The Nicholas Colasanto Outdoor Pool located at 2700 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22305 between Mt. Vernon Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue in Del Ray was opened in 1969 and was closed in 2010. The site was identified in the City of Alexandria’s 2012 Aquatic Facilities Study that recommended a decorative interactive fountain feature and two shade umbrellas for the site with the existing pool space adjacent to the art center turned into a plaza for public festivals, art display, and an interactive fountain – “enhancing the Del Ray entry point while providing water play fun for neighborhood users and visitors during the summer months.”

The City of Alexandria Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities Department Park Planning Division has engaged LSG Landscape Architecture firm to conduct community engagement and develop concepts for a newly designed, multigenerational, safe, all-season space which includes a spray park as a signature feature on the site. The site will serve as a community gathering space that has opportunities for passive and programmed activations. As part of that process, public art will be commissioned for the site to be integrated into the overall design. The selected artist will work with the team at LSG to incorporate public art into the overall design. 

LSG has developed draft concepts for the site and has held community meetings to solicit feedback. You can review the concepts and watch recordings of the public meetings here. 

Construction of the spray park is expected to begin in 2022.

The program goals for public art at Colasanto Spray Park are to:

• Support the goals for the overall site to ensure multi-generational use and all season access;
• Respond to architectural character of Del Ray;
• Draw inspiration from the site history;
• Enhance the sense of play while serving a functional role within the space; and
• Create a new work of art for Alexandria that is informed by the context of the site and recognizes the past, present, and future of the park and surrounding neighborhood.

After a national call, artist Béatrice Coron was commissioned by the City to design and fabricate an original artwork to be integrated into the newly designed spray park. 

Béatrice wants to hear stories about what Del Ray residents and visitors love about Del Ray, what they miss about Del Ray when they're not there, and share some of their own images of Del Ray. 

Watch a video with Béatrice and here work on this project here. 

Answer some of Béatrice's questions and share your images here. 

Born and raised in France, Béatrice Coron was a city dweller, a shepherdess and a truck driver among others, then she worked in tourism and lived in Egypt and Mexico for one year each and two years in China. She moved to New York where she launched her career as an artist in 1984. All these places left their mark on her thoughts and her art.

Béatrice explores visual storytelling in artist books, paper cutting and public art. Rather than leaving an expression for another, her work makes artist books for viewer to step in, or fine arts with theatrical methods. She creates environments for words and thoughts inviting the public to wonder, ponder, and discover a poetic vision.

Her work can be seen in major collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center and you can see her public art in New York, Chicago, Paris, and Hong Kong among others. 

To learn more about public art in Alexandria, you can review the City Council approved Public Art Implementation Plan & Policy, or learn more about other public art projects in Alexandria.

Visit  alexandriava.gov/PublicArt or follow @alexartsoffice on  Instagram and  Twitter. Add to the conversation with #artsALX.