Artists to decorate sidewalks

The city of Sarasota is seeking artists to complete an art walk in the newly designated Downtown Sarasota Historic District.

The selected artists will create 97 16-inch-by-16-inch sidewalk inlays to replace the gray brick diamonds that are currently on Main Street’s sidewalks from Orange Avenue to Gulfstream Avenue.

Artists can use a variety of materials, including granite, stainless steel and stoneware ceramic.

Applications can be found at www.sarasotagov.com/publicart — submission deadline is July 28. The artists must reside in Sarasota or Manatee counties, and those artists selected will be paid $250.

The art walk is the brainchild of Ernie Ritz, vice president of the Downtown Improvement District.

“We’ll enhance the shopping experience by putting pieces of art by local artists (on display),” Ritz said.