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Public Art Commission presents 2026 work plan, highlights Fire Station 12 and community-garden installations
Summary
At a Richmond City Planning Commission meeting the city's Public Art Commission secretary, Angela McKenzie, outlined the commission's 2026 work plan, highlighting completed installations at Fire Station 12 and Gilpin Community Farm and upcoming projects at City Hall, Main Street Station and several community sites.
Angela McKenzie, secretary of Richmond's Public Art Commission, told the Planning Commission that the commission's 2026 work plan emphasizes neighborhood-focused installations and partnerships to increase access to public art. McKenzie presented recently completed projects, ongoing community-driven garden works and a slate of site-specific commissions planned for the coming year.
The presentation opened with a discussion of Fire Station 12, a completed project that integrates archival images into window facades to honor Richmond firefighting history, including references to the city's first integrated fire company, its first Black fire chief and its first female firefighter. McKenzie described a sculptural 'ladder' element and programmable lighting incorporated into the installation, saying the lighting allows the station to change colors for seasonal or commemorative events.
McKenzie also reviewed a community-garden series, highlighting work at Gilpin Community Farm by local artist Barry O'Keefe and partnerships with Richmond Grows Gardens and local historians. She said the projects include site-specific elements — a gateway arch, wrought-iron details and benches — and educational components that reference local flora and fauna and neighborhood history. McKenzie noted a local foundry, Okay Foundry, provided wrought-iron fabrication for the project.
On the coming fiscal-year work plan McKenzie described Rob Rock Community Garden as the final community-garden installation in the current series. She said the garden includes a painted shipping container housing murals by a local artist (credited in the presentation as 'Silly Genius') and that coordination remains for solar hookups for tools and for scheduling a community celebration.
McKenzie said the commission will also pursue art for City Hall's lobby to increase exhibition opportunities for local artists and improve visitors' and staff experience. Main Street Station is listed as a potential site but remains budgeted as TBD while the Public Art Commission finalizes interdepartmental partnerships and scope. Additional projects noted include Phase 2 of the Southside Community Center (a sculpture evoking the water cycle to complement nearby water-management features), art to support interpretation at the Ankeros Landing trailhead, Fire Station 21 and preliminary planning for Police Precinct 1, Browns Island stakeholder outreach and the TB Smith Community Center.
The presentation closed with McKenzie inviting questions; the Chair opened a public-hearing opportunity and reported no one online wished to speak. The commission did not take formal action on the presentation; staff and commissioners said they will continue stakeholder engagement and advance scope and budget discussions for projects listed as TBD.
