SANDPOINT — City Council rejected seven art submissions on Wednesday as the Sandpoint Arts Commission's Silver Box Project is being restructured.

The project is a city-wide, on-loan art competition of annually rotating sculptures, which council approved a year ago. It was named the Silver Box Project for the three stainless steel boxes, which will display the sculptures on loan from artists for the period of one year.

"The boxes were completed earlier this year and they are beautiful," said Elle Susnis, SAC chairperson, during Wednesday's council meeting. "However, after analyzing the original (request for proposal) and jury results, we found there were some issues going forward. Since this is a brand new type of program for Sandpoint, we decided to go back to the drawing board on the artwork selection."

The commission kept some of the "most popular aspects" of the original project, she said, but did make several changes. For one, the original listed a $5,000 market value cap on submissions. That was removed to open the call up to a larger base of artists, Susnis said. The commission is also opening up the call to the entire nation, rather than the region.

One of the biggest changes is the location. The initial location chosen for the project was at the trailhead for the Sand Creek path near City Beach.

"Although that is a beautiful park setting, the Arts Commission felt that the location was cramped, and would likely only be viewed by users of the path as it is hard to see from any other vantage point," Susnis said.

Susnis proposed the boxes be located in three separate areas of downtown, as part of the "Sandpoint Sculpture Walk." The proposed locations include the corners of Fourth Avenue and Church Street, Fourth and Oak, and Fifth and Oak.

"These locations are viewable not only by pedestrians, but also vehicle traffic, which would include a larger portion of the community," she said.

In addition to rejecting the seven sculptures from the commission's recent call for submissions, council approved the changes to the project.

Each year, one piece will win the People's Top Choice Award. The top choice and runners up will receive cash prizes from local business sponsors, which is an addition in the restructured project. The city has the option to buy the sculpture to relocate downtown, Susnis said, though it is not required to. 

The commission will soon put out a call to artists via the CaFE website at callforentry.org. Each artist may submit up to three sculptures, but must present each piece in a separate application. Applications containing more than one sculpture will be disqualified. Sculpture requirements will include:

- The artwork must be an original work of art made by the submitting artist. The artist must own the rights to the artwork and artwork must be available for the duration of the approximate one-year contract.

- The artwork may not contain advertising, religious references, sexual content, negative imagery, or convey political partisanship.

- Artwork must be durable in outdoor conditions and surfaces must not be prone to environmental degradation, e.g. unsealed rust.

- The artwork shall not have kinetic elements or water features.

- Artwork must be structurally safe for display in public and must not have the potential to cause injury. All components must be securely fastened.

- Artwork must arrive in the same condition as portrayed in the application photographs. The commission reserves the right to refuse artwork if it does not match the photographs submitted.

- Artwork minimum size is 24 inches with a maximum size of 48 inches.

- The footprint of the artwork must be able to be securely bolted onto a powder coated steel attachment plate. The city will provide a mounting plate template pdf at time of selection.

- Installation method for artwork should be welded tabs or a similar easy install method using bolts.

- Artwork must weigh no more than 300 pounds.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.