wegman. Each is responsible for a particular site and site-specific art along the eleven-mile long corridor. On the Downtown San Antonio River artists Carlos Cortes, Oscar Alvarado and Maxwell Studios worked together with the design team to create artful furniture, tilemurals and decorative lighting.

Each project is an opportunity to integrate art or artist-made building parts into the design.