City of Dublin Approves Contract with Artist Ivan Depena for Next Public Artwork

The City of Dublin staff brought forward a resolution to Dublin City Council at the Nov. 4 meeting to approve a contract with artist Ivan Depeña for the Muirfield Drive Public Art Commission. The contract was authorized, and the project is planned to move forward at the Muirfield and Whittingham Drive location, with an anticipated completion in early 2026.
 
Ivan Depeña was unanimously recommended by a selection committee for the Muirfield Drive Public Art Commission as part of the Dublin Art in Public Places program during an artist presentation held by Dublin Arts Council on June 13. The committee presented Depeña's artwork titled “S/WING” to Dublin City Council for their approval as the next art installation in Dublin.
 
Depeña is a Hispanic American with a master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, currently based in Charlotte, North Carolina. His artistic production is informed by his experience in art, architecture, technology and design and encompasses a range of media. 
 
Depeña works increasingly in public art and maintains a rigorous, self-directed studio practice. He exhibits his work nationally and internationally, in both solo and group exhibitions, including at the McColl Center, NC; Praxis NY, NYC; New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; Miami Art Museum, Frost Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, Fla. He recently completed large-scale public commissions in New York, NY; Denver, CO; Albuquerque, NM; Gainesville, and Miami, Fla.
 
Depeña won Public Art of the Year for various projects from Americans for the Arts and the Public Art Network. In early 2014, he was awarded a prestigious Knight Arts Challenge Miami Grant for his proposal for a first-of-its-kind series of augmented reality public art projects throughout South Florida called “Lapse.” He was a 2017-2018 finalist for the renowned Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) Grants & Commissions program for Hispanic artists and received a nomination for the prestigious United States Artist grant in 2017. 
 
For his proposal, Depeña’s “S/WING” embodies the dynamic motion of a golf swing, in part influenced by Jack Nicklaus’ signature swing intertwined with the movement of bird’s wings in flight. 
 
“The selection committee felt Depeña’s concept had a direct relation to the site and that the artwork will serve as both an iconic landmark and a destination for years to come,” says Dublin Arts Council Executive Director, David S. Guion, Ph.D. 
 
For more information about the Art in Public Places program and this Muirfield Drive Public Art Commission, visit DublinArts.org/publicart or DublinOhioUSA.gov/art-in-public-places.