In the News: Alamar Public Art Program

Creating, installing public artwork at West Valley community was a massive undertaking.

Phoenix Business Journal ~ October 30, 2020 ~ Jim Poulin

The privilege of owning valuable art is all too often reserved for the rich and famous, but at a recently opened West Valley master-planned community, every resident is a collector.

Model homes at Brookfield Residential’s Alamar master-planned community on 1,130 acres near the proposed Arizona State Route 30, in the city of Avondale, are now open. Besides the planned 3,695 homes and 41-acre regional park, what makes this community unique is the public artwork on display.

Known as “WholeARTedly Alamar,” the community’s public art program is a dual effort from the city of Avondale and Brookfield Residential. Six Valley artists were selected for the program: John Nelson, Mary Shindell, Melissa Martinez, Fausto Fernandez, Neil Borowicz and Roy Wasson Valle. In the six exhibits in the first community phase, there are dynamic sculptures and pavement art as well as other museum-worthy installations that double as play spaces inspired by Alamar’s agrarian heritage and mountain-view setting.

In the photo gallery below, Phoenix Business Journal photographer Jim Poulin chronicles the process of making some of the artwork featured in Alamar’s public spaces.

Six homebuilders have been selected to build in Alamar. They will offer a variety of products from entry-level, 1,200-square-foot homes starting in the $200,000s up to executive-level homes in the 5,000-square-foot range, John Bradley, president of Brookfield Residential’s Arizona market, said in a previous interview.

Of the 461 homes planned for the first phase, 53 have been sold. The community is expected to be complete in 2024.

All of the parks in the future phases of Alamar will have commissioned artwork, according to the developer.

While the entire master-planned community is a major investment in the city of Avondale, the public art initiative in Alamar and Avondale is quite the investment for the Valley as a whole.

WholeARTedly Alamar began in the minds of the six artists but has impacted so many more lives during the year-long process. In fact, the Alamar public art program supported as many as 456 jobs from 23 local businesses, including Bollinger Atelier, Magnum Companies, Gothic Landscaping, Dal Tile, Di Mosaico, Mouse Graphics, Accurate Waterjet, Progressive Hardscapes, RJ Ruff, Forterra Pipe and Precast, Lightform Lighting, Tempe Crane and Rigging, Miracle Maintenance, Kelly’s Reload, and others.

At least 92 people touched the project, from the artists themselves to the fabricators, contractors, foundry employees, suppliers and installers.

Read the full article here.