Aurora committee advances three public-art installations for new animal shelter; members ask for more diversity in designs

Amber Pixley, interim public art supervisor for Aurora, presented a three-part public-art package for the city’s new animal shelter and the committee present voted to advance the work to the next step.

Pixley told the committee the total public-art allocation for the project is $250,000 under the city’s 1% for public art ordinance, with $150,000 budgeted for the exterior sculpture package called "Compassion" by Joe Norman, $60,000 for interior murals by Samara Ash, and $40,000 for an aerial, overhead installation. "Compassion centers on the idea that the shelter is a place for second chances and care, not just intake and holding," Pixley said as she described the sculpture concept.

The sculpture package by Joe Norman would include four sculptures (a girl, a cat, a boy, a dog and a paired "mischief" piece), some freestanding and some mounted on the building; Pixley said Norman, an artist from Longmont, is comfortable meeting the 2027 construction timeline and the $150,000 budget. Committee members asked to see samples of Norman's past work; Pixley navigated through slides showing prior engineering drawings.

Samara Ash's mural proposal, presented as a suite under the title "Horizonte," emphasizes calming landscapes, Colorado natural symbolism and a human-animal relationship. Pixley said one corridor mural will run roughly 110 feet and that Ash — a Colombian artist based in Miami — expects to travel to Aurora to paint on site with assistants, estimating about three weeks of on-site work. The murals are intended to "support wayfinding and break up long corridors," Pixley said.

The aerial piece, "Pet Party," by Brooke Smart and Jeremy Morgan uses recycled PET felt acoustic boards to provide visual warmth and soundproofing; Pixley said the artists are comfortable with the $40,000 budget and will coordinate palette and dog-breed representation with the mural artist.

Committee members commended the civic focus and local representation and repeatedly pressed for broader representation of dog breeds and more diversity among the human figures depicted. "I love these, exercises and putting public art in places," a committee member said, adding a preference for local artists and asking that more pit-mixes, huskies and chihuahuas be included. Pixley agreed to request updated drawings incorporating the requested diversity and to share those renderings with the committee.

After discussion, the members present voted to approve moving the sculpture forward and indicated agreement to advance the larger art package for further review and final approvals. Pixley said pieces from the current shelter will be moved to the new site and that final approvals for the exterior and mural projects will require additional formal review steps.

The committee noted it did not have a full quorum at the start of the meeting and proceeded with votes among members present; the committee's actions will be reflected in subsequent formal agenda materials as they move toward Council study-session review and final approvals.