The Arts Council of Indianapolis is pleased to announce two commissions from the Great Ideas Competition have been awarded to artists Jeff Martin and Tom Torluemke. The Great Ideas Competition is designed to give artists living in the state of Indiana an opportunity to compete for a public art project commission in the state's capital. Each artist will receive $18,000 to realize his proposal as submitted in the competition. A selection committee comprised of qualified local professionals awarded the commissions following a review of the proposals.

Based in Indianapolis, Jeff Martin's proposal is entitled, "Urban Silos." Martin's proposed installation will juxtapose an Indiana farmland icon-grain silos-with urban settings. The two silos will encourage passersby to view the sky through the open tops and ponder. "Most adults stopped looking at the sky in that way a long time ago," Martin said. "I wanted to find a way to recapture that experience and share it with others."

A resident of Hammond, Indiana, Tom Torluemke's proposal is entitled, "Light the Way." Torluemke's installation includes large luminaries made by community members; the lighted luminaries will then become the focus of a community park event. Torluemke hopes his work will serve as a nucleus to bring residents together in uplifting events. "The events will celebrate a topic of the resident's choice and will culminate in the 'Lighting of the Luminaries' event, symbolic of affirmation, initiative, and gratitude," said Torluemke.

Martin and Torluemke were among six finalists in this year's Great Ideas Competition; additional finalists included the team of Artur Silva and Judith Levy, David Russick, Jesse Allison and Timothy Gray. The artists submitted proposals through a three-phase process that began in October 2007. Installation sites and dates for the two commissioned artworks are yet to be determined.

The Great Ideas Competition was first held in 2005; that year a seven-person selection committee comprised of local art experts heard presentations by 10 finalists, considered public input, and recommended two projects - "Speak/Spoken" by Patrick Manning and "Charting Pogue's Run" by Sean Derry - which were commissioned and created in 2006.

The Great Ideas Competition was developed by the Arts Council of Indianapolis as part of its Public Art Indianapolis program and funded by the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission.