The Greenbelt Trail is Clive’s crown jewel: a wooded bike trail that connects neighborhoods, playgrounds and natural spaces throughout the city. And while the Greenbelt Trail is beautiful in its own right, the City of Clive also wants to use it to showcase visual art through the Art Along the Trail program. 2023 will be the 12th year of the program.
“[The program] was started as part of one of our Public Art Master plans,” Leisure Services Director Richard Brown says. “How do we get more of that kind of everyday art in people’s view? How can they experience it in ways that is different than when you go to a museum or something? And so this annual show was thought up to really to find ways to get art out to people.”
Each fall, the City of Clive puts out a call for visual artists who are willing to submit. At the end of the application period, the city picks nine artists to install their work at different sites along the Greenbelt Trail. Selected artists will receive a $1,000 stipend and must have their work installed by April 1, 2023. The pieces stay on the trail from April until November.
When submitting their work, artists are also asked to set a predetermined price they would be willing to sell their piece for. All art featured on Art Along the Trail may be purchased by a private buyer or by the City of Clive itself to use in its permanent collection.
“Also one thing that’s in there is the ability to submit 2-D art,” Brown said. “Last year, we selected a woman and she kind of gave us a concept for a mural, and we liked it so much that we actually paid her the extra money just to permanently put it in one of our buildings.”
Applications are currently open and they close on Dec. 2. Applicants can fill out and submit the application digitally, or they can print out and submit it to the Clive Leisure Services Department.
Brown encourages artists to apply even if they’re on the fence about it. “We love to see all different types of art,” he said. “We’ve had some very traditional-looking pieces and some very kind of out-there pieces.”
