A Work Of Art

Mansfield looks to invest in enrichment of public spaces

One of the greatest outcomes of the Works Progress Administration, or WPA as it is more widely known, is the art that sprung up throughout the States. Today, the American Rescue Plan Act is helping continue that tradition with public art being an approved expense.

The Town of Mansfield is just one such town that is taking advantage of this provision. Throughout the month of March, the Mansfield Town Council was accepting proposals for permanent or rotating art in “several key public areas,” such as the town hall and community center.

In the request for concepts, the town says that “public art contributes significantly to the vitality of the community, and that vibrancy is what many potential residents and businesses are looking for when they decide where to locate.”

And this is borne out by previous works like the Martin Luther King Jr. mural at the community center and the “Weaving Shuttle” sculpture on Betsy Paterson Square. In order to be a successful piece of art, the town created a list of suggestions that say the art should: create a focal point of excitement, appeal to a diverse audience, be sustainable to withstand New England elements, and be accessible.

Artists who feel they had a piece that fit those criteria put those into a proposal. The top three concepts would be vetted by the town and $1,000 give to each to further develop their concepts into a “specific proposal.” Per the request for concepts, only once these proposals are reviewed will artists be chosen and contracts developed for production of the art and compensation.

The concepts and proposals will be vetted by the Town’s Arts Advisory Committee who already advice the Town Council and Manager on issues related to the arts.

One of the other suggestions for the art proposals was that it should “be able to stand the test of time i.e., it should not be synonymous with a particular era or time period.”

Interestingly, WPA projects, despite the vast array of styles and projects undertaken during this time, are almost all closely synonymous with the era. Whether it was a local artist painting a mural in the post office or Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange taking photos across the landscape, the WPA provided us with plenty of art to beautify and remark on our country.

The American Rescue Plan Act might be doing the same before our eyes without us realizing it. If the Town of Mansfield is successful in choosing pieces that are original and engaging, that stand the test of time, in 100 years, another generation might remark upon a piece in Mansfield Town Hall and say, “Look at that, it’s an ARPA artwork.”