Public Art Review issue 34 - 2006 (springs/summer) by forecastpublicart

www.publicARTreview.org

J o h n Grant (Public Art Director) at work

Thank you, J o h n Grant! From the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs for leaving one big t h u m b print on our city. Best wishes at your new position as Director of Special Projects with the Museum of Contemporary Art | Denver.

For more information on the Public Art Program, visit

www.denvergov.org/publicart

and join our mailing list or call 720-913-4313

DENVER

OFFICE

CULTURAL

AFFAIRS

Wellington E. Webb Municipal Building 201 W. Colfax Ave., Dept. 1007 | Denver, CO 80202

N E R M A N M U S E U M OF CONTEMPORARY ART

OPENING 2007 . JOHNSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE â&#x20AC;¢ 12345 COLLEGE BLVD.. OVERLAND PARK, KS 66210

G O R D O N HUETHER www.gordonhuether.com

tel: 707.255.5954

David

Hayes

www.davidhayes.com

Inchworm

2, 1989; Office of Charles E. Moore; Owensboro KY Public Art Commission,

J A C K

B E C K E R

FOREWORD

THE BIG BANG OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN T E A C H I N G

D E S I G N — A N Y

U N A W A R E

THAT

THE

S O M E O N E

M E C H A N I C A L

THEY'RE

A GIFT

K I N D

PENCIL

F R O M

A N

D E S I G N — M A K E S

D E S I G N E D IN

THEIR

THE

H A N D .

A L L - P O W E R F U L

S C H O O L T H E Y

SENSE.

KIDS

B U I L D I N G ,

LIKELY

RARELY

THE

A S S U M E

H E A R

C L A S S R O O M ,

T H E S E

T H I N G S

THE

W O R D

S C H O O L .

THE

DESK

A N D

CHAIR,

J U S T

MATERIALIZE,

THEY'RE OR

E V E N

P E R H A P S

CREATOR.

Of course, there are opportunities for young people to learn how to paint, sculpt, act, write, compose, and perform. But with few exceptions, the mention of public art is absent from the classroom. It's not in the history books, it's not part of Art 101, and it's hard to find in the school library. Yet if you Google "public art" you get 590 million hits! In spite of its omnipresence—tens of thousands of public sculptures, murals, and artworks around the world, seen by millions of people every day—only recently have major universities begun offering courses on public art. Although many college campuses boast impressive public art holdings, they never get discussed in class. So how did the hundreds of active public artists in this country learn their trade? Where did they acquire the skills to plan, design, negotiate, create, fabricate, install, and compete in the field? Who taught them? The fact is, all public artists are teachers and learners. They learn by doing, getting their hands in it. (I have nothing against books, slides, and lectures, but they don't compare with the real thing.) Public art is about experience, from the creating to the appreciating—trial and error, cause and effect, action and reaction. Urban studies, a subject that barely existed fifteen years ago, now can be found at more than fifty universities. Will public art studies grow and flourish at a similar rate? Accord ing to Steven J. Tepper, deputy director of the Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy, "The arts on campus and in the community attract talented students in every discipline and create a more stimulating place to work and study." Tepper believes college campuses should be evaluated using a "creativity index," in addition to all the other statistics used to rank schools. "Creativity," he says, "is not simply about self expression. It is about producing something new (or com bining old elements in new ways) to advance a particular field or add to the storehouse of knowledge." Conditions that encourage creativity, Tepper says, include collaboration, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary exchange, time and resources, and tolerating failure. The "creative campus" could be measured by these indicators.

My first impression—at the tender age of seven—of any art on campus was from the early 60s TV show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. At the beginning and end of each episode Dobie would ponder his problems, posing like Auguste Rodin's The Thinker. He was usually on a park bench with a reproduction of the famous statue immediately behind him. What was that statue thinking about, I wondered. Seventeen years ago I helped launch Public Art Review as an educational tool. It was inevitable that we would eventually turn our gaze to the educational systems and institutions responsible for imparting knowledge about our field. For this issue we scoured the country for examples, models, and lessons learned. We discovered mural painting courses, artist residencies, public art symposia, teachers' institutes, community arts degree programs, public art administration programs, apprenticeships, temporary installation workshops, travel-study programs, public art evaluation courses, and artist-architect collaboray -- ~ tions, to name a few. With this proliferation of course offerings, degrees, and community-based educational programs, it seems like the tides are turning. As more colleges seek to foster creativity, I reform education, keep up with the times, f and strengthen linkages with the surrounding world, public art is a subject that can no longer be ignored. Indeed, teaching public art may be the most important new direction for higher education. When students are taught to be creative in the world around jjrdftu. them, to meet and share ideas with a broad range of individuals outside the academic realm, they can learn lessons that lead to good living I and an appetite for lifeI long learning.

If you weren't a believer before, this issue should turn you into a convert. It's the dawn of the Big Bang of public art education.

UPCOMING ISSUE Fall/Winter 2006 THEME "Great Writings '|FÂ»TURED STATE F l o r i d a k ^ A T T l p I I T ADVERTISE / SUBSCRIBE publicARTreview.org

Buster Simpsjb OHcnnij Hat

Robert MorfffWW Willi

Teny Allen Modem Cymnuifkotion

Kansas City Municipal Art Commission, Kansas City, MO

www.

cimo.n:

w w w . m o s a i k a d e s i q n . c o m

What do you need to know? The Arizona State University g r a d u a t e Certificate in Public Art offers coursework a n d internships d e s i g n e d to meet the distinctive needs of artists a n d art administrators in this d y n a m i c a n d c o m p e t i t i v e field.

http://herbergercollegc.asu.edu/public_art/ccrtificate Arizona State University, Herberger College of Fine Arts PO Box 872102, Tempe, AZ 85287-2102, Attn: Public Art Phone: 480-965-0951

w w w . B u i l d i n g - o f - A r t . c o m What does it mean when the artist enters through the backdoor of the institution?

PUblicArtReview

a publication of F O R E C A S T Public Artworks

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I S S U E 34

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S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2006 VOLUME 17 - N U M B E R 2 ART ON C A M P U S EDITOR

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M w

f o u n d7 a t" i ,o n "

T H E MCKNIGHT FOUNDATION

Bush Foundation ~

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Support from the Minnesota State Arts Board is through 1 n appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature and a grant by the NEA.

PUBLIC ART PROGRAM is proud to present our inaugural

Artist Roster Actual Size Artworks

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Werner Klotz Stephen Knapp B J Krivanek Adam Kuby Cat Lane Daniel L. Laskarin Thomas Lax Andrew Leicester Linda Lichtman Donald Lipski Janet Lofquist

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Sonya Ishii

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Ernest Daetwyler

John Isherwood Studios

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Nancy Davidson

Kristin Jones and

Richard C. Elliott

Andrew Ginzel Lorna Jordan

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Robert Millar AnnaValentina Murch

Andrea Mykleburst and Stanton Gray Sears Joe C. Nicholson Erin Shie Palmer Colleen Philippi spmb_projects David Rokeby Jim Sanborn Joost Van Santen Thomas Sayre Helmick and Schechter Vicki Scuri Danny Singer David Spriggs Tony Stallard Joanne Staniszkis CostelloThomasson Inc. Po Shu Wang Stuart Williams Steven Woodward Joan Zalenski Suikang Zhao r-» _ i_ —j

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Janet Zweig

PUblicArtReview Issue 3 4 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6 • Volume 17 • N u m b e r 2

ART ON C A M P U S

FEATURES Art on Campus 101: Aesthetics, Identity, and Lessons Learned Most public art administrators learn their craft on the job, in spite of the struggles and stress. These are the enablers of art that leave a legacy. KURT K I E F E R

On Again, Off Again: Campus-Community Relations fust because you invite blue chip artists to add art to your campus mean the neighbors will cheer you on.

doesn't

AMANDA BOCK

Big Ten Who has the best art on campus collection in America? A survey to members of the Public Art Network determined our list.

Why Teach Public Art? A High School Primer Public Art 101? Garber makes a convincing argument for bringing subject into the classroom sooner rather than later.

the

ELIZABETH G A R B E R

St. Louis Curriculum Kit: Learning All Subjects Through Public Art This trio makes a strong case for putting tools in the hands of Here's one that's working.

teachers.

EMILY BLUMENFELD, BARBARA DECKER AND JANE BIRDSALL-LANDER

Teaching Public Art: Toward an Interdisciplinary Education The complexities of the field necessitate a new strategy for one that's inclusive and open-minded.

teaching,

JONI PALMER

University of Minnesota's "PArt" Graduate Program The University of Minnesota joins the ranks of enlightened institutions taking public art seriously. Willis's program description spells it out. SHELLY WILLIS

Engaging the Off-Campus Audience One professor's strategy sends students onto streets and where real learning can take place.

boulevards,

HARRIET F . S E N I E

A Sustainable Approach to Public Art Education Where green thinking and design education converge, Lanzl fertile soil for creative learning. CHRISTINA LANZL

reveals

Americans for the Arts / Public Art Network presents

Material Meaning:

Process, Product, and Preservation in Public Art

The nation's leading annual gathering

of public art professionals, public artists, and others.

Keynote Presentation by Elizabeth Diller, DILLER, SCOFIDIO

RENFRO

2006 Year In Review Presentation of the annual

Public Art N e t w o r k A w a r d

Public Art Preconference

June 1-2,2006 Hilton (Vlilwaukee City Center

AMERICANS for the

ARTS

w w w . A m e r i c a n s F o r T h e A r t s . o r g / P A N

PUblicArlReview Issue 3 4 • S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 6 • Volume 17 • Number 2

ART ON C A M P U S

DEPARTMENTS Foreword JACK B E C K E R

Artist Page Wisconsin's High School Art Teacher can wake up a rural community.

of the Year shows us how public

art

J I M HEROLD

On Wisconsin Don't fly over this issue's featured state. Instead, rural riches via these two contrasting surveys.

discover

the urban

and

J. G. MIKULAY AND TONY R A J E R

A Professor's Notes on Public Art If you want to learn all about public space and art, take a lesson Professor Nickels. It might change your thinking.

from

B R A D L E Y J. NICKELS

The Bauhaus Model Public art education sensitivity.

abroad

reflects

a refined

sensibility,

and a

refreshing

STUART K E E L E R

Extreme Art If you can't stand the heat, get out of Nevada fesitval.

during the Burning

Man

LOUIS M. BRILL

Book Reviews PETER KRAMER R O B B MITCHELL

Recent Publications

From the Home Front

News

Recent Projects

Last Page C H R I S MONROE

www.publicARTreview.org

CORRECTIONS from Issue 33 (1) T h e p h o t o o n p a g e 2 2 o f J a n e W e i s s m a n a n d l a n e t B r a u n - R e i n i t z ' s a r t i c l e " C o m m u n i t y . C o n s e n s u s . & t h e P r o t e s t M u r a l " w a s i n c o r r e c t y i d e n t i f i e d a s On the Way to Market C a m p l i s . It s h o u l d h a v e b e e n United Latitudes

and Legends

in the Struggle

/ Comino

al Mercado

(1984) by Ray Patlan a n d F r a n c i s c o

(1084) by Jose M e z a Velazquez. (2) T h e recent project on page 79

s h o u l d h a v e b e e n a t t r i b u t e d to G r e g o r T u r k , not G r e g T u r k . W e a p p o l o g i z e for t h e s e e r r o r s .

LAST PAGE C o n t r i b u t i n g e d i t o r i a l c a r t o o n i s t C h r i s M o n r o e i s a D u l u t h - b a s e d a r t i s t a n d a u t h o r o f Ultra "Violet

Days"

( a w e e k l y c o m i c s t r i p i n t h e Minneapolis

ON THE COVER

A l e x i s S m i t h , Snake

Photo by Philipp S c h o l z R i t t e r m a n n .

Path.

Star

Violet:

Ten

Tribune).

1992, Stuart Collection, University of California. S a n Diego.

)'ears

Otis BFA has new concepts in public art * Otis College of Art arid Design, S o u t h e r n California's first i n d e p e n d e n t professional school of art, b e g a n in 1918. Eighty-eight y e a r s later, the undergraduate fine arts faculty, inspired by the vitality of L o s A n g e l e s , invent creative curricula for the 2 1 st c e n t u r y city.

Emerging Technologies: N e w Media and

L o n d o n t o L a g o s : A r t a n d t h e D e v e l o p m e n t of t h e

Studio Art Practice

21 st C e n t u r y City Taught

by Meg

Co-Curator

Cranston,

(with

John

artist,

curator

Baldessari):

100 Artists

See

God

H o w has the urban e n v i r o n m e n t been "translated" and "acted upon" by

artists?

H o w do artistic representations of the city

Taught

by Eduardo

Recent

exhibition:

Navas. Artbase

artist,

writer

101. New

Museum

N e w M e d i a has an implicit relationship to the aesthetics of art practice in the public, affecting decentralized local a n d

g e n e r a t e belief about the virtue a n d viability of urban life?

international c o m m u n i t i e s alike.

W e s t e r n Avenue: From Edge to Center -

Public Art - Borders and Border Crossings

H o w L.A. P l a y s Itself Taught Current

by Larry Johnson, exhibition:

artist

Los Angeles.

1955-1985.

Pompidou

Centre

F r o m M a n e t ' s 19th century boulevards to R u s c h a ' s 2 0 t h century real estate, from L e w i s Hine's reformist projects to Vali Export's body-as-streetscapes, artists inform the w a y w e perceive, use a n d think about public urban space. A r t of

Conscience

Taught

by Laura

Recent

essay

"Women

Kuo.

in Beyond

of Color

and

Taught

by Suzanne

Recent

essay

Lacy,

in Buddha

artist, Mind

writer in Contemporary

Art

Perhaps public art is better understood, at this point, as a transaction on the border b e t w e e n private inquiry and public address, o n e w i t h d e e p implications for h o w w e live together. www.otis.edu

otisinfo@otis.edu (310)665-6885

cultural the

critic Frame: Representation"

W h a t are t h e cultural a n d political dimensions of politically inspired w o r k s since 1968, a n d the social issues a n d instances of activism that contextualize t h e s e projects?

( 8 0 0 ) 527-OTIS ( 6 8 4 7 ) Polaroid: Los Angeles, 1997, NE corner Western Ave and 5th Street by Larry Johnson

. I •P •E • S

The Summer Institute for Publicly Engaged Studies at R h o d e Island School o f Design A unique opportunity for community oriented students, cultural leaders, artists, neighborhood activists, museum professionals, teachers and other civic minded individuals to investigate the emerging field of public arts practices, using an interdisciplinary approach to build, develop, support and disseminate

Sculpture W a l k

new scholarship. Two-week intensive classes led by renowned

Friday

The Sculpture on Campus

October

artists-in-residence. (Inquire about credit options.)

Opening Reception

131

2006

Program allows 12 students per year to design and install outdoor sculpture throughout the campus that are on view for a full year. Guestjurors award student prizes for Best Sculpture, second place, and third place at the Sculpture on Campus banquet after the Fall Sculpture Walk.

fcDWARDSVILlh

T-l

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

ART & DESIGN DEPARTMENT

Summer Residency in Public Art

May 3 0 - J u n e 30 4 undergraduate credits $1,500

This intensive seminar series and studio residency brings together some of New York City's renowned artists, architects, public

Alfredo Jaar Collaboration: S p a c e s , Strategies + P r a c t i c e s

Peter Hocking Social Entrepreneurship + Creative Businesses

Participants complete a proposal for a public art project while

Henry Giroux Ethics, Philosophy

creative exploration and supportive of logistical issues involved

Cydney Peyton + Bruce Price

participants to a variety of considerations involved in the conception

Exhibition + Curatorial Practice

administrators and critics for an intensive interactive experience. experimenting with ideas in an environment that is conducive to in public art pursuits. Lectures and walking tours will expose

+ Cultural Theory in the Arts

and fabrication of these artworks, including site, proposals, engineering, budgeting, installation and presentation.

Participants receive a private studio and access to a wide range

of facilities.

Residency faculty and guest lecturers have included Andrew Ginzel,

Anita Glesta, Barry Holden, Anne Pasternak, Barbara Segal, Meryl Taradash and Nina Yankowitz, among others.

June 2 6 - A u g u s t 1 8 For a catalog or more information, including registration, tuition, housing and other details, visit our website or contact Seth Goldenberg, S I P E S Coordinator, at

School of VISUAL ARTS 209 East 23rd Street New York, NY 10010 Tel: 212.592.2188 Fax: 212.592.2060 E-mail: kmoscovitch@sva.edu www.sva.edu/residency

sgoldenb@risd.edu.

www.risd.edu/sipes.cfm

Aesthetics,

Identity,

and. L e s s o n s

Learned

KURT KIEFER s

Developing a contemporary university campus means jumping into a constant debate about the aesthetic qualities of its built environment versus its perception in the public imagination. A university campus, unlike a corporate campus, is a place where every building, every landscape, every object has meaning. In fact, the campus itself is a significant component of the university's branding strategy. The role of an art collection on a campus is subtle: It exists to depict the university as an open-minded, comfortable-with-abstraction, respectful-of-its-history, center-of-the-community kind of place. As the administrator of one university's campus art collection, I have been engaged in this dialogue about selfidentity versus public perception for many years. It has taken me a long time to realize that to be successful, our collection must, above all else, contribute to our institutional identity. This belief challenges us to manage our collection using criteria unique to our campus as both a physical and social environment. My campus, the University of Washington in Seattle, has a core group of neo-Gothic buildings built in the early twentieth century. By design they suggest a connection with the great universities of New England and Europe. They were built at a time when it seemed important to prove to the rest of the country that remote Washington state was a place of ambition, determination, and skillâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a worthy competitor of older, more established universities. This impulse survives today, and while the university has proven itself as a place of academic and research prowess, the qualities of the physical campus continue to serve as potent symbols of credibility. When our neo-Gothic buildings were under development, it was a simple task to create the university's physical identity. The institution had a largely homogenous faculty and student population, and the Western canon did not yet have a name. The earliest works of art collected by the university celebrated

academic disciplines and honored scholars, artists, and politicians. These days, identity building is more complex. As an institution, we are still in constant need of building and rebuilding our identity. We need to support the academic mission. We need to commemorate people and events. We need to symbolize the changed and changing face of the campus community. We need to serve as the symbolic center of the larger community. We need to honor our supporters. We need to make the campus a productive and inviting place to study, work, and visit. To address these needs, we are slowly developing informal criteria to evaluate our collection as it grows and ages. Aesthetic and academic judgments can be only part of the process for reviewing additions to our collection. Ultimately, it is the quality of the story embodied by the work of art that really matters. The aspiration of our public art commission, the standing committee that develops new commissioned artworks and reviews possible gifts of art, is to create a collection that contributes to the university's educational mission. In most cases this is an impossible task. We are not really able to respond to departmental curricula in a timely way. In 1998, for example, we attempted to contribute directly to an academic argument happening on our campus and at other institutions throughout the world. Based on his long history of works rooted in evolutionary biology, we asked Alexis Rockman to create a work that would intentionally force a conversation about his University of Washington-Seattle campus art collection. TOP: Martin Puryear, Everything That Rises, 1994, fabricated bronze. MIDDLE: Gu Xiong, Smile, 1996, graphite and acrylic on canvas. BOTTOM: Cris Bruch, Department olForensic Morphology, 2004, fabricated stainless steel. FULL PAGE: Loredo Taft, Seorge Washington, 1908, cast bronze.

chosen subject matter. Rockman's painting, A Recent History of the World, does just that. On a flattened map of the world he depicts the most widely accepted notion of how humans as a species spread throughout the world and the extinctions (Thylocene, dodo, Euro Disney) associated with our presence. While these views are supported by many credible scientists, the piece was the subject of heated discussion that focused on two contentions: depicting these incidents makes them true, and the tone of the work is decidedly unhopeful (and therefore unhelpful). As great as the painting is, the message is staticâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a one-way conversation that relies on the strength of the artist's academic collaborators for its own strength. In its current home in our Fisheries Building, it largely preaches to the choir. It is when artists take on the roles of investigator, historian, and eulogizer that they create the best art for our collection. One of the most successful works of art on our campus is a

collection of small buildings at our Medicinal Herb Garden that few people actually believe are art. Designed by artists Suzanne Hellmuth and Jock Reynolds, the structures are subtle remembrances of the history of campus development: quiet, simple buildings that emulate the wood-frame architecture of the early campus. They are all part of a memorial whose subject is horticultural collection. The windows and doorways focus attention on parts of the garden and plant collection as a camera would: in small, manageable pieces. This work serves many needs. It is a beautiful, human-scaled oasis that helps preserve a historic open space and focuses attention on a remarkable collection of plants. It also pays homage to the visionaries and volunteers who developed and continue to maintain the herb garden against all the pressures of campus expansion. The art does not look like art, but it hardly matters. Like our public art commission, a university committee reviews all proposed changes to the campus landscape and suggests guidelines for developing new facilities projects. At nearly every meeting 1 bring the committee a project for review, usually a sculpture or commemorative work planned for an outdoor site, and my colleagues are often only barely able to stifle their groans. It is easy to understand why a refined and sophisticated landscape is important to the campusâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it makes this a pleasant place in which to work and studyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but much harder to see the purpose of art on the campus, particularly art people do not especially like or understand. Other than providing horticultural specimens for the occasional study, the landscape is largely seen as being without content: neutral, apolitical, and without identity. Of course this is not the case at all. It is, after all, a landscape influenced by English and French gardens. Introducing overt content to our facilities is where our art collection adds real value to the campus environment. As a community we are now actively engaged in trying to create symbols that help identify the current campus population. In our well-meaning attempts at responding to the changing face of the campus, we have made an object out of diversity and have largely tried to symbolize it with the abstraction of multiple languages. Meanwhile, Socrates and Shakespeare have pride of place on the fagade of our library and only serve to highlight who is missing. Five years ago a group of students approached me to see if we could create a public art project that they called "The Hall of Heroes." The notion was to right the wrongs of omission and create a collection of portrait busts of influential nonwhite, nonmale scholars, artists, and activists. The sentiment was good but the realities of getting to that place were daunting. Who should be represented? Who gets to choose who is represented? Should they have any relationship to the university? Could just anyone with the proper artistic skills make the artwork? Could we start this process without committing to ongoing activity? Our first stab at addressing these issues was not all that successful. We commissioned a thoughtful, well-respected artist and brought him to the university for a series of short residencies. He ended up bringing us right back to where we had begun by suggesting that campus diversity could only be represented by an abstraction: a wholly unsatisfying solution for many of our students of color. One person, one voice, and one commissioned project, we learned, is not the right approach. Our second stab was more narrow in scope and smaller in budget but, oddly, much more successful. Using the remaining budget from the first project, we built a collection of modestly scaled existing works by artists whose primary explorations had to do with identity. The collection was based on the strength of the artists, the availability of works in our price range, and the overall diversity of voices represented. Our

final collection includes work by Carrie Mae Weems, Huong Liu, James Luna, Gu Xiong, Roger Shimomura, Glenn Ligon, Hulleah Tsninhanjinnie, and Barbara Carrasco. After initially considering distributing these works throughout campus, we decided the better strategy was to find one central location to house the collection. The best site was the lobby of our large lecture hall, a building that almost everyone on campus comes to during the course of any year. Critical to the selection of this site was the willingness of the building's administrators to engage in the larger campus conversation about diversity and to address any controversies that might come along. The collection met with an enormous outpouring of support and is in many ways the most successful project we have undertaken in the last five years. Our biggest challenge will be to add to the collection in thoughtful and equitable ways, but this project fulfilled many needs of the university and has proven the role of our collection in shaping campus identity. As we grow and develop we will need to continue refining our thinking about appropriate additions to our collection. One of the many issues we wrestle with is whether to accept gifts of art. My files are full of meeting minutes from the 1960s and 70s, when our Campus Art Committee reviewed the aesthetic merits of various works offered to the university. Given what we have learned, those subjective merits can be only a University of Washington-Seattle campus art collection.

minor part of reviewing a possible gift. Accepting any gift has symbolic meaning. Was the artist important to the university? Was the subject? Is the work potentially offensive? Can we be good stewards of the work? Simply being a good work of art is not enough to make it part of our collection. This thinking, arduous as it is, guides even the most mundane considerations. For example, with limited maintenance funding, should the emphasis be on works that are important to the institution's image? What we maintain says something about who we are. Assuming that any work we add to the collection contributes to our identity, can we afford to risk placing a work on sites we might want to develop in the future? We understand our additions to the collection as important assets, and so for consideration of artists' moral rights and to protect our assets, we will have to be extremely cautious about adding permanent work to prominent campus sites. Though I love art, it has taken me over ten years to understand why this public university should even have a collection of it. I am a slow learner, but I think I have finally figured it out. Objects become historical objects the minute they appear on campus and thus work as symbols of the history of thought. What makes each work in the collection important to our mission is its usefulness in maintaining and developing the campus symbolically. The university is not just a place of learning; it is an important cultural symbol and we have a responsibility to maintain that function.

OPPOSITE PAGE (top to bottom): Bamett Newman, Broken Obelisk, 1963, cor-ten steel. Carl Chew, Mare Blocker, Ron Hilbert Coy, J.T. Stewart, Haven Brings Light to This House ol Stories, 1993, mixed-media installation. Jackie Winsor, Winsor Ceiling, 1998, plaster, cement plaster, wood, fiberglass. Alexis Rockman, A Recent History of the World, 1999, acrylic on panel. THIS PAGE: Dudley Pratt, Spirit of Medicine, 1947, glazed terracotta.

KURT KIEFER is the campus art administrator at the University of Washington and a practicing artist. His own works of public art are in the collections of the city of Seattle, the citv of Tacoma, and Portland's Tri-Met.

Public university campuses are in effect semipublic spaces. Simultaneously state-funded institutions, independent self-governing entities, and community resources, they face a complex system of checks and balances whenever any alterations to their policies and property are proposed. Deciding which art should be exhibited there and who participates in this decision-making process is a no-less complicated procedure, one that involves the approval of communities both on and off university grounds. Recently, the University of Massachusetts Boston's Arts on the Point Sculpture Park faced a challenging set of obstacles when local community groups voiced concerns about the installation of large-scale sculptures on campus. Founded in 1964 and relocated ten years later to its current site on the shores of Boston Harbor in Dorchester, the University of Massachusetts Boston remains the city's only public university. Located on Columbia Point, a man-made peninsula that juts out dramatically into Dorchester Bay, it shares this 200-acre space with the John F. Kennedy Museum, the Massachusetts State Archives, and Boston College High School. A commuter school, the university's mission is to "provide challenging teaching, distinguished research, and extensive service which particularly respond to the academic and economic needs of the state's urban areas and their diverse populations." Situated on the fringe of the city adjacent to a primarily working-class Boston neighborhood, the campus is both urban and remote, accessible and isolated. Because the university strives to serve local residents, the disparity between it and neighboring communities is not as dichotomized as it may be at other educational institutions. However, at times there has been some tension between these two groups, in part caused by the complications and concerns that arise from sharing space. This friction is visually evidenced at the end of University Drive, the curving road that stretches between the harbor and the campus buildings. Here

one encounters Tony Smith's Sf;'nger(1967), a diamond-shaped, thirty-two-foot square, six-and-a-half-foot tall sculpture. Further down the drive and around the bend, one discovers the original concrete footings for Stinger, one of which has been intentionally and irreparably shattered. Smith's Stinger is part of the Arts on the Point Sculpture Park, an ambitious program founded and directed by Paul Tucker of the university's Art Department. The park was inaugurated in 1997, when Mark di Suvero's Huru (1985) was installed in a field adjacent to the university's entrance. The university community was enthusiastic about the sculpture program, and over a dozen subsequent works eventually followed by artists such as Luis Jimenez, Willem DeKooning, Dennis Oppenheim, William Tucker, and Sol LeWitt. On loan to the university from private collectors, art dealers, artists, and artists' estates, this collection of works by internationally heralded artists both humanizes the university's minimalist brick architecture and transforms Columbia Point into a welcoming and historic destination for locals and visitors alike. In 1998, Sol LeWitt designed the first site-specific work for the university. Entitled 100 Columns, the proposed sculpture would have been a rhythmic sequence of concrete columns ranging in height from four to thirty feet. It was intended to stand on the median strip at the entrance to the campus. The university approved the building project, which was to have been carried out free of charge by the bricklayer's union of Boston as an example of their workmanship and the aesthetics of concrete block. As a next step, Arts on the Point shared this initiative with the neighboring community to obtain their feedback and gain their support. Initially enthusiastic, then TOP: Aerial view of the University of Massachusetts Boston campus. OPPOSITE PAGE: Mark di Suvero, Hliru, 1985, fabricated steel.

Off Again Relations AMANDA BOCK

suddenly apprehensive, community leaders were invited to the campus to view the proposed building site. Upon arrival, attention quickly moved from the median strip to the eastern tip of the inner harbor where, unbeknownst to them, excavation had already begun for the installation of Tony Smith's Stinger. The university believed that Stinger would be so embedded in the campus that its construction would not concern the neighbors, and it was not presented at Dorchester community meetings. However, during their visit to campus, community leaders voiced uncertainties about the visibility of both works from off-campus neighborhoods and roads. On the night before Stinger was due to arrive, but after it had begun its journey from New Jersey to Boston, someone smashed one of the footings for the sculpture, making an immediate installation impossible. Broadly speaking, community opposition to public art is usually relegated to three categories: miscommunication, physical threat to either the viewer or the site itself, or monetary concerns. Sometimes insufficient art education leaves the public inadequately informed, resulting in generalizations and misunderstandings that can manifest themselves in pubic disapproval. The means by which public art projects alter a physical space can also alienate the public, as exemplified by the now famous controversy regarding Richard Serra's Tilted Arc. Money, too, can be used to qualify and quantify artworks, and in some cases the public may believe that the benefit of having a public work is not justified by its cost and that the money would be better spent elsewhere. In the case of the Arts on the Point project, the community's objections to Stinger and 100 Columns did not fall within any of these classifications. That 100 Columns would transform the physical and psychological space of the campus entrance is significant; however, di Suvero's Huru, a sculpture just as tall as 100 Columns and almost as prominently placed, had been installed without opposition. Financially, there is no cost to

TOP: Tony Smith, Stinger, 1967 (during installation in 1999), fabricated steel. BOTTOM: Sol LeWitt, scale model for 100Columns, 1998. g s 22

the community since installation and removal of sculptures is privately funded. The opposition to Stinger and 100 Columns reflected unrelated tensions between the university and the surrounding community. In recent years, the university has suffered a series of budget crises as state funding plummeted. This decrease in funding was so severe that even campus maintenance was put on hold, resulting in, among other things, a deteriorating underground parking garage that will now cost over $50 million to repair. As the university looked for further revenue, it began tentatively discussing plans to build dormitory housing on campus, a proposition that would change the demography of the school and the surrounding community. The budget cuts also affected other programs throughout the university, including those designated for the public. When the university moved to its current location, it made a commitment to provide a variety of services to its Dorchester neighbors. For example, it published a community newspaper and established a community relations office in the nearby Savin Hill section of Dorchester. However, as a result of the budget crisis, the university was unable to keep this office open. From the university's point of view, terminating its community programs was necessitated by state cutbacks. But to members of the Dorchester community, rumors of the dormitorybuilding initiative coupled with outreach program cutbacks gave the impression that the university was turning its back on them and forgoing its commitment to its urban neighbors in order to concentrate on more far-reaching projects. Their subsequent reaction to Stinger and 100 Columns was rooted

in concerns with the university's perceived inattentiveness to local needs rather than a negative reaction to the artworks themselves. The impasse that the objections to these sculptures created was resolved after several months of discussion. Both groups came to a decision that honored their respective interests. Stinger was installed, but it was relocated to a place that met the needs and desires of the community as well as those of the Arts on the Point program. 100 Columns has been indefinitely taken off the table. Further, university and neighborhood representatives signed a pact defining exactly which areas of the campus could house sculptures and which were off-limits to such projects. The university reserved the right to build on the southeast shoreline as well as on all of the inner campus, the area encircled by University Drive. Off limits to sculptural installations is the western shoreline along Dorchester Bay, the side of the harbor closest to the neighbors. A second outgrowth of the public's concern about 100 Columns and Stinger was the establishment of a community advisory board. Comprising university officials, the director of Arts on the Point, and community leaders, the board serves as a link to and a resource for the community. This committee, which still meets regularly, informs and involves the university's Dorchester neighbors with Arts on the Point projects as they unfold. The university moved forward with two large-scale sculptural projects before creating a forum for dialogue with its neighbors, presupposing that the subsequent addition of educational resources would best serve community needs. However, outreach programs must extend beyond the instructive to include participatory elements as well. Arts education is a fundamental component of public art projects, but in the case of a university setting, community involvement must also be made a priority from the beginning. While university campuses are self-governing institutions and may ultimately have the right to make final decisions about land use, involving the surrounding communities in this decisionmaking is to both a university's and a community's benefit. AMANDA BOCK writes for the Museum Learning and Public Programs Department of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

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Texas Tech University - Lubbock "In contrast to some other major universities who only invite the usual suspects, Texas Tech has commissioned a significant roster of artists of great range to create a rich program in a part of the country where art is needed most." - Mike Mandel, Artist

Pratt Institute - New York City "With its multitude of abstract and figurative work, sound sculpture, and a range of seating by artists, the Pratt campus is full of sculpture surprises, some adhering to buildings, others lying on the ground, and one happily ensconced in a tree." - Harriet Senie, Author

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Cambridge "MIT's programs provide a legacy for future generations of significant and identifiable art that is of its time and timeless." - Pallas Lombardi, Arts Administrator

Western Washington University - Bellingham "A world class sculpture collection with a few design team projects thrown in for good measure. A pleasure to be around." - Mark Spitzer, Artist

University of South Florida - Tampa "The USF public art collection stands out because it has been built with artists selected for their significance in contemporary art and their relevance to the collection rather than the standard 'call to artists' process that rarely attracts major artists." - Lennie Bennett, Art Critic

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: (1) Mike Mandel, Jem Spirit, 2004, Lubbock, TX. (2) Pbilip Grausman, Victoria, 2003, New York City, NV. (3) Kiki Smith, Staniliog, 1998, San Dieoo, CA. (4) Joan Mini,

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Public Art Network listserv. Here are their top ten reasons why we should all go back to school.

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Wichita State University - Kansas "When people interact every day with great works of art, they feel a tremendous sense of ownership. Folks who would never set foot in a museum can be fiercely possessive about their favorite sculptures, as we discover every time something is relocated or temporarily removed for conservation." - Kent Williams, Artist

University of California - San Diego "The Stuart Collection at the University of California, San Diego is a beautifully conceived and exquisitely executed collection of works integrated into one of UC's best campuses." - Helen Lessick, Artist/Consultant

University of Minnesota - Minneapolis/St. Paul "This program brought in artists, many known in the broader art world, who made challenging works of art. Artists were trusted, respected, and nurtured toward this goal, resulting in an exceptional collection." -Janet Zweig, Artist

Arizona State U n i v e r s i t y - T e m p e "At ASU public art is a part of campus life. The Depression-era Arizona murals build pride of place. The contemporary art challenges, amuses, and informs." - Dianne Cripe, Arts Administrator

Landing, 1999; Kori Newkirk, FireHv, 2003; Kerry James Marshall, Untitled(illgeldHardens), Myklebust PricWPricUf/PricUy/PricWSm

1995. (7) Stanton Sears and Andrea

2005, Tempe, AZ. (8) Richard Serra, Wright's Triangle, 1980, Bellingham, IIIA.

(9) Nancy Holt, Solar notary, 1995, Tampa, FL (10) Dan Graham, Yin/fang Pavilion, 2003, Cambridge, MJ.

Johnson County Community College - Overland Park, Kansas "The JCCC Art on Campus program empowers students, faculty, and visitors to assimilate some of the best of the contemporary art world. I wish more educational institutions set the bar this high." - Porter Arneill, Arts Administrator

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Public Art on Campus ISSUES, OPPORTUNITIES

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Public Art has become an important and often controversial intersection o f public audience and artistic expression. Its presentation — encompassing sculpture, performance and virtual forms — raises challenges o f siting, funding, community involvement, and maintenance, along with issues o f aesthetics and content. This symposium will convene artists, art professionals, and educators to discuss the role and responsibilities o f Public Art in the physical, social, and pedagogic space o f the college campus. This event is part o f Sculpture Central International, a series o f c o n t e m p o r a r y art exhibitions and projects scheduled throughout Central New York ( 2 0 0 6 - 2 0 0 7 ) in celebration o f the 30th Anniversary o f Sculpture Space — an international artists residency center. The keynote address and reception (September 8, 2 0 0 6 ) will be part o f the closing ceremonies o f the Sculpture Space Inside Outside exhibition. The Inside c o m p o n e n t o f the show is displayed at Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College (June 2 - S e p t e m b e r 10, 2 0 0 6 ) . Outside art is installed on the College's North Campus.

Scott Stulen, digital tools/processes for artists Weekly, June 18 to August 4, 2006 Graduate credit available. Beautiful locations on the Twin Cities campus and at the University's Cloquet Forestry Center. Registration is ongoing. For catalog: call 612-625-8100 or e-mail srap@cce.umn.edu www.cce.umn.edu/splitrockarts A program of the College of Continuing Education. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

U N I V E R S I T Y OF M I N N E S O T A

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ISU Art on Campus Public Art Collection

Artists from these exhibitions will join notable speakers at the symposium at Colgate University (September 9, 2006). Preliminary speakers include: Patricia Fuller, Curator o f Public Art, Massachusetts Institute o f Technology; Alison de Lima Greene, Curator o f Contemporary Art and Special Projects, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Patricia Phillips, Chair/Professor, Department of Art, SUNY New Paltz and Editor, Art Journal, College Art Association. K e y n o t e A d d r e s s a n d R e c e p t i o n : September 8, 2 0 0 6 , Hamilton College, Clinton NY. Free and open to the public. S y m p o s i u m : September 9, 2 0 0 6 , Colgate University, Hamilton NY. Free and open to the public. To learn more about time, location, directions and other related events, see contact information below.

Hamilton Sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Faculty at Hamilton College and the Office of the Dean of Faculty at Colgate University.

www.sculpturespace.org • 8 6 6 . 5 5 6 . 5 1 1 6 • 3 1 5 . 8 5 9 . 4 3 9 6

ISU Carver-Co Lab Floor, David B. Dahlquist

R D G P l a n n i n g & D e s i g n Dahlquist Art Studio 316 S W 5th Street Des Moines, Iowa 50309 515.284.1675 w w w . r d g u s a . c o m

Garden of Constants 1993, Ohio State Univereity, College of Engreering, Columbus, Ohio.

THIS 13 SCULPTURE AT

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Wichita State University's M a r t i n i . Bush O u t d o o r Sculpture C o l l e c t i o n is o n e o f t h e l a r g e s t a n d k m o s t r e n o w n e d c o l l e c t i o n s « b f its k i n d . fe F e a t u r i n g m o r e t h a n 7 0 .pieces b y jsuch • J B i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y a c c l a i m e d artists as H e n r y M o o r e , Joan Miro, Claes O l d e n b u r g , F e r n a n d o J j Botero, Auguste Rodin a n d A n d y Gbldsworthy, v i r t u a l l y e v e r y c o r n e r of W i c h i t a State's 3 3 0 - £ c r e 1 c a m p u s is a d o r n e d b y m a s t e r p i e c e s . i J L To t a k e a v i r t u a l t o u r a n d f i n d o u t . h o w y o u c a n e x p e r i e n c e it in p e r s o n , visit w w w . u l r i c h . w i c h i t a . e d u . s funded in part by the City of Wichita. Photo by Dale Strattman

Andy Goldsworthy, Wichita Arch, 2004 Flint Hills limestone, 22 x 14 feet MUSEUM DF ART WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY

Why Teach Public Art? A H I G H SCHOOL P R I M E R ELIZABETH GARBER

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In a Westside Chicago high school, students in Tracy Van Duinen's classroom create murals as culmination to the year's learning, using experiences outside the classroom that relate in some way to the community. One year, for example, portraits of well-known African Americans and important U.S. historical events such as the fight to end slavery expressed the theme of black history and culture for an in-school mural. In Medellin, Colombia, anthropologist Pilar Riano-Alcala and artist Suzanne Lacy worked with youth, women, community leaders, and ex-gang members in a barrio profoundly affected by poverty, gangs, and drug violence to address social wounds created by violence and loss. Meaningful objects and stories were collected from barrio families and displayed in a school

LEFT: Tucson High Portrait Wall, ceramic mural and seats (detail), created by Tucson High Magnet School students in Roy Pearson's public art classes, 1997-2001. RIGHT: Students exploring the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden on a guided tour with former Walker Art Center museum educator David Henry, 2004.

bus converted to a museum by substituting shelves for seats. The bus traveled to different parts of the barrio, where community members visited the display and shared their memories. In Tucson, art teacher Roy Pearson runs public art programs using ceramics and bicycle sculpture. Ceramic murals combine student portraits in clay with community and environmental themes. In collaboration with a community bicycle workshop, students have created trash cans out of bicycle parts; these dot the campus and surrounding community. The program also includes learning about local public art, including controversies and community issues that affect students. Lynda Faulks and Craig Campbell, art teachers in British Columbia, have collaborated for years to involve secondary students in over 160 publicly and privately funded mural projects that are displayed in schools, hospitals, universities, and a sports arena. In one, students were commissioned to create a permanent mural for the 1994 Commonwealth Games at the University of Victoria. The mural took the shape of a large maple leaf made up of fifty triangular ceramic tiles, each of which represented one of the sports in the games. A lesson for secondary teachers designed by David Henry, a former museum educator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, involves students in learning the value of public art by analyzing work in the Walker's sculpture garden and comparing artists' differing goals. Students also investigate a site in their own community that would benefit from artistic attention and create a proposal for an artwork at that site. Public art in high schools is championed by teachers because it motivates students, engages them in meaningful learning experiences, helps at-risk youth develop positive behaviors, gives students hand-on experiences, increases their self-esteem, and provides them with a sense of ownership. One teacher indicated that, in over thirty years of teaching, no student has failed to make a high-quality contribution to the school's public art projects. Many such projects emphasize collaboration with local communities. Some students experience aspects of the professional world of artâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including design,

public speaking, finances, working with a granting agency, and meeting client expectations and deadlines. Public art thus offers insights into many dimensions of art beyond the expression of self. While some projects with youth emphasize special qualities of public art, such as communityartist collaboration, the truth is that many teachers engage students in public art simply as a way to motivate them, make learning meaningful, and help students make better art. That is to say, public art is a means to traditional goals of teaching art. These are valid goals, but they leave out what makes public art socially important. I became interested in public art because of its intersections with social justice education, which focuses students on social issues through critical inquiry—what educator Roger Simon calls the "social imaginary," putting our creative energies toward suggesting how the world can be more livable for all humans, flora, and fauna. Students learn to reflect and act on the world to transform it, burrowing into foundations, ideologies, and deeper meanings of political and social phenomena. They see how our social worlds—including art worlds— recreate social injustices. With this understanding as a base, students can consciously work for social justice through involvement and action. Paolo Freire's liberatory education and its U.S. variant, critical pedagogy, as well as feminist studies, race and diversity studies, visual culture education, and other progressive educational approaches, are related to social justice education. Such an approach embraces Suzanne Lacy's concept of "new genre public art," Suzi Gablik's call for "radical relatedness" in art, Arlene Raven's "art in the public interest," Grant Kester's "discursive aesthetics," Hal Foster and John Perreault's ideas about revolutionary worker artists, and Arthur Danto's now twenty-year-old call for art making to be in the service of

bettering people's lives. Social justice education is also related to the work of many contemporary artists who are committed to engaging social issues in their art. If one looks back to the community mural movement (Eva Sperling Cockroft and John Weber, for example), the goal of making murals was connecting community and social justice through art. Uniting these educational theories and art ideas involves collaboration, demystification of art, and engaging important social issues of our time in active ways. Teaching for social justice lies at the heart of education in a participatory democracy, education that compels us toward taking part and away from complacency. Teaching public art as part of social justice education means keeping collaboration, community, participatory democracy, and the goal of a socially just society at the forefront. Students choose the issues and develop the ideas, with teachers as mentors who ask questions that help students dig beneath the surface of an issue. Students and teachers work collaboratively with their communities to develop themes and designs for the art, with the art both a goal and a catalyst to continue building community and participatory democracy. These goals do not mean we lose the art but that art becomes something larger than the individual and self-expression. To stay focused on social justice and engage in the struggle for democratic change is not easy, especially in schools where testing, bells, and the status quo prevail. It is more easily done in alternative schools and community situations. Still, practice —as all public artists know—is always messy and goals are generally achieved gradually. Not to try weakens the potential of teaching public art. ELIZABETH GARBER, professor at the University of Arizona, is committed to public art and social justice. Contact her at egarber@email.arizona.edu.

St. Louis Curriculum Kit: Learning All Subject

EMILY BLUMENFELD, BARBARA DECKER, AND JANE BIRDSALL-LANDER

i 5

Whether dramatic, monumental, whimsical, pristine, quietly contemplative, or bold and enveloping, public artworks allow us to explore the diversity of creative expression, the richness of our communities, and our own perceptions of the world. The St. Louis Public Art Curriculum Kit (STLPACK), published in 2004, uses twenty pieces of art on view in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Starting in the early twentieth century with the majestic Meeting of the Waters by Carl Milles, the kit illustrates and illuminates representative styles up to and including Olafur Eliasson's 325-foot light sculpture, Ohne Title, installed at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The range of stylistic approaches, techniques, and materials employed by the sculptors makes the kit an ideal catalyst for learning in all content areas. Inquiry-based and object-centered, the STLPACK was created as a tool for teachers to help students appreciate public art and increase their understanding of art's complex role in society. It also provides a unique opportunity for educators to focus attention on issues related to public art in their own communities. Through slides, locator maps, posters, teaching suggestions, and information about each artwork, the kit is designed to encourage classes to explore the nature of public art and to establish a context for understanding it. Suggested activities focus on aesthetics in the Looking at Art section, as well as social studies, language arts, math, science, technology, performing arts, and art making. The kit's coauthors, Barbara Decker and Jane BirdsallLander, share a commitment to a curriculum model that integrates art with all subject areas. With funding for local school art programs in constant jeopardy, classroom teachers may be left to fill the void; the kit serves as a valuable teaching resource to help meet this need. The project was funded with pooled resources from the Public Art Consortium, a grass-roots group of public art organizations in St. Louis, and grants from

TOP; Carl Milles, Meeting otthe Waters, 1931-39, bronze and granite. Owned by the city of St. Louis, Missouri. BOTTOM: Olafur Eliasson, Ohne Title, 2000, custom aluminum lamp housings, colored acrylic lenses, fluorescent lamps. Commissioned by Metro Arts in Transit. OPPOSITE PAGE: The St. Louis Public Art Curriculum Kit, designed by Butch Black Design.

Through Public s

the Regional Arts Commission, the Missouri Arts Council, and the Arts and Education Council. The curriculum for the kit was developed with assistance from area arts educators who were invited to become members of a Teacher Advisory Committee. The committee's task was to make sure the kit was teacher-friendly and that its interdisciplinary teaching suggestions coordinated with existing curricular areas. The model for this committee was developed by Decker, then head of the Teacher Services Department at the Saint Louis Art Museum. She used this strategy successfully when writing object-centered interdisciplinary curriculum based on the museum's collections. The premise of the kit is that public art has a unique potential to engage the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it may cause surprise, raise questions, express feelings, stimulate the intellect, elevate the soul, and help describe or identify an experience, place, or event. During the first of two Teacher Advisory Committee workshopsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;using art in the museum's collectionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;teachers practiced responding to sculpture by using all the senses and then articulating their observations and feelings. Next they used inquiry as the basis for exploring lesson ideas in social studies, language arts, math, science, technology, performing arts, and art making. In the next stage of training, teachers received resource packets on their assigned public art objects/ projects. They were then able to put their new skills to work exploring the art pieces, formulating questions, and developing lesson ideas. The goal for teachers was to help students become engaged and reach their own conclusions based upon their direct experience exploring works of art. Later, during the formal writing process, Birdsall-Lander and Decker selected, expanded, and developed the teachers' suggestions for later inclusion in the kit. One example explored is artist Tim Curtis's evocative Mystic Vessel Ascending, located in St. Louis's redeveloped

Laclede's Landing district. Approached along one of the landing's steep cobblestone streets, the sixty-five-foot-long skeletal form of a ship's hull points slightly upward, rising from a grassy mound as if beached along the banks of the Mississippi River. Ringed by trees, the rusting form suggests a shipwreck or the soul of a ship rising from its hull. Circling and entering this mysterious open form stimulates a broad range of questions and responses. Rich in content, the resulting teaching suggestions make connections and suggest comparisons to ancient local earthworks as well as the Cahokia Mounds in Illinois (St. Louis was once called Mound City). The sculpture inspires myth making as well as suggesting a range of mathand technology-related lessons. Students become a part of the artistic process, measuring and estimating materials to better understand the complexity and necessary skills needed to create such a piece. The STLPACK allows students to become engaged with local public artworks in a meaningful way, thus fostering a sense of community. The kit enables teachers of various content areas to use public artworks as motivation for learning. The interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum encourages collaboration. An art teacher can begin to help a student who has little interest in math and science to understand how these areas are relevant to art production. Further, teachers from different subject areas can use the kit collaboratively to create their own units of study. For example, a music teacher and a drama teacher might plan a unit for their combined classes using several sculptures as a starting point. One St. Louis teacher inspired by the kit will be presenting a public art residency at a New Mexico school this winter. Others are finding ways to customize and integrate relevant ideas into existing curriculum. Students from diverse backgrounds benefit from the interdisciplinary approach that finds common ground and fertile sources of learning in public artworks.

Another way the kit's contents can be personalized is by creative use of the list of art objects. While the list is organized by geographic location, particular thematic approaches could be used: site-specific works versus those arbitrarily placed in a setting, metaphorical or historic works, figurative or abstract, and so forth. Looking at materials, techniques, or processes provides another way to begin an investigation. The STLPACK is a dynamic teaching tool that helps demystify public art through inquiry and hands-on learning experiences. Its question-and-answer format helps generate discussion about public art by tackling commonly asked questions in a straightforward way (see below). Free to teachers, the kit was originally developed in response to interest by art educators, classroom teachers, and art administrators in having a St. Louis public art guide and curriculum. Though the kit was designed for grades 4-6, teachers have adapted it for use at the community college, high school, and older adult levels. The initial production of 250 kits was distributed to area teachers, schools, libraries, and community centers in 2004. A celebration to introduce the kit to the education community included students and teachers who demonstrated how they used the teaching suggestions. In addition, four training workshops were conducted to instruct teachers in using their kits.

LEFT: Gregory Cullen, Rain Man, 1996, bronze. Commissioned by University City Arts and Letters. RIGHT: Students working with the related curriculum.

Response to the kit has been overwhelmingly positive; demand far exceeds the number available. In response to requests that the kit be made available in a digital format, the Public Art Consortium developed a website for the kit that went on-line in 2006: www.stlpack.org. The funding agencies and the consortium of arts organizations that sponsored the STLPACK hope their coordinated effort will have a major impact by focusing students' attention on public artworks, providing motivation for deep engagement in all content areas, generating community interest and support for art, and inspiring young artists who might someday produce a work of public art themselves. EMILY BLUMENFELD is with Via Partnership, an art consultant firm that provided project support for the STLPACK project. BARBARA DECKER and JANE BIRDSALL-LANDER are coauthors of the St. Louis Public Art Curriculum Kit. Decker is an interdisciplinary artist and the former head of the Teacher Services Department at the Saint Louis Art Museum. BirdsallLander is an exhibiting artist, educator, and writer.

What is public art? - What do we mean when we speak of "public" art? - Is there a particular form it must take or special materials that are used? - Does calling it public art mean the public participated in its design or selection? - How does a successful public art selection process work? - Is the funding from public sources? - Who takes care of the art? - When did public art get started in the United States and in your city? - What are the qualities of a successful piece of public art?

Teaching Suggestions ARTIST

Tim Curtis

TITLE

Mystic Vessel Ascending, 1997

MEDIA

Steel

SIZE OWNER

25-feet high, 30-feet wide, 15-feet deep

Laclede's Landing Foundation

LOOKING AT ART • As you walk around this sculpture, what do you notice? Make a list of the differences you see when viewing it from the inside versus the outside. • Why do you think the artist created this piece? How might it relate to the area? How might its appearance change with the weather—in the fog, on a sunny day, at sunrise, etc. • What materials are used in its construction? Why do you think they were chosen? Where do you think construction took place?

SOCIAL STODIES • Research the history of the area including the existence of mounds. Then write a newspaper article discussing how you think Curtis made use of historical information when he created this sculpture. Include elements of the site such as the mound and the trees. • What is the history of boats in this area? What is their role in the economy both now and in the past?

LANGUAGE ARTS • Imagine you came across this piece just as the sun was setting. Write a letter to a friend describing your experience. Make your description so vivid that a visually impaired person could see it in his/her mind. Include all the senses. • Myths from a wide variety of cultures refer to boats and vessels symbolically expressing transformation and life changes. Research and read several, then write your own myth about this vessel.

SCIENCE, MATH, AND T E C H N O L O G Y • What problems are associated with art placed outdoors? How might climate, weather changes, and pollution affect this particular sculpture? Make a list of what needs to be assessed. What preventative measures could be taken? Present your findings. • How would you know how much steel to order? Based on the size and design of the piece, estimate the amount necessary. What might the cost be for the steel?

P E R F O R M I N G ARTS • Think about shape, structure, inside/outside, the setting, and images associated with the title Mystic Vessel Ascending. Then choreograph a dance based on these ideas. • If this boat could sing, what would it sound like? List the qualities that might be incorporated, and then create a sound score. Use found sounds including the human voice. Extension: Use the sound collage as an accompaniment to the choreography.

VISUAL ARTS • Reinterpret Mystic Vessel Ascending as an abstract painting. Use acrylics and 18" x 2 4 " paper or illustration board. Set up a display, and discuss the process afterwards. • Imagine that you are the artist and will now present your idea for this site-specific sculpture to a selection panel. Prepare key points, a description, a budget, and sketches. Teaching Suggestions (this page) and What is Public Art? (opposite page) exerpted from the St. Louis Public Art Curriculum Kit.

Public Art Consortium Members: City of St. Louis, Clayton Art Commission, Chesterfield Arts, Grand Center, Laumeier Sculpture Park, Metro Arts in Transit, Saint Louis University, Southwestern Illinois College, University City Arts and Letters Commission. Project Support: Meridith McKinley of Via Partnership, Butch Black Design.

Teaching Public Art: Toward an Interdisciplinary

Education

JONI PALMER

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Because of growing opportunities for public artists, architects, landscape architects, and planners; the availability of jobs for public arts administrators; and growing legal and ethical issues cropping up in communities large and small, it is increasingly necessary to have inter- and multidisciplinary conversations about public art—preparing artists, architects, landscape architects, planners, managers, lawyers, and other professionals to engage in both academic and professional dialogues that will inform new courses, programs, and built works. Through my own experience teaching interdisciplinary public art courses, I have become interested in the particulars of this comparatively new academic genre. Who is teaching public art? What kinds of courses are offered? What might a comprehensive public art curriculum look like? My own survey of the field suggests that the background and credentials of those who are teaching public art vary widely. Instructors' qualifications range from experience in administering public art programs, to being a public artist, to having a particular scholarly background, to simply professing a general interest in public art. Similarly, course formats vary: the traditional lecture class, topical seminars, design/arts studios, and field studies. Different course designs use different means of assessment. A lecture course generally employs tests and a research paper; a topical seminar might include weekly response papers and a final presentation: studio or field study courses may require interactions with specific public artworks. Public art courses and where in an academic institution they are found falls generally into four categories: 1. Fine arts, design, or art history departments. 2. Topical courses offered by law programs, architecture/ design schools, American studies programs, etc.

3. Studio courses (fine arts, design studies, architecture, landscape architecture, industrial design) that focus on art-making in the studio or the field. 4. Business and law programs that stress management, administration, and legal aspects of public art. Typically these courses are offered as electives, usually in continuing education or certificate programs. The elective course I taught—Art in the Public Realm: Conversations about Public Art—was offered to students in all programs in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico: landscape architecture, architecture, planning, and environmental design. Additionally, I advertised to the larger university population. The course had four objectives: 1. To gain an understanding of the evolving history, roles, and typologies of public art in the allied arts, in civic and public spaces, and in the life of our communities. 2. To engage in exploratory conversations about public art. 3. To conduct critical studies of public art. 4. To facilitate individual exploration of how students want to be involved with public art. The course began with a discussion of the language of public art. We talked about the terminology, jargon, assumptions, and questions of the field. Class members kept journals, led a discussion, wrote a critical review of a local public artwork, and did a final project called Ars Poetica. These projects ended up being personal, professional, and political, revealing students' ongoing struggle with the words public and art, and pointing to what students might do with what they learned in the course. Guest speakers—artists, administrators, board members—were an integral part of the course. They

Commitment must be the driving force

behind public art and urban design decisions.

Too often, spatial qualities and attributes of character and identity—or the lack of them—poorly define our public spaces. Artists, designers, planners, and architects alike must face the challenge of defining public space, as an opportunity to create or improve the sense of community among those who will determine the use, or abandonment of a place. W e must always work in concert, never expecting consensus. W e must realize that decisions avoided in the interest of compromise cannot result in good public space or art. ... The time has come to release anomie! W e must set about declaring ourselves decided and decisive. W e must commit to a vision, for each and every public space, and never let the dripping waters of controversy, nor the gusts of protest, erode our integrity. From Ars Poetica, by Ethan Kane, 2004

spoke about public art in general, their own work, and local and regional public art issues. There is much more to teach about public art beyond an introductory course that can only highlight key moments in the history of public art in the United States, touch on the nuts and bolts of having a piece built and maintained, and introduce students to land and environmental art, to name just a few of the topics we discussed. Teaching this course has sparked my thinking about how public art might be taught in a multidisciplinary manner across the university. I envision two tracks: (a) a required sequence of courses for students pursuing a certificate or degree, and (b) introductory courses for those who have interest but are not yet committed to a certificate or degree program. This vision grows out of conversations with faculty, public program and private organization administrators, artists, landscape architects, architects, and planners. As well, this vision stems from my concern with studio courses—in fine arts, architecture, and landscape architecture—where often students haphazardly produce public art with no sense of the field's history or its current issues. Studio artists, landscape architects, and architects must take a prescribed sequence of courses (history, theory, construction and materials, etc.) to learn the intricacies of their art, a curriculum that provides the language and knowledge of precedents before they embark on projects that test themselves, their knowledge and abilities. Public art education should be equally demanding: one or two lectures do not suffice. If we are to make the discipline and practice of public art more rigorous and sustainable, we have to get serious about the courses

of study. Those studies, I believe, should be interdisciplinary, engaging students in an intellectually rigorous environment where they gain knowledge of who the other players are and what they do. Therefore, my proposal is for an interdisciplinary program housed by the department within which program administration occurs. There are models for this and, though tricky bureaucratically, they can be successful. I believe a department could house such a program but not own it; rather, they would share ownership, responsibilities, and the rewards of interdisciplinary teaching and learning. I believe such a program could best be stewarded by the fine arts because that is where the visual, craft, and mechanical arts converge, and because (a) they offer the courses in art history that overlap with architecture, landscape architecture, and planning; (b) they provide a forum that is not only intellectual (history and theory) but also practical (studio courses); and (c) they have proven so far to be an excellent home for public art, a place where other disciplines feel welcome. This proposal is only possible in a collaborative environment, where no one aims to own the program but rather all members of the teaching and learning community feel they are contributing to and participating in a community that knows no disciplinary boundaries, where everyone is pursuing significant questions about public art. JONI PALMER is a landscape architect, planner, and educator, as well as a visual artist and poet. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She may be reached at joni.palmer@colorado.edu.

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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA'S

"PArt"

GRADUATE PROGRAM SHELLY WILLIS

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The University of Minnesota's new public art curriculum, a freestanding minor at the graduate level, is the first of its kind in the country—distinctive for its name, course offerings, and connection to the university's Public Art on Campus Program and Weisman Art Museum. Four years in the making, the program is set to debut in the 2007 spring semester. What follows are excerpts from the proposal submitted for approval.

INTRODUCTION We envision the Public Art Minor as a freestanding, noncollegiate-bound minor at the Graduate School level. The College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and the Public Art on Campus Program at the Weisman Art Museum will share the administration and governance of the Public Art minor. The College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will channel tuition revenue to the Weisman for program administration. The Director of the Weisman Art Museum and Chair of the Public Art on Campus Committee will be the Director of Graduate Studies. The Weisman Art Museum will administer the program including marketing, management, advising, and administration. The program graduate faculty will maintain the intellectual content of the program, advise students, and decide admissions. The program graduate faculty will develop program content for approval by the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Curriculum Committee. The College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will approve curriculum and courses. The Public Art on Campus Committee will act as advisors to the program. The minor has a unique course designator, PArt. Two courses plus an internship are required for master's and Ph.D. level students. Extra work will be required in the core courses and internship for Ph.D. level students. Courses designated as PArt will not be cross-listed. Public art describes both a particular way of producing art and particular art objects themselves: The term refers to a practice and a discipline. For this reason, the Public Art Minor will examine questions related to public art making, reception, and criticism. Understanding the practice and discipline of public art is challenging because of the complex relationships among artists, artwork, and the public that are generated through the public art process. For example, works of public art can range from single sculptural objects created by individual artists, to collaborations between artists and design practitioners (e.g., architects and landscape architects), to methods of communi-

cation involving entire communities. They may be as traditional as a statue in a square, or as avant-garde as a scientifically manipulated genetic code. Added to the complexity of the study of public art is the fact that public artists often aim to raise questions rather than deliver answers. The Public Art Minor is meant for practicing public artists and artist collaborators: designers, landscape architects, urban designers, architects: those interested in the reception and history of public art: art historians, theorists, critics, cultural anthropologists; and those involved in funding and planning public art projects: arts administrators, public administrators and policy makers. FOCUSES + RATIONALE There are no public art minors offered at major universities and colleges in the United States. Some schools offer miscellaneous relevant courses. One M.A. degree is offered for administrators and one undergraduate degree for artists. Our minor would include both potential administrators and public artists, allowing them to pursue a discipline but to apply the discipline in the public art realm. It would help both potential administrators and artists understand their role in public art practice. We researched the following schools, among others, in preparing this proposal: • University of Southern California—M.A. degrees in Public Art Administration, • University of Monterey Bay—undergraduate degrees in public art and both theory and studio-based courses, • University of Michigan School of Art and Design, Art Placement Services Program; University of Washington; and MIT—courses in public art theory, practice, and history. The proposed program is interdisciplinary, emphasizing existing resources at the Weisman Art Museum and the Public Art on Campus Program, including the services of artists commissioned by the University of Minnesota to make permanent and temporary works of art on campus. The artists commissioned for projects at the university will be contractually required to participate in the Public Art Minor as guest lecturers and to conduct workshops and demonstrations in designated PArt courses. They will not serve on exam committees. The Public Art Minor will build on the strengths of many campus departments, including architecture, landscape architecture, art history, urban studies, urban and regional planning, and art.

The Public Art Minor will be integrated into existing processes and activities associated with the Public Art on Campus Program and other programs at the Weisman Art Museum. This could include visiting artist lectures, workshops, and demonstrations. Students will have access to ongoing artist review processes and administrative and political issues within the University's public art program. We also anticipate coordinating opportunities for students to observe city and state government artist selection processes, which are open to the public. S T A T E M E N T OF N E E D In 1980 there were approximately 100 city/county/state government and private nonprofit public art programs in the United States. By 1990 there were over 200. According to the latest survey (2001) by Americans for the Arts, there were 350 public art programs with an average annual budget of $779,968. According to the same survey, the average public art budget nearly doubled between 1998 and 2001, increasing an average of 23.5 percent annually. The total operating budgets of the organizations that administer public art programs grew an average of 8.6 percent annually during the same period. Skillful and careful stewardship of public art resources, therefore, is increasingly important. There are few educational institutions with courses focusing on public art practice, administration, and criticism. Research conducted by the University of Minnesota Public Art on Campus Coordinator in March 2003 found only two public art degree programs in the country: one an M.A. degree in public art administration, and the other an undergraduate degree in public art practice. Of the 174 colleges and universities researched, 50 offer some kind of public art education. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is currently developing an interdisciplinary program called Public Practice. Thirty of the institutions have studiobased offerings dealing with public art process and production, and 20 have art theory, art history, architecture, or design courses focusing exclusively on public art. Several of these schools have a high concentration of public art courses, yet only two offer degree programs. The Twin Cities is a fertile ground for this program. It is a vibrant art center, home to many artists as well as two nonprofit public art organizations, FORECAST Public Artworks and Public Art St. Paul. Minnesota has legislation requiring that 1 percent or $100,000 (whichever is lower) of state building construction costs be allocated to public art. These organizations establish a funding base for working artists and administrators, and can provide opportunities for student internships. The city of Minneapolis has a similar program. E V I D E N C E OF S T U D E N T

DEMAND

The Public Art on Campus Coordinator conducted a survey in March 2003. Fifteen hundred undergraduate University of Minnesota students were polled by e-mail from the departments of studio arts, art history, music, dance, theater, architecture, landscape architecture, and design. Beyond those departments, many replies were received from disciplines ranging from English to biology, and elementary education to political science. One hundred and sixty students responded to the survey, 128 who expressed interest in learning about public art history, issues, or process, and 135 who were inter-

ested in public art practice. The results indicate strong interest from students towards participation and research in the field of public art. In 2004, a student organization called SPACE (Student Public Art Community Exhibition) was founded. The goal of the organization is to provide funding for students to make temporary public artworks on campus. In the spring of 2004, 12 students enrolled in a graduate-level public art seminar in the Landscape Architecture Department. Eleven of the students were landscape architecture graduate students. An Urban Studies Department colloquium titled "Public Art in the Urban Environment" offered in spring 2003 and fall 2004 was filled to capacity each semester. E V I D E N C E OF E M P L O Y M E N T

OPPORTUNITIES

The majority of employment opportunities in public art come from local, municipal, and state government programs, and nonprofit public art programs. There are more than 350 such programs in the country. These organizations generate millions of dollars annually that pay for the administration, fabrication, installation, design, conservation, preservation, and maintenance of permanent and temporary public art. Examples of jobs include public art director, program coordinator, administrator, conservator, and curator. In 2003, the National Endowment for the Arts granted just under $1 million to artists and arts organizations to support public art programs and projects as varied as a sculpture garden in South Carolina, to site-specific temporary installations in urban settings. BUDGETARY + ADMINISTRATIVE

SUPPORT

The College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will channel tuition revenue to the Weisman Art Museum for program administration. Twenty-five percent of tuition revenue will be allocated to the college of the student's enrollment, 10 percent to the Weisman for administration, 2 percent to the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture for the approval of courses and curriculum, and 63 percent to the department(s) whose faculty deliver the course. The College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will approve curriculum and courses. They will direct funds to the Weisman Art Museum for administration of the program. The Weisman will provide office space, clerical staff, and equipment for administering the program. The Public Art on Campus Program will contractually require commissioned artists to participate in the program through lectures, workshops, or in other ways. The value of this participation could range from $1,000-$10,000 annually. NONUNIVERSITY

SUPPORT

Organizations in the Twin Cities such as the Minnesota State Arts Board, Public Art St. Paul, and FORECAST Public Artworks will offer unpaid internship opportunities. The Weisman's Public Art on Campus Program now offers unpaid internships, and these will be offered as part of the Public Art Minor. SHELLY WILLIS is the former director of the University of Minnesota, Public Art on Campus program and author of the public art minor proposal. She is currently the artistic director at the Sonoma Community Center in Sonoma. California.

ENGAGING O F F - C A M P U S I AUDIENCE

HARRIET F. SENIE

I S

38 For nearly twenty years I have taught public art to a variety of students: M.A. art history and museum studies majors as well as M.F.A. students at City College; Ph.D. students in the art history program at the CUNY Graduate Center (these classes typically enroll students from other disciplines as well as M.F.A. students); undergraduates in the CUNY Honors College and at Carnegie Mellon University.1 Usually these classes have a specific focus: the history of public art, controversial issues, evaluating public art, or memorials. But certain elements remain constant: Students directly engage the audience for a work of public art, and the class meets with the heads of local public art agencies several times a semester.2 This grounds the students' approach to public art in the complex realities that define the field.

Richard Serra, Tiki Arc, 1981 (removed in 1989), steel, Federal Plaza, New York, NY.

DEFINING THE STARTING POINT Every course begins the same way: "What is the most successful work of public art that you know? Why? Define successful and public art in whatever way seems appropriate to you. Take ten minutes. Really think about it. Don't write more than one page." Immediately we are grappling with questions essential to any conversation about public art: What do we think it is? How do we evaluate it? The following week, after I have read the papers and organized them according to common themes or ideas, we discuss them. Over time there have been some very interesting responses. Students in a seminar at the Graduate Center in the spring 2001 semester chose works by Dennis Adams, Tony Oursler, Tom Otterness (who is popular with a general audience as well), Claes Oldenburg's Clothespin, and the Statue of Liberty and Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Two students also cited Richard Serra's Tilted Arc because it had prompted so much discussion about public art. At least one student in every course cites Serra's controversial work, which was removed from Federal Plaza in New York City in 1989, demonstrating that for these individuals a work does not have to exist to be successful. A class at City College in fall 1993 included votes for the Statue of Liberty, the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park, Central Park itself, the Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (both students arguing that architecture is public art too), and Dubuffet's Trees at Chase Manhattan Plaza. THE ART IN PUBLIC ART Because public art has its own history, it is easier to teach if students already have a background in contemporary art. As our opening class exercise demonstrates, there is no single definition of public art. We go on to discuss such things as single objects, site designs, urban amenities, social interactionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;together with appropriate critical standards that might be used to evaluate them. Although different models prompt distinct criteria, we always ask 3 questions: (1) Is it good work,

fi J %

What do you think?

according to its type; art, urban design, community project? (2) Does it improve or energize its site in some way—by providing an aesthetic experience or public amenity such as seating or by prompting conversation and perhaps social awareness? (3) Is there evidence of relevant or appropriate public engagement or use? For me, successful public art has to score on all three. But by any criteria (and students usually develop their own by the end of the semester) the "art" in public art is much easier to address than the "public." THAT VEXING PUBLIC I prefer the term audience to public when discussing the public in public art. It implicates only those for whom something was created, "an assembly of hearers or spectators, persons reached by a book, radio broadcast, etc.," according to a popular dictionary definition. Audience, unlike public, does not imply a larger political or philosophical concept or entity. Whether one believes that there is a public or community for public art, there can be no argument that this art has an immediate audience—those who pass it sporadically or on a daily basis. And there is an indirect audience—those who read about it or see it on television, should it become famous or infamous. The literature on public (and other) art is full of assumptions about audience response, as is the deliberation on public art selection panels. One of my students once threatened to get me a rubber stamp that asks "How do you know what the public thinks? Where is your evidence?" It certainly would save me a lot of writing in margins. Actually, little is known about audience response to public art unless it becomes the subject of controversy, and then the largely mediated information it prompts is suspect. PUBLIC ART WATCH To counteract the absence of information and widespread suppositions about audience response, I require a "public art watch" in every course. On different days of the week and at different times, each student observes, eavesdrops, and engages the audience for a specific work of public art. We develop a questionnaire in class and students modify it to accommodate specific sites and circumstances. They must engage at least twenty individuals over a semester. Though not a statistically valid representation of opinion, this exercise does introduce students to the complexities of any public art audience. To keep them focused on audience response rather than artistic intention, they are allowed to contact the artist only after they have completed most of their survey. At the end of the semester, they present a summary of audience responses, trying to identify significant themes and tendencies. They have found, for example, that a weekday audience tends to be less receptive than a weekend crowd, and that people have more negative opinions on cold or rainy days. LESSONS LEARNED Some lessons are pragmatic. People will not stop to discuss art or anything else if they are running for or leaving a train; you have to catch them when they are captive and bored. Obviously, this has implications for the placement of public art as well. Site matters more than most students realize. As one student at the Graduate Center (Lily Tuttle, a history major) recently observed, "The idea that simple elements such as location, landscaping, and other, competing uses for the space may make it an ineffective or less-than-sacred space does not always come through in readings and the use of slides. There is no way to truly understand a memorial as public art and as a manifestation of public memory without seeing it 'in action'

Artists Otis Kriegel and Michael McDevitt of Illegal Art, a New York City-based public art collaborative, roamed the five boroughs of the City carrying "Suggestion" boxes, inviting passersby to contribute their two cents worth. An edited collection of responses—ranging from personal to political to professional—is featured in Chronicle Books' publication called, what else, Suggestion.

lenses: the artist's conception, the historical context, and the critical reception. Standing on the street corner, asking passersby about a local monument, I found that this training had not at all prepared me for this sort of interchange. The people I talked with didn't care much about who made the work or why it was made. They cared even less about the art historical discourse that the work might have generated. This experience was frustrating because it suggested to me that I was heading into a sort of practical irrelevance from most of society." When Romaine began teaching in the New Jersey public university system, he encountered classes of thirty-five to forty students, most of whom were first- or second-generation immigrants, almost all of them from working-class backgrounds. In that context, he "had to rethink how art and art history might be meaningful to people who were not artists or art historians." He concluded, "Although at the time I did not recognize it, I now think that this assignment had the greatest impact of all the class projects I did at the Graduate Center." Charles Keck, Abraham Lincoln, 1948, cast bronze, New York, NY.

so to speak." Another student in the same class (Marissa Larer, an art history Ph.D. student interested in contemporary Latin American art history) noted, "Location and landscape were critical to the attention that the public gave to the artwork." And a third (Ilgin Yorukoglu, a Ph.D. student in sociology) recognized "the crucial place of the public space in our daily private life." For her it had to do with "the feeling of belonging." The people she interviewed "mostly talked about the statue while touching it." She interpreted this as "a could-be sign of belonging, engaging, and accepting." Often age matters. In the spring of 1993, a City College student (Edric Debos, an M.F.A. candidate) observed a lifesize bronze sculpture by Charles Keck of a seated Abraham Lincoln and standing boy located in a public housing project at Madison Avenue and 133rd Street in Harlem. A seventy-sixyear-old man who had lived in the area for over fifty years remembered when the statue was installed in 1948. He had come north during the "Great Migration," and his reflections revealed, in the words of Debos's term paper, "a very different black America," one of postwar optimism "that the American Dream might be made more accessible." He saw the statue without bitterness, as part of that historical moment. Younger men were more critical of the piece; young women seemed more tolerant or indifferent. One woman who had lived in Harlem for over thirty years found it beautiful and remarked that children like to play on it. A man in his early forties also liked it, calling Lincoln "my man." Another in his midthirties accepted the depiction because "you can't deny what happened in the past." He observed that in early U.S. history black people had slaves too, and he characterized history as a mixed bag. While one viewer thought a statue of someone who is black might have been a better choice, Debos would have preferred "Lincoln standing, shaking the hand of a standing black man in a Civil War uniform, acknowledging his sacrifice, rather than a poorly-clad young boy with no shoes looking up to this 'great' patriarch." The most important lesson to be learned from the public art watch is to avoid making assumptions about the audience. Many students are surprised by the thoughtful responses their questions prompt. Some learn to question things about their own art education. Engaging with the public initially made one Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate Center (James Romaine) extremely uncomfortable: "To that point my training in art history had led me to focus on the work of art through three

HAVING STUDENTS CREATE PUBLIC ART Undergraduate honors college students at City College have annually come up with a range of innovative suggestions for memorials to September 11. Usually they attend some anniversary event and then present their proposals to the class, which acts as a selection committee. At Carnegie Mellon I divided an undergraduate class with students of different majors into three groups, each group designating an artist and personnel typical of a public art agency. They then worked together to create and present a work intended for the campus to a larger audience. Their solutions included a fountain with seasonal changes; an electronic signboard for public and provocative messages and debates; and a friendly robot, Roger the Rabbit, who would roam the campus with general announcements, returning each night to his special home in the computer science lab. ONGOING QUESTIONS Consistently, students found that people were eager for some information about public art, provided it was presented to them directly. But even if a detailed label was nearby, they often would not notice or read it. I began to imagine the work of public art and the information provided at the site as separated by a gap comparable to the one between God and Adam in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. If a work of public art is to spring fully to life, something must be found to accomplish what my students do during their public art watch. The next time I teach a class in public art, one of the assignments will be to consider more practical ways to bridge this gap between public art and its primary audience. HARRIET F. SENIE is director of museum studies, M.A. graduate advisor, and professor of art history at City College, CUNY. NOTES 1

Some of the observations in this article were previously presented in a paper titled "Field

Observations: Public Art and Public Response" at O-oh, Aah... oh! Art Audience

Response,

Arts

Now Conference, SUNY New Paltz, September 1999, organized by Patricia Philips and subsequently published in expanded form as "Refraining Public Art: Audience Use, Interpretation, and Appreciation" in Andrew McClellan (ed.), Art and its Publics: lennium

Museum Studies at the Mil-

(Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2003), 185-200.

In NYC, classes typically meet with the heads of two publicly funded programs (the Percent

for Art program of the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Arts for Transit program of the Metropolitan 'IYansit Authority) and two privately funded programs (the Public Art Fund and Creative Time). Over the years many individuals have been very generous with their time and insights. I would like especially to thank Sandra Bloodworth, James Clark, Charlotte Cohen, Tom Eccles, Wendy Feuer, Tom Finkelpearl, and Ann Pasternak.

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The Pratt Institute's Sculpture Park is one o f the largest in the Greater New York area. It is a focal point for the Clinton Hill neighborhood and an inspiration for the Pratt student body. It is also an extraordinary way for residents of the city to experience a variety of works in a beautiful setting. David Weinrib, curator Harry Gordon, associate

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42 At the last Americans for the Arts' Public Art Network Preconference in Austin, Texas, I moderated the keynote panel on sustainable approaches to public art and landscape design. That experience prompted a look at the state of education for ecology and the environment. The UrbanArts Institute at Massachusetts College of Art (www.urbanartsinstitute.org), where I am public art project manager, proactively embraces and promotes sustainable approaches when working with communities and clients for the projects we administer. I asked leaders, practitioners, and students of public art education and ecology to reflect on sustainable approaches to public art, landscape design, and art in the community. Their observations may be summarized as follows: • Educators tend to reject the notion of sustainable approaches as a means to an end. • Since public art is often seen as the voice of the community, educators and practitioners must avoid being reactive rather than proactive when it comes to sustainability and ecology. • Scientific discourse is crucial to advance the field and benefit the public at large. • Education, public opinion, and government effort most effectively evolve hand-in-hand in order to develop best practices and policies. • The sustainability discussion in higher education is closely tied to the leadership and philosophy of individual educators and administrators. As Tim Collins put it, "We teach kids to do all sorts of important things at a university. There isn't a one I know of that teaches us to live better." A central concern to all public art programs is involving the "community"—in the widest sense of the word—in planning and creating work that is publicly accessible. Education in public art and landscape architecture can increase awareness

and instigate change in the approach to sustainable methods. Fifteen years ago environmental educator David Orr proposed a goal of "ecological literacy" for students. 1 He requested that no student should graduate from an educational institution without a basic comprehension of the following: the laws of thermodynamics basic principles of ecology carrying capacity energetics least-cost, end-use analysis how to live well in a place limits of technology appropriate scale sustainable agriculture and forestry steady-state economics environmental ethics The 1972 publication of The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind sold over a million copies and produced shockwaves in Europe, followed by an intense discussion on the planet's limited resources. These grassroots efforts turned into national policy within a decade. In the 1980s Germany began passing laws to protect the environment while promoting ecology and conservation. In the United States, effective national policies are still lacking. According to experts, sustainable and environmental standards here lag behind German standards. Recently the sustainability debate in this country has become more vigorous. Does the state of education reflect this development? Are colleges and universities leaders in the dialogue? Education should prepare students for the challenges of real life. Are curricula adequately addressing sustainability and ecology? What is the state of public art education when it comes to teaching best practices of sustainability? Should the definition of sustainability encompass environmentally friendly standards and policies alone, or should it also include

long-term viability and economic stability? Do our curricula address sustainable practices in public art, landscape design, or community art? Since sustainability can mean many things, how broad or narrow should the term be defined? According to artist, educator, and theorist Tim Collins, The word sustain suggests ideas such as support, stabilization, maintenance, endurance, prolongation. David Orr talks about the difference between technical (conservative and stabilizing) and social (radical and transformative) approaches to sustainability. The technical fix has been the holy grail of modernism. The past hundred years have seen an unfettered growth of human knowledge and technology, yet we have given very little thought to the toxicity and destruction of the industrial culture; we live with blind faith in the technical fix. You can plan and sew new sails and rework the masts and booms all you want, but if the ship is still sailing north at the end of the day you have done nothing. We need a concept that signals a sea change, not merely new sails for the old ships of commerce.

| ^ J | I Sj | | 9, | uj 3

The future of sustainability in public art depends on an interdisciplinary approach, as evidenced in the creation of public art programs themselves. Few such programs exist and most were founded in the last ten years. They tend to be a synthesis of sculpture, landscape architecture, and administrative programs. The University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning, and Development offers a dual Master of Planning/Master of Public Arts Studies geared towards public art administration (www.usc.edu/schools/sppd/programs/ masters/dual/mpLmpas.html). While planning could and should be the key for change, there is little evidence of ecological awareness in the Public Art Studies Program. In 2000 the University of Washington at Seattle launched the only interdisciplinary public art curriculum focusing on the creation of works in the public realm. The concerted effort of sculptor John T. Young and landscape architect Daniel Winterbottom, this program's interdisciplinary coursework includes theoretical investigation, design studio, and community design/build projects (www.washington.edu/ change/proposals/public.html). Young said that an ecological sustainability approach has been used for a few projects, but it is not the only approach. For Young, "Public art is a conduit for the community's voice rather than an individual, egocentric concept of artists." The University of Washington's public art program includes interdisciplinary design/build studios in which sculpture, landscape architecture, and architecture students work with nonprofit agencies to develop an actual public art project. Amy Lambert, a student currently enrolled in the program, chose it because of the opportunity to combine her interests in restoration ecology and public art. She participated in a design/build studio project for the Willapa Bay National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, whose goal is to reestablish the salmon run. The department received a $50,000 grant to create six or seven permanent public art projects as part of an interpretive trail. Lambert's proposal was one of the winning designs. On the East Coast, the Maryland Institute College of Art created the first-of-its-kind Master of Arts in Community Arts degree in 2005 (www.mica.edu/PROGRAMS/ma/community_ arts). The program focuses on communications and administration, with a distinct community outreach mission. Sustainability appears in the context of long-term economic viability.

ABOVE: Christina Lanzl, BinUmi, 2003, mixed media. One of a series of nest boxes for endangered cavity breeders. Installed at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY. BELOW: Amy Lambert (left) and her assistant Julie, in the welding studio at the Public Art Program of the University of Washington. The finished piece depicts the skeleton of a spawned-out chum salmon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service successfully brought these salmon back into the creek at the Willapa Bay National Wildlife refuge.

The new masters degree evolved from an extensive history of community arts programming through the Community Arts Partnerships program on campus. Such partnership programs are increasing, including several recently founded within

current post was the discovery of faculty members and research fellows deeply invested in and internationally recognized for their critical, social, cultural, and environmental art practices. He believes the British public university system is particularly fertile ground for discourse and learning in these areas. The University of Wolverhampton prides itself on open-access education to the working-class youth of the west midlands. The university's motto is "innovation and access." We offer B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees. Our programs are informed by research clusters in areas such as Interdisciplinary Practices in Art, Society, and Environment. Mind you, this is not atypical of British universities. Take the time to explore the work of our colleagues at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design or the Manchester Institute for Research and Investigation in Art and Design and you will find faculties that are abnormally socially evolved by U.S. standards. We don't just address sustainable practices in the U.K.: we embody change as a pedagogical ideology.

Ross Miller, Interactive Fountain, 2004, Sheahy Park, in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood. Funded by the E. I. Browne Trust Fund of the City of Boston and coordinated by UrbanArts. The fountain conserves water because it is activated only by users. Seven remotely located motion sensors respond to people's presence and activity.

Boston's Colleges of the Fenway consortium (Massachusetts College of Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Wentworth Institute of Technology). Elke Berger, a landscape architect, and Peter Latz, a leader in ecological design and Berger's former professor at Technische Universitaet Muenchen, teach Postindustrial Landscapes, a graduate landscape architecture seminar at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design. The course is a landscape architecture design studio of an environmentally troubled site. Berger, a designer at Sasaki Associates, has participated in studio reviews at several universities. She sees a potential limitation for students in the American college system because most graduate students have undergraduate degrees in a different field. This reduces the period of specific training to three years, compared to the standard five to six years in European countries. Given the complexity of the field, which combines the natural and historic sciences with design and graphic craftsmanship skills, this appears to be too little time to provide a broad, fundamental approach to landscape-related topics. Berger also bemoans deficits in up-to-date publications covering the intersection of design and ecology, as well as availability of sustainable building materials and technologies. She sums up her own six years of training in the Landscape Architecture Department of Technische Universitaet Muenchen as a "holistic approach to understanding man's effects on nature and the landscape." Tim Collins is an American practitioner and educator who was recently appointed associate dean of the School of Art and Design at the University of Wolverhampton in England. His work in the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University contributed to the Nin Mile Run Greenway Project and the 3 Rivers 2nd Nature project (http://3r2n.cfa.cmu.edu/ collins). These programs investigated questions about nature and post-industrial public space in Pittsburgh. Collins claims that many U.K. schools are ahead of the United States in the social application of creative knowledge. One attraction of his

Study, research, and opportunities for scientific discourse in higher education are as important as the curriculum and are crucial to advances in the field. Many universities and colleges host lectures, symposia, and conferences that facilitate cross-disciplinary dialog, exchange, and partnerships, often publishing related proceedings. The group Art Culture Nature: An Association for the Study of the Arts and the Environment at the University of Washington Bothell hosted a May 2005 conference, Earth Rites: Imagination and Practice in Sci-Arts Eco-Cultures, which investigated issues and practices involved in building sustainable eco-cultures through the intentional engagement of both the sciences and the arts. The conference explored connections between sci-arts and local communities and examined linkages among culture, science, art, and the environment and how these connections emerge as viable ecocultures (http://faculty.uwb.edu/kkochhar/ACN/05conf.htm). Funding is an oft-cited stumbling block to implementing sustainable principles, both when it comes to resources for teaching and in applying forward-thinking technologies in the private sector, because clients often shy away from what they consider costly capital spending, not considering long-term savings. Practitioners need convincing data, which one would expect to be published by educational researchers, to support any long-term economic benefits. The question of funding often puts leadership to the test, wisely pointed out by Sandy Weisman of the Center for Art and Community Partnerships at the Massachusetts College of Art: "Leadership, of course, is essential in guiding projects, but so often leadership is compromised by not enough funding. Time is compromised, and therefore sustainability suffers. We see it all the time. Funding is everyone's nightmare." It is our responsibility to live up to the challenge.

CHRISTINA LANZL is public art project manager at the UrbanArts Institute at Massachusetts College of Art and a visual artist who works to promote excellence in public art and design.

NOTES 1

David Orr, "What Is Education For? Six Myths about the Foundations of Modern Education,

and Six New Principles to Replace Them." In Context (Winter 1991), 52-55.

Image: installation of Mascot/Fan

by Michael Davis on Bloom Walk, U S C University Park Campus, 2006.

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JIM HEROLD

How can public art reach a rural community? In a rural setting

such as Spring Valley,

Wisconsin, people don't have a great deal of access to visual art experiences. My goal with this event was to make art that would reach as many people as possible, giving them a shared experience and a fresh take on their environment. I also wanted to involve my students in creating public art, helping them jump through the hoops that come before any public art installation or event. I wanted them to learn how to make art that engages all segments of their community. With those goals in mind, we set out to create Night

Spring Valley is a village of approximately 1200 people surrounded by rolling countryside dotted with family farms. Night

Lights

was visible many

milking parlors as well as townsfolk who stepped out on their porches to see what was happening. "I was about

five miles out of

town

when I saw the first beam of light up. I didn't

expect

to be this

shoot

excited."

The installation, which took place on the evening of Saturday, |anuary 21, 2006, consisted of two sets of four searchlights: one set mounted to a trailer

perceptual dichotomy would prompt viewers to

pickup truck which moved among four rural sites.

swers. The extent to which they did testifies to the

a concert of rhythm and patterns with background

with quintessential rural landscapes. We hoped this question what they were seeing and to seek out anvalue of public art experiences in rural communities.

students the opportunity to work on a museumquality exhibit.

miles away, reaching farmers returning from their

juxtaposition of seductive urban lights

Lights—a

photographs from the contest. This is giving my

parked on the town's main street, the other on a Students ran the controls for the town set, creating music from an outdoor sound system. Other students poured cups of hot cocoa and handed out maps to show where the rural lights would be positioned. A caravan of cars spontaneously developed

and drove from site to site with the lights, gaining viewers at each location. Students counted over 300 people at the town display. "You should walking

have seen the

up and down

their heads

cocked

stuck to their

people

the street

back and

with cameras

faces."

The local newspaper sponsored a contest and awarded prizes for the best photographs of the event. More than 250 photos were submitted—the lights in their unique settings as well as people looking up, dancing in the street, and pointing out views to each other. "Those lights just lit up everyone. were so happy,

talking

like we knew everyone.

People

to each

other

It was

magic."

While searchlights in a rural setting demanded

With mentored guidance, these students are build-

the lights revealed. The lights exposed the intrinsic

art, gaining both experience and confidence.

barn, the crosshatched framework of a windmill,

right now. Guiding their hands today prepares

attention, viewers also became engaged with what art in rural icons: the outline of white trim on a red curved caps on a cluster of silos, a lone church steeple reaching heavenward from the fields. People find art

to be more meaningful when it connects with their world. Night Lights was all over their world.

ing the skills necessary to create engaging public Future public artists are sitting in our classrooms them to lead tomorrow. JIM HEROLD teaches Art at Spring Valley High School. He has

"My folks stopped the porch

to watch

milking the

and sat

lights."

received international attention for his teaching methods

Encouraged by the event's success, my students want to do more art for the community, and the community has been requesting more art experiences. We've had requests for a traveling gallery of

and in 2005 was honored as Wisconsin's High School Art Teacher of the Year.

1 HIII

Art can involve the whole communityitcanbeUKU Night

Lights

in Spring Valley, Wisconsin • Photos by Dean Madson—www.madsonphoto.com.

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Abraham Lincoln by James Tellen as installed in the James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden, a preserved artist environment in Black River, Wisconsin (c. 1950s; concrete; approx. 4').

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Andrea Myklebust + Stanton Sears announce the completion of their new studio in Stockholm, Wisconsin.

Creating art to connect people and places UPPER: Prickly/Prickly/Prickly/Priddy/Spiny. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ • Voucher. University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wl. • NHCC Carillon. North Hennepin Community College, Brooklyn Park, MN. LOWER: Common Threads. St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN. • Net/Shoe/Clove/Ball/Ball/Ball. Rochester Community & Technical College, Rochester, MN. • Reflect/Reflect Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC

myklebust+SEARS N3049 Nelson Lane • Stockholm, Wl 54769 715.448.2074 myklebust.sears@gmail.com www.myklebust-sears.com

The celebration has begun... The Broward Cultural Division has launched a multifaceted series of events to celebrate three decades of Public Art and Design Program achievements. The public will have numerous opportunities to sample lectures, tours, exhibits and more.

Speakers Forum Series

Presentations by local and nationally-known speakers

Exhibit

Survey of 30 Years of Public Art in Broward County July 7 - August 20, 2006 Art and Culture Center of Hollywood

Self-Guided Transit Public Art Tours BRV.WARD

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ON WISCONSIN! O N , W I S C O N S I N ; O N , W I S C O N S I N ! G R A N D OLD B A D G E R STATE; W E , T H Y LOYAL S O N S A N D D A U G H T E R S , H A I L T H E E , G O O D A N D GREAT. O N , W I S C O N S I N ! O N , W I S C O N S I N ! C H A M P I O N O F T H E R I G H T , " F O R W A R D " , O U R M O T T O , G O D W I L L G I V E T H E E M I G H T ; W R I T T E N BY J . S . H U B B A R D AND CHARLES D.ROSA, C O M P O S E D BY W I L L I A M T. PURDY (1909)

T H E W O R L D - F A M O U S C O M P O S E R A N D B A N D M A S T E R J O H N P H I L I P S O U S A ONCE DECLARED W I S C O N S I N ' S OFFICIAL STATE S O N G THE BEST COLLEGE S O N G HE EVER HEARD. W H A T ' S NOT TO LIKE A B O U T W I S C O N S I N ? Y O U ' V E GOT Y O U R PACKERS, YOUR B E E R , YOUR CHEESE, A N D OF COURSE A STATE FULL OF B A D G E R S ( A N D B A D G E R FANS). Y O U ' V E GOT T O W N S W I T H STRANGE N A M E S LIKE O S H K O S H A N D S H E B O Y G A N . A N D Y O U ' V E GOT FIRST-RATE U N I V E R S I T I E S , ART SCHOOLS, M U S E U M S , A N D H U N D R E D S OF A R T I S T S â&#x20AC;&#x201D; B O T H S C H O O L E D A N D SELF-TAUGHT. W I S C O N S I N I T E S LIKE TO T H I N K OF T H E M S E L V E S AS P R O G R E S S I V E , OR " F O R W A R D , " AS THE MOTTO STATES. P R O G R E S S I V E CERTAINLY D E S C R I B E S P U B L I C ART P R O G R A M S AT THE M I L W A U K E E INSTITUTE OF ART A N D D E S I G N ( M I A D ) A N D U W - M A D I S O N . M I A D ' S " O P E N A R T " INITIATIVE HAS E N G A G E D H U N D R E D S OF CITIZENS IN THE D E V E L O P M E N T OF A M A J O R C O M M I S S I O N

FOR CATALANO S Q U A R E , IN M I L W A U K E E ' S

T H I S S P R I N G , ARTIST J I N S O O K I M P L A N S TO INSTALL STRATIFORMIS, M A N U F A C T U R I N G , U T I L I Z I N G D O Z E N S OF D I S A S S E M B L E D KNITTING W O R K S . U W - M A D I S O N

HAS C O M M I S S I O N E D

KNITTING MACHINES

F R O M THE F O R M E R

RELIABLE

R E N O W N E D ARTISTS OVER THE PAST S E V E R A L YEARS,

I N C L U D I N G JACK M A C K I E , JILL S E B A S T I A N , A N D SCOTT P A R S O N , W H O S E ALCORITHMIN FLOOR AT THE E N G I N E E R I N G C E N T E R W A S

HISTORIC T H I R D W A R D .

A N H O M A G E TO THE M E T H O D O L O G Y OF

TAPESTRY

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R E C O G N I Z E D W I T H A 2 0 0 4 G O L D E N T R O W E L A W A R D F R O M THE

I N T E R N A T I O N A L M A S O N R Y INSTITUTE. W I S C O N S I N IS ALSO A SPECIAL PLACE FOR T H R O N G S OF TOURISTS, OUTDOOR E N T H U S I A S T S , A N D BICYCLISTS.THERE'S RICH F A R M L A N D , GEOLOGIC W O N D E R S , H O U S E ON THE ROCK, THE DELLS, A N D PAUL B U N Y A N , PLUS PLENTY OF R E G U L A R DOWN-TO-EARTH FOLKS. IT'S M I D D L E A M E R I C A , A N D IT'S FERTILE TERRITORY. IN H O N O R OF M I L W A U K E E PLAYING HOST TO THE A N N U A L P U B L I C ART N E T W O R K G A T H E R I N G THIS PAR

SUMMER,

I N V I T E D J. G . M I K U L A Y A N D TONY R A J E R TO PROFILE T W O DISTINCT ASPECTS OF P U B L I C ART IN W I S C O N S I N .

M I K U L A Y E X A M I N E S C O N T E M P O R A R Y , HIGHLY V I S I B L E , A N D MOSTLY U R B A N PROJECTS A N D ACTIVITIES, S O M E H O M E - G R O W N A N D S O M E I M P O R T E D . S H E O F F E R S HISTORICAL I N S I G H T A N D LOCAL COLOR. R A J E R , ON THE OTHER H A N D , H A S S P E N T M U C H OF H I S LIFE S U R V E Y I N G THE L A N D S C A P E FOR H I D D E N T R E A S U R E S :

ENVIRONMENTS

BY SELF-TAUGHT ARTISTS A N D ROADSIDE FOLK ART. H E R E ' S A SELECTION OF HIS FAVORITES A N D THE ARTISTS WHO

M A D E T H E M . T H E S E ARE PEOPLE OF M O R A L FIBER, S E L F - D E T E R M I N A T I O N , OR P E R H A P S ISOLATED EGOS.

R E G A R D L E S S , THEIR EFFORTS, LIKE OTHER P U B L I C ART IN W I S C O N S I N , DESERVE M O R E T H A N A P A S S I N G GLANCE.

FEATURED STATE

Wisconsin's Idea of Public Art J. G. MIKULAY

At the Wisconsin State Capitol, fresh-faced tour guides intone a script extolling the nation's only granite dome and Daniel Chester French's gilded goddess Wisconsin (1914) perched high above it, visible from four miles away. They implore visitors who need good luck to rub the nose of the Badger (1899. Paul Kupper), a decorative bronze decommissioned from the USS Wisconsin to guard the legislative chambers. The guides gush about Karl Bitter's 1911 exterior pediments and statuary groupings depicting such unique Wisconsin attributes as Faith and Strength in pearly Vermont granite. The tour reveals much about Wisconsin's preference for public art that is accessible, useful, and scrutable to a general public of varied educational backgrounds, ethnicities, and tastes. Such preferences are arguably, in part, the legacy of the man depicted in a 1929 bust by Jo Davidson located just down the hall from Badger. Robert M. Lafollette. As Wisconsin's governor from 1901 to 1906 and a U.S. Senator for twenty years, "Fighting Bob" and his philosophy of progressive reform helped shape the state's politics, educational system, and cultural commitments for much of the last century. Lafollette's "Wisconsin Idea" had three major tenets: democratic participation, professional involvement, and incrementalism. Whether the artists who place work throughout the state are LaFollette acolytes or completely unaligned with (or oblivious to) his legacy, this essay suggests that the progressive tradition is a helpful cipher for all who seek to appreciate public art in Wisconsin.

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DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION The first progressive principle, democratic participation, fosters art in the most unusual places, created by unlikely sculptors wielding chainsaws, chisels, and even glitter. Small communities have vibrant arts councils: strong local art traditions; and ubiquitous summer art fairs, sculpture gardens, gallery nights, walking tours, and art barns. A modicum of arts funding flows to even the most sparsely populated and economically disadvantaged areas. Native and ethnic expression proliferates wildly. The wide range of subjects, styles, and quality in Wisconsin's public art expresses a commitment to reflecting popular taste and offering art to all. According to Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, chair of the Wisconsin Arts Board, the purpose of the state's percentfor-art program is to "bring art to new places and compel the public to stop, look, and enjoy." Such a broad mission creates a nonplus for elite or avant-garde interests but is clearly in line with progressive ideals. For example, way up in northern Wisconsin, at the intersection of Highways 2 and 13, Kelly Meredith and Susan Prentice Martinsen's Asaph Wittlesey Mural (1998), on downtown Ashland's historic main street, depicts the city's founder wearing snowshoes. At corners throughout this downtown commercial corridor, exposed sides of buildings portray events

in Ashland's history, bringing larger-than-life scale to the mundane early days of a quiet shipping community. Across the state's farmland, especially along the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, hundreds of earth and effigy mounds— linear, conical, or in the shapes of bears, turtles, geese, and other animals—create surprise along the bluffs and banks. Though many have been destroyed or severely eroded, new interest in these hand-built, ancient public art precedents has sparked preservation efforts. The mounds continue to enact profound ideas about community involvement and commemoration. On the streets of downtown Milwaukee, citizens encounter a surprising proliferation of figurative bronzes, including recently installed statues of Martin Luther King. Gandhi, and frolicking children as well as older works of Abraham Lincoln, Leif Erikson, Solomon Juneau, and General Douglas MacArthur. The requisite greening George Washington is balanced by the intensely local Gertie the Duck. The real Gertie hatched six ducklings (all immortalized in bronze by Gwen Gillen) on the Milwaukee River in 1945, and she is now the face of the downtown Riverwalk, ambassador to an ever-changing array of outdoor sculpture ranging from an innocuous neon school of fish by Cork Marcheschi to a grimacing river goddess by Beth

Donald Lipski, Hail's Tales, 2005, Camp Randall Stadium, UW-Madison.

Sahagian. Last summer, the Riverwalk sculptures drew a local BookCrossing chapter to stage a "catch-and-release" book swap during a Milwaukee High School of the Arts performance day centered on the artworks. In the progressive tradition, the success of public art is best judged by its efficacy as a catalyst for exchange among citizens as well as creative expression by artists unfettered by censorship. "Fighting Bob" would likely be delighted by a recent brouhaha in Madison. Here, residents, students, and critics are vocal in expressing what they like and don't like about Donald Lipski's Nail's Tales, a tensile pile of concrete footballs (or, some say, a corncob) thrusting toward the sky outside the University of Wisconsin (UW)'s football stadium. Other communities and artists in Wisconsin are less comfortable with conflict and debate. For instance, a new transit center in suburban Waukesha opted for inoffensive, abstract works in glass and metal by artists such as Tom Martin, Richard Peterson, Paul Phelps, and Richard Taylor. ABOVE: Janet Morton, Femmbomb, 2004, School of Human Ecology, UW-Madison. BELOW: Liz Bachhuber, KulturfolgerIII, 2005, Fine Arts Theater, UW-Milwaukee. OPPOSITE PAGE (above): Terry Couch tossing one of his ceramic floats into the Wisconsin River, near Prairie du Sac, on February 28,2004 (his fourth launch in the series) for the project Anastomosis. More information about the work is at www.mudmancouch.com. OPPOSITE PAGE (below): A detail view of Couch's ceramic floats.

TRAINED PROFESSIONALS The progressive tradition's second principle, professional involvement, was articulated by LaFollette as "a government infused with the talent of trained professionals, guided by the expertise of our wisest scholars and answerable to an active and well-educated citizenry." University of Wisconsin campuses in twenty-six cities across the state are the primary agents of the "Wisconsin Idea," applying the research and technical expertise of its faculty to community issues. The state boasts public art scholars such as Anton (Tony) Rajer (UW-Extension) and Christine Style (UW-Green Bay), coauthors of Public Sculpture in Wisconsin (1999), published by UW Press, which has also published Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee (1994) by Diane Buck and Virginia Palmer, and Indian Mounds of Wisconsin (2000) by Robert Birmingham and Leslie Eisenberg. The Wisconsin Art Board draws on the University in implementing its percent-for-art program; faculty and staff from many departmental and administrative units serve as commission jurors and panelists, artists, and program advisors. At UW-Stevens Point, twenty-five faculty and staff from the fine arts program recently morphed into a collective human Genie Lift to install Jin Soo Kim's twenty-foot steel sculpture in their new building's atrium. The Arts Institute at UW-Madison provides vital resources to keep the field moving forward. In the last two years, the institute hosted Toronto-based textile artist Janet Morton, sculptor Garrison Roots, and sculpture scholar and art critic Michael Brenson. Morton's residency sparked excitement on campus right away with Four Season Tree, a collaborative work in which students affixed 10,000 biodegradable cloth leaves to a tree near Memorial Library, and later with the dramatic unveiling and implosion of Femmebomb, a pink quilted and crocheted cover for the fagade of the historic School of Human Ecology building at the center of campus. Femmebomb proved the truth of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Wisconsin-inspired observation: "If enough people think of a thing and work hard enough at it, I guess it's pretty nearly bound to happen, wind and weather permitting." Scholars are not the only professionals involved via the progressive tradition's influence on the state's public art. Design teams and exchanges between artists and architects are common. An exceptional and long-term example of professional exchange is the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC)'s Arts/Industry program, a collaboration between the museum and the nearby Kohler Co., which annually awards a series of artist residencies that involve their working inside pottery,

iron, brass, and enamel factories where the typical focus is on fabricating bathtubs, toilets, sinks, and fixtures. These artists are also immersed in contemporary sculpture and folk environments exhibited at JMKAC. INCREMENTALISM In the Progressive Era, political reformers worked slowly to build greater equity and justice in society, viewing better government and quality of life as long-term projects. By limiting centralization and operating on a small scale, progressives hoped to flexibly enlist broad-based participation to affect large and small communities equally. A recent temporary work that embodied the incremental approach was Liz Bachhuber's Kulturfolger III, which was installed at UW-Milwaukee's Fine Arts Theater lobby throughout 2005. Created in public during her residency at the school's Institute of Visual Arts, the work consisted of steel scaffolding surrounded by an openwork vessel woven in local birch saplings joined by plastic zip ties. The slow yet public transformation of the space emphasized the adaptability of the natural world. The hand-joined saplings suggested the microlevel connections that sustain a large community. A strength of incrementalism is that by starting small, slowly, and stridently local, projects may subtly insinuate themselves and avoid controversy. The downside of this approach is a tendency toward the generic. Exhibit A is the proliferation of sculpture parades in Wisconsin. In 2006, Madison's streets will host the stampede of "Cows on Parade," while in Racine, the flock of sculptures will take the form of birds and birdbaths. At least it appears that Milwaukee's streets will be spared the biennial blight of Dennis Pearson's Beasties this summer. Today's tight city and county budgets raise questions about the place of such public art displays in relation to investments that promote basic quality of life: affordable housing, safety, and jobs. The promise of incrementalism is improvement earned at a sustainable pace; the peril is that gains are temporary. In the words of legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, immortalized in a two-ton bronze by Julie RotblattAmrany and Omri Amrany installed recently outside Lambeau Field, "We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time." FORWARD What lies ahead for Wisconsin? In keeping with the suggestion that public art in Wisconsin is best understood within the framework of the state's strong progressive tradition, the recent and dramatic erosion of progressive ideals must also be noted. Conservative forces seek to dismantle percent-for-art legislation and limit resources for the UW system. The state's vulnerable economy, brain drain, and increasingly dire racial segregation all create a poor environment for the progressive strategies of the past. The retreat from progressive ideals weakens the state's cultural infrastructure, diminishes the vibrancy of visual environments throughout Wisconsin, and creates new challenges for public artists. Perhaps this dynamic is what spurs the most innovative projects to emerge in the least likely places. The doit-yourself tradition is also central in Wisconsin. On February 28, 2004, Terry Couch filled his canoe with dozens of hollow, softball-sized ceramic floats and set out on the Wisconsin River, just outside of Prairie du Sac. Soon, two armed Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources agents approached to make sure Couch was wearing a life jacket. The agents proceeded upstream and Couch paddled down a mile or so, where he gently released the floats into the river, all eighty-

seven of them (this was one of four launches). Each float was marked with a serial number and his contact information, including a website about the project (www.mudmancouch. com). In the months that followed. Couch's usual routine back home in Sheboygan Falls was punctuated by e-mails, phone calls, and cards from float-finders in Mazomanie, Madison. Spring Green, Sauk City, Rio, and Boscobel. While fishing or boating, launching canoes or walking dogs, people encountered Couch's ceramic floats. Inquisitive, enraged, and excited, they contacted Couch. One correspondent sent a Monet water-lily-illustrated card and recalled the children's book Paddle to the Sea. A twelve-year-old girl who found a float e-mailed to find out what made it rattle, and her mother asked what to do with it. A man from Madison wrote to inform Couch that he re-released the float in Lake Monona to "change its direction." A dairy farming family e-mailed to confess that they accidentally broke the float they found and to find out what kind of glue works best to fix it. Eventually, John Buss called. A conservation officer at the DNR. Buss informed Couch that he would receive a citation for littering. Couch objected to the DNR's classification of his creative expression as trash, so they went to court. Unfortunately for Couch, in the words of local columnist Tom Sheehan. the "art argument doesn't float." Couch's is not the only public art in Wisconsin that has been called garbage. But his use of public waterways to forge connections and create experiences is a progressive gesture.

J. G. MIKULAY is a Ph.D. candidate in visual culture studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is writing her dissertation about public art and daily life in Grand Rapids. Michigan. She currently teaches sculpture at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.

FEATURED STATE

Visionary Environments in Wisconsin's Landscape TONY RAJER

Wisconsin is home to an unusually large number of outdoor folk art environments. The state is rivaled in this regard by only two othersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Georgia and California. One reason for this rich heritage is that European immigrants who settled in Wisconsin brought many cultural traditions of their homelands, as well as building skills and a desire to leave a permanent legacy here. Many terms are used for constructions of art and architecture set within the landscape. I use the term outsider folk art environments to describe the whole body of work that includes sites by self-taught artists, grotto art, visionary environments, and grassroots art. SCULPTURE GARDENS Of the dozen or more folk art sites in Wisconsin, none is better cared for, documented, and visited than the Wisconsin Concrete Park near the town of Phillips. The state's only outdoor art museum, it features nearly 200 handmade concrete sculptures, many decorated with glass, shells, and other embellishments. Fred Smith (1886-1976), a retired lumberjack from Phillips, Wisconsin, began creating sculptures at age 65. He used the yard surrounding his home and began embellishing it with a rock garden and other constructions. This work was in addition to his other activities as a local tavern owner, farmer, and dance hall musician. Smith worked on the site for nearly fifteen years, creating over 200 figures with wooden armatures wrapped in chicken wire and covered by layers of handmade cement. He decorated the figures with broken glass and found objects. Much of the glass came from the endless supply of Rhinelander beer bottles from his tavern next door. He also readily accepted donations from visitors who stopped on the busy highway to see his evolving roadside creation.

Details of Fred Smith's extensive Wisconsin Concrete Park, circa 1960, near Phillips, Wis.

Smith was inspired by diverse sources, including popular magazines, local legends (Paul Bunyan), and American history icons (Abraham Lincoln). After his death in 1976, the Wisconsin Concrete Park was transformed from a roadside attraction to a public park after the Kohler Foundation purchased the property. The park was restored through efforts by the Wisconsin Arts Board (WAB) using funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the WAB, and private contributions. Years later, a support organization called the Friends of Fred Smith was created to help raise funds and organize community support to maintain the site. Wisconsin Concrete Park suffered two disastrous storms that damaged many of the sculptures, necessitating expensive restoration efforts. Although seemingly made of a permanent material, Smith's sculptures are fragile due to their wooden interiors and thin concrete shells. The site will require ongoing preservation to keep it well maintained and open to the public.

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My personal favorite Wisconsin art environment is the James Tellen site near Sheboygan because I was raised in the same neighborhood and remember spending many a summer day as a child playing among the sculptures. Tellen ( 1 8 8 0 1957), a devout Catholic, had a love of nature, community, and church. He and his family lived in Sheboygan but spent their summers south of town in the family's rustic log cabin. That setting, combined with his interest in art and with encouragement from family and friends, prompted him to begin making sculpture in 1942, a hobby he maintained until his death in 1957. For many years, other family members continued to use the cottage in summer and maintained the site, until it was purchased by the Kohler Foundation and later gifted to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan. Tellen built his sculptures from concrete, with interior frameworks of wire and mesh. During the winter he modeled his figures at his home in Sheboygan. During the summer he completed the work by creating realistic tableaux that blended into the woods and enhanced the landscape. He also enjoyed painting, wood carving, and metal work. His first major piece was a long, concrete, rustic fence in front of his cottage adjoining the road. Life-size figures of Native Americans—a man, a woman, and a baby—are positioned near fallen concrete trees. In addition, Tellen created a large tree trunk and a mother bear and her cubs. Turning his attention to the front yard along the driveway, Tellen continued his efforts creating various sculptures including a youthful Abraham Lincoln and a woman at the well. One of his noteworthy pieces is Whistle While We Work, which may have been inspired by Walt Disney. With a band of elves playing musical instruments and other elves making wine, it is a joyful work of art that Tellen and friends occasionally used as a backdrop for photographs. Behind the garage along the back of the property, Tellen continued his building projects.

including a miniature basilica, which he decorated for Easter. Along a winding path he created a miniature prehistoric world, a raft with a survivor, a life-size portrait of Christ, and the Virgin of Fatima. The Catholic Church and prayer were an important part of Tellen's life. His family, along with other parish members, came to the statue to pray the rosary. Church members several decades later recalled these gatherings in the mid-1950s, remembering the kind, generous, and thoughtful nature of James Tellen and the statues he created. GROTTO ENVIRONMENTS European colonization of Wisconsin was primarily from Germany, Italy, Poland, and Scandinavia. Italy in particular has had a long, vibrant tradition of grotto architecture, both secular and sacred. Well-known examples are the Boboli Gardens in Florence and the Great Giant at the Gardens in Pratolino. Almost every church in rural Italy has some type of grotto shrine dedicated to the Virgin or a local saint. The makers of these structures, particularly at religious sites, often used the term grotto—a cave-like environment—for a place where devotion and veneration could take place in a more natural setting, in contrast to the structured, formal surroundings of the church. A hundred years ago, Wisconsin was still a blank canvas to be filled in, and many men of faith created visual symbols that immigrants could identify with as they built the kingdom of heaven on earth. Grotto architecture is not isolated to Wisconsin. Examples abound in surrounding states, notably Father Dobberstein's multiacre Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend. Iowa, which influenced developments in Wisconsin, including the Dickeyville Grotto. James Tellen's Woodland Sculpture Garden (detail), 1942-1957, Sheboygan. Wis.

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In contrast to the singular efforts of Fred Smith, the Dickeyville Grotto was and continues to be a community-based effort that transformed a small farming community into a regional pilgrimage site. Its creator, Father Mathias Wernerus ( 1 8 7 3 1931), was able to combine patriotism and religious faith in his Grotto of the Holy Ghost, the largest and most unusual religious site in Wisconsin. It was in Liege, Belgium, where Wernerus attended religious school, that he may have first been exposed to a grotto construction at the Benedictine Abbey of Peace. In 1904, Wernerus left for Milwaukee, where he was admitted to St. Francis Seminary and where a small grotto made out of concrete and rock already existed. He was ordained in 1907 and shortly thereafter served in several small Wisconsin parishes before coming to Dickeyville in April 1910. The Holy Ghost parish would be his greatest challenge and triumph, a place where he demonstrated that faith could indeed move mountains, in this case the human-made mountains of rock and stone that formed the Grotto of the Holy Ghost. Upon his arrival, Wernerus immediately set out to improve his small, rural, German American parish. In quick succession he built a school, a convent, and other enhancements. He began the first of many commemorative works in 1918â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the crucifixion scene in the parish cemetery. The actual statues were purchased from the Munich Statue and Altar Company in Milwaukee. By 1924, Father Wernerus had another project underway, a Eucharistic altar in the form of a grotto with a domed room, columns, gilded tiles, semiprecious stones, and other embellishments. This was followed by an even more ambitious

project dedicated to Christ the King and the Virgin Mary, which became the largest free-standing grotto structure in Wisconsin. Concrete flags of the Vatican and the United States embellish the front of the grotto. Composed of two parts, the roofed grotto holds a white marble statue of Mary and the Christ child with an open walkway behind it dedicated to Christ the King. Surfaces are embellished with niches, quartz, petrified wood, and colorful minerals. Assisting Father Wernerus in these projects were his devoted congregation and modern means of transport and the access to building materials, including concrete and heavy stone. The shrine complex was formally dedicated on September 14, 1930, by Wisconsin's governor. Sadly, Father Wernerus's health declined soon after and he died in 1931. What made Fred Smith's and Father Wernerus's creations possible was not just inspiration and faith in their own abilities but technological advances early in the twentieth century, including the ready availability of cheap concrete. Just as the computer transformed American society in the late 20th century, cement changed the building trades in the early part of the century. Though none of the visionary sculptors in Wisconsin had a background in the building trades, they all quickly took to the use of cement, which is malleable when wet and durable when dry. Concrete can be given any form, lends itself to rapid, low-skill construction, and is easily embellished. Inspired by faith, religious leaders galvanized their congregations into work groups that constructed religious art environments in the vicinity of their churches. These sites were not static monuments but backdrops for religious and patriotic festivals, such as the May crowning festival in Dickeyville. The Dickeyville Grotto inspired many people to build their own backyard environments, including Paul and Matilda Wegner, who created the Wegner Grotto. The couple had immigrated from Germany in 1885 and settled eventually in the Cataract area. After their retirement in 1929, the Wegners visited Dickeyville and were inspired by what they saw. Neither had any formal training in art. Their imaginative grotto arose from a powerful personal vision outside the academic tradition of fine art and even beyond the ethnic and community

ABOVE: Father Mathias Wernerus at work on his Dickeyville Grotto, 1920-1931. BELOW: Paul and Matilda Wegner, Peace Monument, Wegner Grotto, 1929-1942.

traditions of folk art. Paul continued to work until his death in 1937, and his wife Matilda carried on until her death in 1942. Developed over a period of several years, their extraordinary concrete sculpture environment slowly grew to include many creations, including a fanciful American flag, a reproduction of the Wegners's fiftieth wedding anniversary cake, and a small glass-encrusted chapel. Their Peace Monument once served as a place for quiet reflection, wedding ceremonies, and public preaching, as well as family picnics and community gatherings. Still surrounding the yard is an ornate fence with a concrete archway that spells out the word "home." The Wegners brought color and light to the grotto by decorating their sculptures with brilliant mosaics of broken glass and vivid ceramics. After the Wegners' death, the Kohler Foundation purchased the site, restored it, and gave it to Monroe County in 1987. ART ENVIRONMENTS IN TRANSITION While it might seem that Wisconsin has excelled in preserving its art environments, quite a number have been lost, such as the Mona Webb site on Madison's east side, or Frank Oebser's farm in Menomonie. Generally, urban sites have proved the most difficult to preserve because of local building codes. Not everything can or will be saved. But if a site cannot be preserved intact, it should be properly documented and photographed. And in some cases, portions can be saved. This was the case with the Sid Boyum sculpture site in Madison. Boyum (1914-1991) was an industrious blue-collar worker, an amateur builder, and a local eccentric. Over several decades in his small backyard on Madison's east side, he created twenty-nine monumental, painted concrete sculptures that ranged from pure abstraction to vivid realism: a gigantic head of Buddha, the mouth of hell, and female erotic shapes. After Sid's death in 1991, his son Steve inherited the property and began to clean it up. In 1992, with the help of University of WisconsinMadison students and a grant from the Smithsonian, all of Sid's sculptures were inventoried and documented by the group SOS! (Save Outdoor Sculpture!). In 1995, neighbors proposed that individual pieces be removed from the property and placed along a new city bike trail located nearby. Working with a new Madison city parks commissioner and city arts organizations, the Friends of Sid Boyum organization selected suitable pieces and asked neighborhood residents to vote on a variety of locations. Large photographs of the pieces were displayed in a local architectural firm's office, along with a ballot box to collect opinions. Twelve pieces were chosen and presented to the Madison City Council, which voted to accept the art donation and approved public enhancement money to move and conserve the pieces. Over three years, University of Wisconsin-Madison students and I conserved and moved the pieces to their new sites. The pieces are now sited throughout the Atwood-Olbrich neighborhood in parks, green spaces, and at the local elementary school. A plaque describes each piece and a brochure and site map help visitors find and learn about the sculptures. Local volunteers created a small endowment administered by the Madison Arts Council to maintain the Boyum sculptures. In the six years since completion of the project, no vandalism has occurred. It took nearly ten years, but through the concerted efforts of many individuals, some of Sid Boyum's art has been preserved for all to appreciate. Though his whole site could not be saved, significant parts have now become landmarks of the community. One of the largest sculpture sites in North America is the Land of Evermor, built by Tom Every (a.k.a. Dr. Evermor) near

Tom Every (a.k.a. Or. Evermor), Fomertmn, Land of Evermor, Prairie du Sac, Wis.

Prairie du Sac from recycled industrial scrap metal. The tenacre park includes gazebos, giant whimsical beasts, and fantasy space vehicles. The centerpiece is the six-story Forevertron. Unfortunately, the site's future is uncertain because Dr. Evermor lost the land lease. He and others, including family members, are searching for a suitable new location that could accommodate twenty-five monumental metal sculptures. What do these examples of public sculpture tell us about the people of Wisconsinâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and people everywhere? They affirm the human need to embellish our environment, to create worlds that reflect our sense of beauty and duty, our aspirations, hopes, and fearsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and to give material form to abstract concepts. Each satisfies a deep inner need to create something permanent. With the exception of Tom Every, all of the artists described here are deceased, but many living artists continue to create and embellish the landscapes around them. What we have in Wisconsin are many testimonials to the creative human spirit that mark our passing through this world and expand the boundaries of art and public sculpture in the place we call home.

TONY RAJER, a Wisconsin native, is the author of several books and a former Fulbright scholar. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His new book. Museum, Zoos, and Botanical Gardens of Wisconsin (University of Wisconsin Press), will be available in the summer of 2006.

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RAMAPO COLLEGE

River of Mercy, [detail] trompe I'oeil mural, 20ft. x 45ft.

The Dirt on Bishop, Bishop, CA. trompe I'oeil mural, 10ft. x 10ft.

James Turrell, Knight Kise, 2001, a public "skyspace" commissioned by ihe Scottsdale Public Art Program for the Nancy and Art Schwolm Sculpture Garden, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Photo: Opus Advertising, LLC.

Academe, California State University, Chico trompe I'oeil mural, 24ft. x 36ft.

ic art language for fertile storytelling www.artofjohnpugh.com >m

john@artofjohnpugh.com

John Pugh [408] 353-3370

In this essay, I have singled out several historical contexts that highlight some current problems in thinking about public art. I have tried to include ideas not often considered in recent discussions of the subject, including a deeply rooted fear of the corrupting power of images and an equally strong skepticism about art, artists, and the public. There is also the problem of private art. Without private art the concept of public art can have little meaning. My suggestion is that public art since the 1970s is a reaction against a private or even antipublic art associated with abstract expressionism, much as French art of the Revolution inverted the aesthetics of Antoine Watteau. Most art in survey textbooks is "public" in some significant way, though not in the sense in which the word is used in writing grants for public art projects today. By "public" I mean a target group that is willing and able to express opinions about art. Most great art did not have an initial public of this kind. The Pyramids at Giza, for example, are large and out in the open—public in that sense—and in keeping with our notions about public art, the pyramids required much state "funding" and engaged a massive labor force, fully worthy of WPA projects. But the true public for much Egyptian art was the dead and, in the case of the Pyramids at Giza, dead Pharaohs. However one defines "the public," most people now assume that the word refers to a group of living people, but that is a radical and relatively recent notion. The history of making art for the dead is lengthier than our habit of making art to save the souls of living human beings, to elevate the morality of the masses, or to instill self-esteem. The Pyramids and Egyptian art in general illustrate the virtues of an art that is physically capable of enduring through time because of both the quantity and the sheer material toughness of individual pieces. The point is worth mentioning because at least since the days of futurism and dada, modern artists have often scorned "classic" media designed to last through the ages. Traditional media have been scorned as elitist, bourgeois, counterrevolutionary, requiring extensive upkeep over the millennia, and—worst of all—simply "old fashioned" in a world of exploding new technologies. We tend to celebrate artists whose work will not endure for a long time, and many artists want to create works that will not physically stand the test of time. But time allows new meanings to become attached to things; the Pyramids today have national, ethnic, scholarly, and cultist followings and are more "popular" than ever before. The Pyramids, designed for the dead as they were, lasted long enough to become a key symbol in a modern nation and to be born again, so to speak, much like the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis. Greek art and philosophy send mixed messages about the nature of art. A great historical irony of aesthetics is that Plato, one of the first serious thinkers about art and still one of the most influential, took the heroic measure of banning art from his ideal Republic because it was bad for the public. For Plato, all art was "public" in that it had the potential of affecting behavior, the control of which was the central problem of the philosopher kings in his Republic. Art was bad philosophically because it was a copy of an already degraded model in "real life," say a bed, and could never match the changeless perfection of the idea of a bed. Art was bad morally because poets often imitated politically incorrect emotions. For example, according to the poets, the heroes of the Trojan War wept uncontrollably after the death of a comrade rather than masking their pain and grief in the manner of the Spartans. In effect, there was no private life to stand in contrast to the communal values of Plato's city-state, again a Spartan notion. Love and marriage were manipulated secretly by the

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LEFT: The Parthenon, Athens, Greece. ABOVE: Pyramids at Giza, Egypt.

men and women of gold—the philosopher kings. In the ideal Spartan-Platonic republic, all life was public but there was no public art. Perhaps Plato believed that the Greek classical style was excessively illusionist. In any event, the Athenians had created something like a public for art: a group of more-or-less literate people who look at art and make critical and often witty comments about it. Surviving comments often refer, sometimes with irony and whimsy, to the convincing illusion of reality in well-known works. For example, here is one of several surviving epigrams about Myron's famous sculpture of a cow: "O Bull, in vain do you nudge this heifer. For it is lifeless: Myron the cow-sculptor has deceived you." 1 The legacy of classical art was a mixed blessing for the early Christians. Visual art could give vivid form to the Word, but it could also lead to idolatry. Christian ambivalence toward classical art is exemplified in the appropriation of the Parthenon. The building was turned into a Christian church and some sculptures were mutilated in order to protect the faithful by exorcising resident demons. This was an early Christian form of public interactivity with art. The notion of public art makes sense only if there is something called private art. But what makes art "private"? Only gradually during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries did painters create subtle private moods and deliberately enigmatic themes as opposed to bold declarations of royal policy or religious doctrine. Antoine Watteau's Pilgrimage to Cythera (1717) excludes anything that could make it a blunt

instrument of policy. The nominal subject is about young lovers departing for a pleasant outing on the Island of Love. However, the painting is so elusive in theme that interpreting it is an ongoing scholarly enterprise. In a recent analysis, James Elkins concludes that Watteau created a new category, for which he suggests the name je ne sais quoi,2 "I know not what" is not the category of art sought by most popes, kings, or dictators.

The notion of public art makes sense only if there is something called private art. But what makes art "private"? I = g ~ S § s

In Critique of Judgment (1790) Emanuel Kant set forth a theory of aesthetics that is incompatible with crude utilitarian and manipulative intentions, such as the control of thought and behavior though public art. Kant's aesthetic experience was a fluid interchange between a disinterested viewer and the visible world. Kant shifted the focus away from the nature of the artistic stimulus—a preoccupation of academic artists of the day—to the manner in which the mind creates the very forms of perception, including the perception of beauty. In Kant's system, beauty itself could not be narrowly defined or tested, as academic artists tended to believe. The aesthetic experience comes from parts of the mind not dominated by reason, and therefore rational theories have no power to explain beauty and turn it into a science. World War I led to art that was antithetical to Kant's theories and Watteau's practice. The Great War was one of the most decisive times for public art in the twentieth century, not

ABOVE: Rene Mederos Pazos, 10th Anniversary olthe Triumph at the Cuban Rebellion

1959-1969,

1969, silkscreen. BELOW: Audrey Flack, Bells Apollonia, 2003. A female version of Apollo created for the Hillsborough County Public Art Commission in Tampa, Florida. With one foot on a giant paint tube and a palette with brilliant dabs of colors, the subject holds brushes high in triumph.

because of the memorials to the dead that arose after 1918 but because of the massive barrage of visual art that was aimed at the public. War art, especially in the form of colored posters, was so virulent that the reaction against it was in some ways the beginning of what we now call political correctness—a reaction against the crude stereotyping of race, class, and nation. After World War I public art blurred into propaganda. Many artists and intellectuals recoiled from the fantastic and almost insane anti-German propaganda in England and America, and, in a kind of collateral intellectual damage, rejected any art and literature that advocated a "cause." Clarion calls to the public were especially suspect. It is only since the 1960s that the concept of public art has started to recover from the blows dealt to it during the hot and cold wars of the twentieth century and from a kind of curse placed upon it by the abstract expressionists. For painters like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, "communicating" with the public was akin to sleeping with the enemy. The abstract expressionists relied on at least two key strategies in their war against public art. One was to shun paintings that promoted democracy, fascism, or communism in a more-or-less realistic style with simple iconographic themes. Typical examples from the day include Lenin and Stalin liberating workers from capitalism, or Hitler freeing peasants from the yoke of Bolshevism. A second strategy to undermine public art was to deny the idea

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thai art is a form of communication and that visual images can be neatly translated into words. The abstract expressionists grounded their art in a nonverbal zone of the human psyche (with help from Kant and Jung), a place not contaminated by verbal theory. The thinking seems to have gone like this: Propaganda is initially generated by verbal ideologies and then disseminated to the public in countless murals, prints, and posters. George Orwell's 1984 (1949) illustrated the fear that language is primarily a sinister instrument of thought control and was being used to annihilate both the idea and lived experience of "self." Abstract expressionism was driven as much by a fear of language, as outlined in 1984's "newspeak," as by a Platonic/ Christian fear of images. Conversely, the interest in public art since the 1960s corresponds to a massive literature (propaganda?) for language-based theories of art, ranging from conceptual art to semiotics and deconstruction. Public art since the 1970s, which I take to include posters, performance art, and graphic novels in addition to more conventional murals and public sculptures, continues the old Platonic/Christian theme of "protecting" the masses from images. But now it is artists who take on the role of defending the public against government and religion, an idea that would shock Plato and the church fathers. Just as the early church tried to protect its flock from the devil-infested images of paganism, so do many contemporary artists try to protect their chosen "flock"â&#x20AC;&#x201D;ranging from battered women to migrant workers to impoverished minorities in inner citiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from the devilish allure of corporate America. Also, in an ironic reversal of historical roles, some artists seek to protect segments of the public against Christianity itself, and especially from some of its traditional strictures against abortion, birth control, divorce, and homosexuality. Posters are often the primary

vis Go I impact

rintin

weapon in such volatile political zones; they can hit and run, unlike murals and large installations, which require lengthy negotiations and extensive funding. On another major front in the art wars for the hearts and minds of the public, other artists fight to protect "their" special segment of the public against the supposed lies and distortions of "media." It is commonplace for studio art courses to be billed as an "alternative to media." Secular iconoclasm is alive and well across all shades of the political spectrum and seems as aggressive and visible as iconoclasm based on religious premises. Many icons in the public arena, from Barbie (a sexist icon to feminists) to Sponge Bob Square Pants (a "subversive" homosexual icon to the religious right), are attacked with the same fury and righteousness that the iconoclasts once directed against images of God. In my opinion, the notorious "fragmentation" of the "art world" is linked to an ever-more faceted concept of the public, with artists attaching themselves to smaller and smaller subgroups. Old ideas of styles and movements have become less and less serviceable in understanding art, and contemporary artists are more likely to define themselves by their chosen public and their chosen interpretative strategies rather than by their style of art. In an odd historical reversal, it seems that artists now form a "public" to the public. BRADLEY J. NICKELS is associate professor emeritus at the University of South Florida's School of Art and Art History. Since his retirement in 2003, he has continued to teach art history courses including Dali and Surrealism and Anarchy 101. NOTES 1

J. J. Pollitt, The Art of Greece:

1400-31 B.C. Sources

and Documents

(Upper Saddle River, N.J.:

Prentice Hall. 1965), 63. 2

James Elkins, Why Are Our Pictures

(New York: Routledge. 19991. 165.

Puzzles? On the Modern

Origins of Pictorial

Complexity

| g s s

': 65

The Bauhaus Model STUART KEELER

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As globalism redefines our understanding of place, it simultaneously affects the pedagogical role of the institution for the public artist. Can the idealistic notions of an academic public art program absorb expanding contexts from beyond the ivory tower? Art programs worldwide share the goal of teaching students to be socially responsible, yet the art school is also the setting for students' socialization and the distillation of their personal interests. How does European education begin to frame the variety of ways and means available for the student of public art? The goal of most M.F.A. programs in the United States is not focused on the audience for art nor does it question how the work intersects culture and society. This creates a disconnect between the students' vision of artwork as a cultural practice versus a studio practice. As nationalities and countries continually reinvent cultural identity, artists are more than ever becoming citizens of the world and students of a grand conglomerate culture. The often talked about, and often missing, "sense of place" is one of the artist's challenges in creating meaningful work in the public realm. Yet to begin the move from modernist plaza plops toward intuitive site responses, the artist needs constant encouragement to expand the horizons of the academic insti-

tution. Several academic art centers in North America offer inventive strategies for artists interested in art in public space, yet they often emulate European models of higher education. Educator and executive director of Chicago-based architreasures, Joyce Fernandes asserts that "there is a disconnect between the reality of public art in community settings and the idealistic notions of cultural production reproduced within many M.F.A. programs in the United States." Several public art academic programs are offered in Europe: Pompeu Farba—Barcelona, Spain; Oxford-Brookes— Oxford, England; Bauhaus School—Weimar, Germany; Piet Zwart Institute—Holland. All have particular philosophies of interacting with public space; however, the Bauhaus School has an especially interesting method for helping students understand the practice of public art by understanding their role as always evolving and multidisciplinary. Since 1919 the Bauhaus School has addressed the politics of social space by combining avant-garde notions of design and art. The institution currently offers an M.F.A. program, led by Professor Liz Bachhuber and Assistant Professor Susanne Bosch, entitled Public Art and New Artistic Strategies. This international program, taught in English and German, educates

the artist as an evolving cultural producer. Current students represent sixteen nationalities and languages, and offer a truly global perspective on art in public space. Greek citizen Anna Lagiou-Tsouloufi, a 2005 graduate of the program, explains, "Public art doesn't only expose work in a typical public setting but begins to create a dialogue and questions a concept that is exposed to the public in a new way, by reinventing public space." The Bauhaus program includes four major fields of specialization: (a) temporary interventions in public space; (b) new media; (c) integrated art within architecture; and (d) memory, the function of memorials, and the role of the historical. The program explores artist interactions, planning and creating political debates, and the interplay between multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary art practices. It also examines the process of bringing art to an audience in unconventional ways and inspiring communities to adopt an artist's vision. Artists are not only encouraged to explore public space but also to redecipher current trends in the art world, enabling them to invent new approaches to public art. 2004 Bauhaus graduate Peer Olivier Nau focused on bridging design and public space; this has led him to create unconventional performative works outside the gallery. He says, "Design and art in public space creates exchanges with people and their experiences; the viewer is confronted with your concept in unexpected ways. In design the aim is to find a perfect form for a specific problem. In combining both genres you grapple with the daily lives of people and the hope for a connection that can begin to transcend." The emerging Bauhaus philosophy of new artistic strategies is an evolving support mechanism for artists who incorporate philosophical, multidisciplinary, and experimental art practices into a public space. Lagiou-Tsouloufi's thesis project was an investigative performance that involved volunteering skills and services to public and private agencies over a twoday period. She says, "The places I chose to work were places where an intense interaction between the local society and

OPPOSITE PAGE FAR LEFT: Peer Oliver Nau, installation at Ernst-Abbe Platz, Jena, Germany. Located at the botanical garden at the University of Jena to celebrate the 200th birthday of German author Friedrich Schiller.

OPPOSITE PAGE RIGHT: One of Anna Lagiou-Tsouloufi's posters forftlessenSladtisl

tes?

(Whose City is This?), 2005, on the Lietfalisaule at Goetheplatz, Weimar, Germany.

TOP and BOTTOM: Anna Lagiou-Tsouloufi, Am Markptatz: working at a Mediterranean delica-

tessen; Pano Bahnhof: working in the information booth at the main train station of Weimar.

Posters consist of panoramic documentation of the artist's actions in situ.

the foreign immigrant element takes place on a daily basis." The outcome of the inquiry was formed into a theoretical text and public posters with the logo "Whose city is this?" (Wessen Stadt ist das?), as well as a website that was publicized through a handbill campaign. By targeting specific locales, Lagiou-Tsouloufi was able to converse, educate, and learn through first-hand dialogue, as well as formulate a personal vision in a variety of public spaces outside the conventional public art arena. As Lucy Lippard writes in Moving Targets/Moving Out, 'The great and still elusive questions surrounding public art are: Which public? And is there an exchange between art and audience?" These questions lead to an expanding vision of public art whose pedagogy in the academic realm shapes artists and fosters meaningful work in this arena. Presenting and inventing new strategies of work is crucial as the artist's role evolves and changes conceptions of art in the public domain. How can American academia include such explorations of space and public interests? Is a successful artist one who honors concepts and connections to others in public space or one steeped in idealism and convention? The evolution of art in public space is one ripe for invention, as artists take a leading role with meaningful and socially conscious work. STUART KEELER is an artist context of art in public spaces.

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LOUIS M. BRILL

It is the most fantastic art festival. In a world of opposites, on one side of the event there is nothing but a desolate desert, known as a playa, that goes on and on, its edges walled by surrounding mountain ranges. On the other side is a temporary encampment known as Black Rock City, where thousands of people (35,500 participants in 2005) have built a week-long settlement in the desert, allowing free-spirited attendees to participate in all manner of incredible art, cultural, and environmental activities. This unique landscape is Burning Man, an art festival whose fifteen years of celebration, experimentation, and radical inclusiveness have made it one of the largest outdoor (five square miles) art installation events in North America. While much art is brought to Burning Man every year, 2005 was especially bountiful, and much of the art that appeared was provocative in scale, creation, and intent. LadyBee is the event's art curator, and her department, the ARTery, reviews proposals, issues grants, and coordinates on-site registration and placement of artworks. She said that in 2005 her department registered at least 275 artworks specifically built for and transported to Burning Man. "We attribute this great turnout of artwork to a lot more effective public relations outreach in getting more art brought to Burning Man. We cleared up a lot of misconceptions about how Burning Man acquires art by publishing an overview on the Ten Top Burning Man Art Myths (www.burningman.com/installations/top_myths. html). We made our grant process a little easier by dropping a requirement that grant-based art must be 'theme-related.' Now we allow artists to present just about any kind of artwork proposal to the ARTery. Finally, we also expanded our grant fund to $400,000, which explains why more artists submitted proposals to us and why we had a much better quality of art presented on the playa this year." The way art is created for Burning Man differs from other art events. The two major inspirations are its annual event theme, which artists are challenged to interpret, and its locationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Black Rock desert, whose desolate space initiates creative art statements that either compliment or contradict its surrounding landscape. Contributors fill every nook and cranny of the playa with incredible artworks of metal, wood, fire, and wind landscape decorations. With the entire Black Rock City playa area to be filled, size is no limitation, resulting in some art pieces rising forty to fifty feet above the ground. The palette of creativity includes art vehicles (both cars and buses) whose metal bodies have been transformed into phantasmagorical shapes, ranging from various creatures to abstract mechanical devices. There are kinetic art sculptures animated by natural forces (wind, fire, human intervention); much of Burning Man art is interactive, constantly touched and manipulated by its admirers. In a statement for participating artists. Burning Man organizers describe interactive art as "art that provokes actions by transforming participants into active contributors to your creative process. It transcends the static conception of an art object that is contemplated by a detached audience to a work that is a mutual creative collaboration with everyone who interacts with it." Finally, there is Fire Art, whose flickering flames transform metal sculptures into animated creations that entertain, intimidate, and fascinate viewers, depending on how close to the fires they get. Each year, one distinctive, larger-than-life art statement is placed in the "Keyhole" at the center of Black Rock City. Not only spectacular, the 2005 Keyhole piece was intensely interactive as its installation put Burning Man attendees between a rock and a hard place by having them pull giant rocks endlessly in a circle. Colossus, by Zachary Coffin of Atlanta, consisted of

OPPOSITE PAGE: Burning Man engulfed in flames and fireworks during the finale. TOP: Zachary Coffin (Atlanta, Georgia), Colossus, 2005. MIDDLE: Regional Burning Man Community (Seattle, Wash.), The Machine, 2005. BOTTOM: Dorothy Trojanowski (Brooklyn, NY), Rubber Horses, 2005. An homage to the wild horses of Nevada and the inevitable drive to the festival-on roads littered with tire scrapsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; the artist used such scraps over skeletons made of rebar, scrap metal, and reflectors.

three large boulders, each fitted with a short piece of rope. On the top of each boulder was a thick steel chain suspended from a steel arm attached to a central column. Participants could grab a rope and pull a rock around the central column. Three twenty-foot spikes were attached to the steel arms and moved up and down as the boulders were pulled by participants. As the rocks moved out, the spikes moved upwards. When the spikes were in full upright position, the height of Colossus reached up to fifty feet. The total weight of the piece, spinning, was nearly 50,000 pounds. Perhaps the most elaborate art piece in Burning Man's history was The Machine, built by the Seattle Regional Burning Man community. The essence of this grand mechanical sculpture was community and collaboration, both in building and operating it on the Black Rock desert. Over two years in planning, The Machine was an enormous artwork constructed by some sixty Seattle-area volunteers who labored to create a multistoried, meta-mechanical structure of wood and steel. It looked like a gigantic watch works filled with all manner of gears, pulleys, transmission belts, and mechanical armatures that moved as The Machine performed its "dance mechanee." ABOVE: Flaming Lotus Girls (San Francisco, CA), Angel of the Apocalypse, 2005. This 50-foot square sculptural environment represents an abstract bird, whose beak and head contain a wood-burning cauldron and chimney, with steel wings lit by burning ambient gas and liquid flame, allowing people to walk amongst the flaming feathers. By day participants can climb on and into the 30-foot driftwood body. BELOW: Patrick Shearn, Josh Flemming and the DoLab, The Florn, 2005. The stem is the boom of a cherry-picker, the flower is its basket. As The Flom

moves about the desert

event its giant petals majestically unfold and bloom. Self-illuminated at night, the sculpture sprays a mist of scented water.

Designed and built in Seattle, The Machine was dismantled and reassembled at Burning Man. It was set in motion by three satellite work stations, each with a series of rotating oars. Volunteers gathered behind the oars and vigorously pushed them, which in turn rotated a drive belt that turned the nearby observation deck. Attendees entered the viewing platform by climbing through the center of the transmission assembly past the rotating gears to emerge at the top. On one hand, The Machine was a destination, allowing viewers to hang out and watch Black Rock City unfold with all manner of actions from its colorful citizens. On the other hand, it was a metaphor involving community and labor and how those forces combine and divide people. All things must end, and on the last day of the event, The Machine was destroyed by its builders as a reminder that what humans create, so can they take away. Artwork at Burning Man is a perpetual work-in-progress because its participation is radically inclusive: Anyone can bring just about anything as an art installation. And its creative boundaries are constantly being expanded by its inspirational themes and the spectacular artwork that each year witnesses. LOUIS M. BRILL is a student of cultural catalysts and is writing a book on Burning Man. He is seeking contact with publishers interested in exploring the written narration of this social/art experiment. He can be contacted at louisbrill@sbcglobal.net.

Sheila Morgan (Brooklyn, NY), Eyes Wide Open-Iraq War Labyrinth, 2005. Inspired by the American Friends Service Committee's traveling memorial, the installation consists of combat boots and civilian shoes forming a giant walkable question mark. At its center is a podium with a photo album of every American who has died in the Iraq war to date.

CULTURE

ARTIST

R E G I S T R Y

P A R T S

S I T E S

Leo Saul Berk, Skylight, 2005

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P L A N S

Sheila Klein. Leopard Sky, 2002, Photo: Gary Bankhead

O N L I N E h u n d r e d s of p r o j e c t s

V O L .

Jann Rosen-Queralt, Confluence: proposal site plan, 2005

p r e - q u a l i f i e d p u b l i c artists

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a v a i l a b l e for c o m m i s s i o n s

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P L A C E S

For upcoming Public Art opportunities please visit our web site at: www.sacculture.com

Camille Vandenberge Sacramento International Airport "Winged One"

Mark Rivera Sacramento International Airport "Going With The Flow"

Lisa Reinertson Sacramento 911 Building "Tin Can Girls"

Ed Matalon Sacramento County Juvenile Courthouse "Navigate Your Dreams - Part 1"

Romo Studios Sacramento County Juvenile Courthouse "Garment of Destiny"

Donna Billick Sacramento County Juvenile Courthouse "Threshold - the Fabric of Society"

r M U S E U M SERVICES, INC. 2921 Como Ave SE Minneapolis, MN 55414 612-378-1189 www.museumservices.org museumservices@visi.com Complete Fine Art Services: Installation Shipping Conservation Custom Framing Mount Making Storage Art Collection Management Fabrication Midwest-East Coast Art Shuttle

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Blumenthal Sheet Metal Custom Metal Fabricators

Art - Architecture - C o m m e r c e - Industry

Metalhenge A collaborative installation utilizing negative space in metal. The panels are a result of the random nesting of shapes by our automated plasma burning system. The panels were framed and installed based on a layout design of W.Z. Elkins. 1710 Burnett Street - Houston T X 77026 (713) 228-6432 Fax (713) 223-3410 www.blumenthalsheetmetal.com

photo by Paul Sumrall

CITY OF DALLAS PUBLIC ART PROGRAM

Dallas

Dahlia

Expressions of Our City

- Alice Aycock

Dream of Freedom - David Newton

Orientaciones

- Celia M u n o z

The City of Dallas Public Art Program was established in 1988 for the purposes of commissioning new artworks and preserving its existing public art collection. The City currently owns and maintains a

Family Tree - Etty Horowitz

collection of over 300 artworks.

for more information: call, write or visit us on-line

1 9 2 5 Elm Street * 4 t h Floor " D a l l a s T X 7 5 2 0 1 "214.670.5639

w w w . d a l l a s c u l t u r e . o r g

BOOK REVIEW

P E T E R

K R A M E

History The

on,heRoad .

Painted C a n s

Sicily

Moira

Harris

nifiutv Mary Taylor Simeli

HISTORY ON THE ROAD: THE PAINTED CARTS OF SICILY Marcella Croce and Moira F. Harris St. Paul, Minn.: Pogo Press, 2006 140 pages, $19.95 (paperback) "A friend mentioned that a 'cart had once been part of a garden display in a park located in Saint Paul, Minnesota' and we learned that for many years a Sicilian carretto stood among desert plants in the Como Conservatory." That quotation, from the introduction of History on the Road: The Painted Carts of Sicily, caught my attention, being from St. Paul myself. However, I must admit to not having seen the cart at Como Park, nor am I part of that small American audience looking for a book in English about painted Sicilian carts. But I've always been intrigued by the tap-taps of Haiti, the painted trucks of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the jeepneys of the Philippines, so here was an opportunity to learn about another example of rolling public art. My first encounter with a decorated vehicle was most likely in high school when my friend "Weasel" painted "Don't laugh lady, your daughter could be riding in this car" on the side of his 1931 Model A Ford. We were hot rodders then and great admirers of the Los Angeles artists who were painting candycolored stripes and flames on their street rods. More recently a young woman who worked for me pasted self-adhesive, nonslip bathtub flowers all over her car. And aren't we are all familiar with art cars and buses covered with graphics? So what's all this about? Social commentary? Self-expression? Religious beliefs? History lesson? Political statement? Advertising? Well, it's all that and more in this little book on the Sicilian carretto. The authors provide a detailed history of this folk art form's development from Roman times to the present. Painted and carved on every surface, the carts evidence a beauty and craftsmanship that far outshines their humble purpose, which of course is transporting people and trade goods over rocky roads behind a slow-moving Sicilian donkey. The range of pattern and detailâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;circles, stars, suns, flowers, rigid geometry, and flowing swirlsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;represents every possible graphic form. The subject matter of the flat side panels is equally diverse. On any given cart one might find Columbus on board ship, a depiction of the Triumph of King David, and another showing St. George and the dragon. You'll enjoy the read, and if you like public art you'll be intrigued by the photos. My favorite is of the Puglisi workshop in eastern Sicily, circa 1910-20: master painters and young apprentices gathered around a work in progress, all eager to please the eye.

TOP TO BOTTOM: After a 2004 parade in Calatabiano, a cart and its horse wait to be loaded into a truck for the ride home, Portello of a Columbus cart showing Columbus on shipboard. Below are sculpted and painted "Triumph of King David" and a St. George-themed carving. Pugalisi workshop in eastern Sicily showing master painters and apprentices, circa 1910-1920.

PETER KRAMER, architect and author of Affordable Housing for People with Money, lives in the Twin Cities.

R O B B

M I T C H E L L

BOOK REVIEW

SCULPTURE IN PLACE: A CAMPUS AS SITE Sarah Clark-Langager Bellingham, Wash.: Western Washington University, 2002 96 pages, $29.95 (hardcover)

BEYOND THE MUSEUM WALLS: THE MARTIN H. BUSH OUTDOOR SCULPTURE COLLECTION Wichita, Kans.: Wichita State University Publications, 2002 106 pages, $40 (spiral bound)

If every civilization is seen through its art, what do public works on a university campus say about students and the larger community? Campuses are designed as often colorless, repetitive classroom malls, stern residential halls, or cloistered pedestrian villages. Can modern academic spaces inspire the imagination and creative ideas? Do academic environments simply enforce regimented thought? Clark-Langager approaches these questions by uncovering the Outdoor Sculpture Collection at Western Washington, focusing on site as place, not in an historic or institutional sense but through the eyes of artists creating works that transform, frame, and, commend the campus setting for the student-participant viewer of art.

Primarily a collection of bronze portraiture and standalone steel objects, the Martin H. Bush collection offers a few surprising variations: a fifty-one by twenty-six-foot Venetian glass-and-marble mural by Joan Miro; Luis Jimenez Jr.'s fiberglass Sodbuster, commissioned by the city of Fargo in 1979 to capture the Lutheran work ethic; Robert Indiana's pop-art Love and Cork Marcheschi's Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) neon, aluminum, and acrylic skyway. The impressive collection on view at Wichita State University is a stylistic survey of major twentieth-century international public sculpture from Henry Moore to Scott Burton.

LANDMARKS: SCULPTURE COMMISSIONS FOR THE STUART COLLECTION Mary Livingstone Beebe, Joan Simon, and Robert Storr New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2001 264 pages, $45 (hardcover) This book provides a fascinating look at works designed to address conceptual environments at the University of California San Diego. These focused works by major sculptors of the twentieth century are magical and offer students a place to travel through. Alexis Smith's Snake Path and Terry Allen's singing and talking Treesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a music tree and a "poetree"â&#x20AC;&#x201D; spawn the lyric imagination. Interviews with artists by Joan Simon probe the origins of their ideas. MoMA's Robert Storr provides a blueprint and Stuart Collection Director Mary Livingstone Beebe's insights give an authoritative overview of the Stuart site-specific collection.

SENTINEL: THE DESIGN, FABRICATION & INSTALLATION OF THE MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE BY ALBERT PALEY AT THE ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (ames Yarrington, editor Rochester, N.Y.: RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press, 2005 128 pages, $35.99 (paperback) Just as a building involves collaboration between an architect and a builder, a public monument on campus is fully realized through the cooperation of an artist, structural engineers, and a university's arts support. Sentinel examines artist Albert Paley's huge fabricated bronze at the center of the Rochester Institute of Technology campus and the demiurgic and mechanical synergy that made Sentinel come alive. ROBB MITCHELL writes the "Know Your Local Art" column for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine and has written about art and film in Minnesota for the past 20 years.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS P U B L I C ART P R O G R A M DIRECTORY Washington, DC: Americans for the Arts, 2005 200 pages, $30 ($25 members) (spiral bound) A comprehensive directory of more than 350

M I C H E L E OKA D O N E R : NATURAL SEDUCTION Suzanne Ramljak, Morris Lapidus, Arthur Danto Design by Massimo Vignelli

public art programs in the United States. An

New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2003

ideal resource for artists seeking commis-

201 pages, $60 (hardcover)

sion opportunities, public art administrators,

An examination of the cultural implications of

consultants, and communities planning public art projects and programs. SUGGESTION Otis Kriegel and Michael McDevitt, editors Design by Benjamin Shaykin Photography by Illegal Art San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2005 416 pages, $12.95 (paperback)

Oka Doner's art—sculpture, furniture, jewelry, public art, and functional objects. She is perhaps best known for her numerous public art commissions, including those at New York's Herald Square Subway Station and the Miami International Airport. F R A M E W O R K : T H E F I N N I S H ART REVIEW Helsinki, Finland

This book consists of 350 hand-written sugges-

www.framework.fi

tions collected from the five boroughs of New

This biannual magazine, an enhanced and

York City by the public art collaborative Illegal Art, along with fifty black-and-white photos of the Suggestion Box in action (See page 39). B E L L T O W N PARADISE/ M A K I N G THEIR O W N PLANS Brett Bloom and Ava Bromberg, editors

Chicago: WhiteWalls, Inc., 2005

expanded continuation of FRAMEnews (20002003), is dedicated to contemporary art and

culture.

G R O U N D B R E A K I N G : T H E ARTIST IN T H E C H A N G I N G LANDSCAPE Edited by Iwan Bala Bridgend, Wales: Cywaith Cymru . Artworks Wales and Seren

Examines the diverse ways in which artists,

159 pages, 168 illustrations, /19.99 (paperback)

revitalize their urban environments.

LAI BACH A N D NSK Alexei Monroe

Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005

Trust). Beautifully illustrated and insightfully written, Groundbreaking

highlights the difficul-

ties of getting innovative works off the drawing board and finished on the ground.

40 pages, 500 illustrations, $30 (paperback) A critical appraisal of the Neue Slowenische

Kunst (NSK), a Slovene collective that emerged

in the wake of Tito's death and that was shaped by the breakup of Yugoslavia.

ELECTRONIC M O N U M E N T S

S I G N S O F ART: BIO ART A N D B E Y O N D Eduardo Kac, editor Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006 480 pages, 89 illustrations, $34.95 (hardcover) The theoretical and historical implications of bio art. Kac, a pioneer of online public art,

Gregory L. Ulmer

effectively combines art and science in many of

Minneapolis: University of Minn. Press, 2005

his projects.

344 pages, $24.95 (paperback) Ulmer examines digital commemorations that arose after September 11, 2001, suggesting that they contribute to a new sense of monumentality, one that is collaborative in nature rather than iconic.

W O M E N ARTISTS AT T H E M I L L E N N I U M Carol Armstrong, Catherine de Zegher, editors Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006 408 pages, 200 illustrations, $40 (hardcover) Artists, art historians, and critics examine the differences that feminist art practices and critical

ALICE AYCOCK: S C U L P T U R E A N D PROJECTS

theory have made in late twentieth-century art.

Robert Hobbs Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005 400 pages, $50 (hardcover) An examination of Aycock's large, semiarchitec-

New York: Princeton Arch, 2003 256 pages, $80 (hardcover) A consideration of over thirty years of work by Mary Miss: sculptor, draughtsman, photographer, and environmental artist. D E F E N D I N G COMPLEXITY: ART, POLITICS, AND THE NEW W O R L D ORDER Eleanor Heartney Lenox, Mass.: Hard Press Editions, 2006 300 pages,16 illustrations, $29.95 (paperback) A collection of previously published essays by renowned critic Heartney from 1995-2005. T W O M I N D S : ARTISTS A N D ARCHITECTS IN COLLABORATION Edited by Jes Fernie, with Phillip Ursprung and Cara Mullio 176 pages, $39.95 (hardcover) Documents eighteen projects featuring artists

such as Mark Dion, Chris Ofili, David Akjaye and Herzog & de Meuron, alongside that of

emerging practitioners. A timely exploration of artist/architect collaborations at a time when

the field is expanding.

Documents the first 25 years of Cywaith Cymru .

Artworks Wales, one of the first public art org-

anizations in Britain (formerly Welsh Sculpture

INTERROGATION M A C H I N E :

Mary Miss and others

London: Black Dog Publishing, 2006

128 pages, $14 (paperback)

environmental activists, and citizens work to

MARY MISS

RICHARD W O O D S / A S BIG AS A H O U S E Richard Woods, Sarah Chaplin, Eric Holding Birmingham, England: Article Press and ixia, 2006 92 pages, $15 (£6.99) (paperback) Woods's first book-based artwork maps urban habitats and examines branding and vernacular languages with cities. Published as part of the New Thinking in Public Art series by ixia, the UK's self-proclaimed public art think tank. PUBLIC WORKS/IF Y O U CAN'T F I N D IT, GIVE US A RING Andreas Land, Kathrin Bohm, Diona Petrscu Birmingham, England: Article Press and ixia, 2006 92 pages, $15 (£6.99) (paperback) An interview with Land and Bohm about their Park Products project, community engagement, and the informality of networks found in institutions and public space. One of ixia's New Thinking in Public Art series. LUCY + J O R G E ORTA/COLLECTIVE SPACE Lucy Orta and Paul Chatterton Birmingham, England: Article Press and ixia, 2006

ELUSIVE S I G N S : BRUCE N A U M A N

92 pages, $15 (/6.99) (paperback)

Joseph Ketner II, editor

exploring the concept of neighborhood and

W O R K S W I T H LIGHT

Documents Lucy and Jorge Orta's project

tural works created during the 1970s and 80s.

Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006 100 pages, 80 illustrations, $26.95 (paperback)

exchange. One of ixia's New Thinking in Public

PUBLIC ART A N D N E W ARTISTIC STRATEGIES

A summary of Nauman's work with neon and

Art series.

Katharina Hohmann and Christian Hasucha

fluorescent light in signs and room installations.

Weimar, Germany: Bauhaus University-Weimar, University Publishers, 2006 60 pages, €12 (paperback) This catalogue records the first two and a half years of the M.F.A. Program of the same name at Bauhaus University, as experienced by two

AMERICA STARTS HERE: KATE ERICKSON A N D M E L ZIEGLER Ian Berry and Bill Arning, editors Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006 216 pages, 350 illustrations, $45 (hardcover)

visiting artists. They also investigate public

An analysis of the fruits of a ten-year collabora-

space in Weimar, a city that represents the best

tion (1985-1995) between conceptual artists

and worst of German culture.

Kate Erickson and Mel Ziegler.

using the street as an environment for social

POPaganda: T H E ART C R I M E S O F RON ENGLISH DVD directed by Pedro Carvajal Canoga Park, Calif.: Cinema Libre Studio, 2005 78 minutes, available at cinemalibrestudio.com Dubbed the "Robin Hood of Madison Avenue," English steals billboard space and covers them with his own anticorporate slogans. A rebellious good time.

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FROM THE HOME FRONT N O W

THAT

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(prototype installation shown from inside

skyway), Marshall Fields/IDS Skyway bridge over Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, December, 2005. Below is a digital rendering of the exterior view of the skyway, showing all the windows covered in semi-transparent photographs. OPPOSITE PAGE: Abanadi Meza, Erin Rourke, and Mauricio Arango, The Sound otHome,

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preliminary digital rendering of proposed sound and graphic installation.

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Willis Bowman is interested in revealing the "forgotten powers" of the Mississippi River. His plans for a whimsical mechanical sculpture placed in the moving water will reference past resources of the Twin Cities in the context of rapidly expanding riverbank development. Gail Katz-James is taking her large-scale textile work into three dimensions, and adding movement. She plans to learn how to weld her own armatures for making kinetic sculptures and research exterior textile materials that will survive the Minnesota climate for many years. Nancy Ann Coyne, continuing a project started in 2005, seeks to "expand the genre of documentary photography into the public domain by developing a monumental-scale photography installation" in a Twin Cities skyway bridge. Her project, Speaking of Home, will celebrate the city's diversity, featuring portraits from over eighty-one local citizens who represent the more than eighty-one languages spoken in the Twin Cities. Jeffrey Morrison explores the psychological and cultural effects of urban sprawl in his rural public art project, U.S.A. Tag Sale. His project is a "public art action composed of graffiticovered farm buildings and guerilla-style video/photographic documentation." He will research sites along busy highways surrounding the Twin Cities where endangered agricultural structures have surrendered to suburban development. Barbara Claussen investigates boundary issues between public and private space by interviewing people involved in the controversy over DeLaSalle High School's proposal to build an athletic stadium on Nicollet Island. She will produce two newspapers that reflect a variety of viewpoints on the conflict. These publications will be distributed from newspaper stands installed temporarily on the island. Benjamin Jose will consider the past and present for his exterior sculpture on the side of a brick building on University Avenue in St. Paul. The large illuminated installation will incorporate wheel-shaped objects—historical artifacts and new constructions—that, as Ben proposes, "hearkens back to the | Borchert Ingersol era where tractors, trucks and pulleys filled J the display windows along this part of University Avenue." § Norbert Marklin, a Minneapolis-based photographer, is | creating a large-scale photomontage mural designed to raise £ awareness of the incredible cultural diversity in Minnesota's s public schools. The mural, Many Views, One Vision, will collage | images of over eighty children representing distinct ethnicities. I Robert Tom will work with the Cedar-Riverside and g Augsburg communities in Minneapolis to show "the similari£ ties and differences between being Minnesotan and a person | of color." Icons will be created by students of both schools to | form a large bas-relief ceramic sculpture and, as Robert hopes, £ "break the invisible barriers" that exist between educational § institutions and the surrounding community. W

FROM THE HOME FRONT

what is the sound of home? Abanadi Meza, Erin Rourke, and Mauricio Arango will develop a special project for University Avenue, right at the border between the Twin Cities. It combines a sound installation with a giant wall graphic featuring the question: "What is the Sound of Home?". The question will be featured in large bold letters on an eighty-five-foot wall as part of a new development undertaken by Wellington Management. A series of speakers inside the wall play thousands of local sound samplings and voice-mail responses to the question. The goal is to create an instant landmark, a unique place marker, and a conversation starter. According to 2005 grant recipients, the Public Art Affairs program proved meaningful. For Asako Nakauchi, "This grant ignited my creativity and expanded a boundary of my practice. The experience also really got me interested in public art." For

M E T R O ART

Marcus Young, "This project helped me confirm what I had suspected but had not had the chance to work out, that my direction as an artist is going more toward public work." According to Monica Sheets, "The impact of the grant on my artistic career has been incredibly positive. I was able to complete a large-scale public project and increase my local profile as an artist through the media exposure." A new DVD documenting the eight 2005 projects is now available from FORECAST. Directed by Steve Hanson, the sixtyminute recording tells each artist's story, in their own words, and offers communities a chance to consider this grant program as a viable way to encourage local artists to get involved with public art. More information about FORECAST and the Public Art Affairs program is available at 651-641-1128, forecast@visi. com, or www.forecastART.org.

Believing that art can make the transit experience more inviting and meaningful for the public, Metro commissions artists for a wide array of projects throughout LA County.

METRO ART projects include: > Artworks for Metro Rail and Metrolink stations > Artworks for Metro bus system

> Benches, murals and artist-designed streetscape enhancements > Lightbox displays for photographic artworks > Poetry in Motion in partnership with Poetry Society of America > Artist-created posters of neighborhoods served by Metro > Free docent-guided Metro Rail art tours To receive M E T R O A R T announcements and to add your name to our database for upcoming art opportunities, call 213.922.4ART.

Metro

For more information on current projects and opportunities, visit metro.net/art.

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CAMPUS NEWS

AYCOCK W I N S T E N N E S S E E C O M M I S S I O N The University ofTennessee has awarded a

$250,000 commission to sculptor Alice Aycock,

whose Whirlwind

will be installed on the

Knoxville campus in 2007. Aycock's proposal

describes ribbons of curved aluminum around a central axis to create a whirling series of

pathways. At the top of the thirty-foot spiral,

a single arrow emerges in an arc of neon that

ends in a starburst. According to Aycock,

"The project is a metaphor for the labyrinth

of dynamic possibilities and interconnections

which occur in the university environment.

The acquisition of knowledge is not a static series of steps but an incredibly dynamic,

energetic, and creative ricochet of informa-

tion. Ideas are not at rest." Funded by a private donor, the sculpture will be located at the

center of a circular plaza on a pedestrian mall that connects the fine arts quad and library.

For more information, visit http://art.utk.edu/

sculpture. [Digital

rendering

by the

artist.]

ISU L A U N C H E S VISUAL LITERACY P R O G R A M In the fall of 2006, University Museums at

Iowa State-Ames, will launch the nation's first

campus-wide program to teach visual literacy

INNOVATIVE SERVICE L E A R N I N G AT USC

and learning utilizing the campus public art

The University of Southern California has

collection. The integrated curriculum reaching

begun a service learning program that has

an estimated 4,000 freshmen will focus on

undergraduate and graduate students in public

ISU's extensive public art collection, including

art studies mentoring younger Los Angeles

works by artists such as William King, Stephen

students. One vehicle for the Joint Education

De Staebler, Beverly Pepper, Grant Wood, and

Program is a course, Art in the Public Realm:

Christian Petersen. More than thirty-five faculty

Contemporary Issues, that involves weekly

members from across campus have already

walking tours of public art in downtown Los

completed instructional workshops providing

A L L E G H E N Y PARTNERS W I T H PennDOT

Angeles. Besides art classes, USC students

and learning through the Public Art on Campus

students in Allegheny College's Arts &

and design courses. "Initiating this partnering

Pohlman notes, "Our faculty and students

created two large-scale public art projects in

them with the skills to enhance visual literacy

Program. University Museums director Lynette

on public art committees are very involved in learning about the artists, reviewing options,

and making commissions. Thus, they have a

sense of pride and ownership of the public art-

works. As museum professionals, we take an

academic discipline and help faculty translate it into visual learning and literacy. The Public Art

on Campus Collection and Program provides an exceptional resource that is physically

and intellectually accessible." Iowa State has

commissioned site-specific works of art since 1933 and will open the Christian Petersen Art Museum in a central campus landmark—

renovated Morrill Hall—in March 2007.

Pictured is Andrew Leicester's terra cotta

C-Nome,

1991, for the Molecular Biology

Building. [Text by Phyllis Iowa State

University

Lepke.

and the

Photos artist.]

courtesy

Under the direction of artist Amara Geffen,

have been paired with K-12 students in history

Environment Initiative, begun in 2000, have

with my undergraduate class in 2003 has

partnership with the Pennsylvania Department

of the USC Public Art Studies Program. For

of Transportation. One of these, Read

Between

proven very valuable," says Caryl Levy, director

example, students at the Manual Arts High

the Signs, was constructed entirely of discarded

School collaborated on a project called The

tural relief screens PennDOT's storage lot and

fifteen branches (the average age of students in

have been completed. The artwork includes two

fruit and paper cranes, both filled with wishes

a twenty-foot section of stream complete with

his effort: "This wish in the crane is personal,

powered signboards. The project celebrates

the community, the nation, or the world. The

of Crawford County and has come to represent

become the outcome of the future."

road signs. The seven- to ten-foot-tall sculp-

Wish Tree, a papier mach£ construction with

will eventually span 1,200 feet. So far 730 feet

the class). This installation bore papier mach£

kinetic elements: a ten-foot Ferris wheel and

for the community. One student described

jumping fish, both powered by recycled solarthe landscape, environment, and community a collective cognitive map of the landscape,

architecture, and community events that are most valued locally. For more information

visit http://ceed.allegheny.edu/A&EI/home. html. [Photo

courtesy

the

of Ferris Wheel by William artist.]

Owen,

but the wish in the fruit is a voice towards

fruit signifies outcome and may those wishes

CAMPUS NEWS Course

Offerings

Events

M O O R E C O L L E G E O F ART A N D D E S I G N will offer a Teachers Summer Institute in June 2006. "Public Art in Philadelphia: See What You've Been Missing" is a professional development program for elementary and secondary teachers. The five-day program (June 25-29) includes lectures, discussion, guided walking tours, studio demonstrations, and hands-on studio work. For more information, visit www.moore.edu/go/TSI. COLGATE UNIVERSITY/HAMILTON C O L L E G E will cosponsor "Public Art on Campus: Issues, Opportunities, and Implications" on September 8-9, 2006. Scheduled in conjunction with the Thirtieth Anniversary of Sculpture Space, in Utica, NY, the forum brings together artists, art professionals, and educators to discuss sculpture, performance, and virtual art. Speakers include Patricia Fuller, MIT's curator of public art; Patricia Phillips, Art Department chair at S U N Y New Paltz; Mel Ziegler, University of Texas-Austin; and Nancy Rosen, a New York

OTIS INITIATES MFA P R O G R A M Under the leadership of Suzanne Lacy, Otis

independent curator and consultant. Contact

MFA degree in public art practices. The pro-

or Deborah Pokinski (315-859-4380) for details.

DeWitt Godfrey (dgodfrey@mail.colgate.edu)

College in Los Angeles is developing a new

gram will include visiting artists and theorists,

MARYLAND INSTITUTE C O L L E G E O F ART

case studies, field trips, internships, teaching

assistantships, exhibition or performance, and

instituted a new degree program in 2005:

Public Art Practices provides a unique oppor-

year, the program enrolled fourteen students,

a thesis integrating theory and practice. New

master of arts in community arts. In its first

tunity to develop artistic practices based on

whose six-week summer training was followed

activism in the public realm. In the 1970s, Los

Over two summers and one academic year,

public art, and today the city sits at the center

art and community building through work-

observation, research, social commentary, and

by residencies at Baltimore arts organizations.

Angeles was an important site for transactional

students investigate the relationship between

of a new global art discourse. Otis College of

shops, seminars, and field experiences. The

Art and Design, one of the oldest art schools

program includes a ten-month residency. For

in a region rich with educational venues, is

more information, visitwww.mica.edu/

known for its alumniâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from Charles White to

PROGRAMS/ma/community_arts.

Robert Irwinâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;who have pioneered public art.

Students in this state-of-the-art curriculum will

New York's S C H O O L O F VISUAL ARTS has

have access to visiting artists and theorists in

created a residency in public art that brings

an art school environment offering outstanding

together artists, architects, public administra-

facilities in sculpture, painting, graphic arts,

video, photography, computer-generated modelmaking, and digital technology. Pictured are high school students at work during Construction,

Under

a performance by Suzanne Lacy

and Barbara Clausen, Vancouver, 1997. [Photo

courtesy

Otis

College.]

tors, and critics to consult with artists planning to develop site-specific public art projects.

LEHMAN GOES ONLINE Lehman College Art Gallery's Bronx

Bound

continues through May 16, 2006. The exhibi-

includes assistance with identifying sites,

tion features twenty-seven new MTA public art

calculating costs, developing a prototype, and

4, and 5 lines in the Bronx. These permanent,

with SVA faculty members Andrew Ginzel,

projects planned for train stations along the 2, site-specific installations are being commis-

sioned by MTA's Arts for Transit. The exhibition includes drawings, studies, and photographs.

USI RECRUITS BACA

The month-long residency (May 30-June 30)

Works in the exhibition are included on the

This fall, muralist Judy Baca will work with

gallery's new website, Public Art in the Bronx

education majors, along with area youth, to

public art projects, Bronx walking tours, lesson

presenting a proposal. Participants will work Anita Glesta, Anne Pasternak, Meryl Taradash, and Nina Yankowitz. Contact Michael Grant (212-592-2011, mrgrant@sva.edu) for details. R H O D E ISLAND S C H O O L O F D E S I G N will

(www.lehman.edu/publicart), which features

host a Summer Institute for Publicly Engaged

create a mural for the city of Evansville, Ind. As

plans for teachers, neighborhood histories,

tute aims to provide students, teachers, and

City Redevelopment Program, Baca will also

and bibliographies. Pictured is Juan Sanchez's

to public art practices. Four two-week sessions

which will be directed by Dr. Hilary Braysmith,

[Photo

University of Southern Indiana art and art

part of a $100,000 grant from the Evansville

help establish a city mural program at USI, associate professor of art history.

maps, artist biographies, Internet resources,

study for the 176th Street Station, 4 line. courtesy

Lehman

College.]

Studies at its campus in Providence. The insticultural leaders with interdisciplinary approaches

will be led by artists and scholars in residence: Alfredo Jaar (June 26-July 7), Peter Hocking

(July 10-21), Henry Giroux (July 24-August 4),

Cydney Peyton and Bruce Price (August 7-18). For details, visit www.risd.edu/spies.cfm or

contact Seth Goldenberg (sgolden@risd.edu).

NEWS

AFTER T H E

FLOOD

At the Arts Council of New Orleans,

Hurricane Katrina left its mark. Staff dropped

from twenty-seven to six due to loss of homes,

F L I G H T 93 M E M O R I A L T A K E S O F F

yy'M

On September 7, 2005, Paul Murdoch

relocation to other cities, or budget cuts.

Architects was announced as the winning

Public art Manager Mary Len Costa is working

team for the Flight 93 National Memorial

with various city agencies, the mayor's office,

Competition. As the first national park design

and FEMA on who can rightfully apply for

competition run entirely through an open,

stabilization funds for the city's art collection

public proposal process, more than 1,000

—both exterior and interior. "I have been

entries were submitted by professionals and

working on this for weeks," declared Costa,

the general public. The 2,200-acre project will

"and have received great advice from Heritage

Preservation and FEMA in regard to the allowed

stabilization and treatment claims. Many city

buildings have yet to be examined for damage, phones don't work, folks are gone, and facil-

ities are closed due to damages. The city's just

trying to get the basic services up and running." FEMA collections specialists, however,

be constructed in the Somerset County, Penn.,

L I G H T S O U T IN

field where Flight 93 crashed on September 11,

SEATTLE

"We're hobbled, but not dead yet," said

public artist Jack Mackie in response to Seattle's

2001. Selected by a jury that included family

members, local residents, and art and design

Court of Appeals December 2005 ruling on the

professionals, and funded in part by the Heinz

director of the city's Office of Arts and Cultural

Congress, and scores of other donors, the

city's percent-for-art ordinance. Jim McDonald,

Endowments, James L. Knight Foundation,

Affairs, agreed and is "pushing for policy lang-

memorial is still short of its fundraising goal.

result from a class action suit against the city

in to help. Universal Pictures recently offered

In an unusual move, Hollywood has stepped

are trying to fit public art into government

uage as broad as possible." The new rules

(Save Outdoor Sculpture!) has offered advice

of Seattle and its City Light division. Among

to donate ten percent of all box-office receipts

ing sources, although any funding for actual

City Light's one-percent-for-art participation.

American release of its film United

funding regulations, and Heritage Preservation on locating private funding from various grant-

numerous nonart topics, the suit questioned

collected from the first three days of the North

93, opening

conservation is doubtful. At this time, public

The original Superior Court response stated

April 28, 2006.

be completed if possible—many of the artists

money for art. Recognizing the threat to one-

Artist Lisa Austin and landscape architect Madis

art projects funded prior to the hurricane will

have relocated and the installation sites have

been heavily damaged. Immediate funding for

future public art is in question. Local planning groups that submitted rebuilding plans to the

city, state, and feds included a percent program

that City Light could not be required to use percent funding, the city appealed.

The project is not without controversy.

Pihlak, whose initial submission,

Though the Washington State Court of

Appeals restored the ordinance, it imposed

Sacrifice

was rejected by the jury, claim Murdoch's

revised, final plan features elements found in

restrictions that art "have a sufficiently close

their proposal. Austin says Murdoch's final

electricity. Because City Light funnels funds

including the circular forest, wetlands path,

nexus" to City Light's mission of providing

design has been revised to resemble

through and works with Arts and Cultural

areas for September-blooming cornflowers,

international media recognition and support,

As manager of City Light's 2,300-piece Portable

sound element. John Reynolds, chairman of the

suffered immeasurable losses and are not

lating through city offices. The collection can

similarities: "There were many design submis-

state of Louisiana has established a relief grant,

stored—unless purchased or rented by the city.

landscape features symbolically and spatially."

held fundraisers, and the Alliance for Artist

constructed projects, including Dan Corson's

that all five finalists were required to review

residencies in California for Gulf Coast artists

The court ordered the city to reimburse City

after his final design was completed, once the

donations for conservation efforts. Earmark

affect other municipalities. Although legal

filed. [Amara

mail to the Arts Council of New Orleans, 818

appeals. New City Light art expenditures await

70113. [Photo

information visit www.seattle.gov/arts/news/

of some sort. Whether that will happen remains to be seen.

While many musicians are receiving

Affairs, that office must negotiate a new road.

hundreds of New Orleans visual artists have

Art Collection, it is required to gather art circu-

getting the same sort of global attention. The

be displayed only in City Light facilities or

arts organizations across the country have

Deemed illegal are $1 million worth of already

Communities has coordinated twenty-five

from all disciplines. The Arts Council is seeking donations "For Public Art Conservation" and Howard Avenue, Suite 300, New Orleans, LA,

Steven

Kline,

of damaged 1990, courtesy

Serpent Mound, by Mary

Len

Costa.]

Sacrifice,

and the height of 93 feet established for a

Flight 93 Advisory Committee, downplayed the

sions that used circular forms [and] ... used

In an interview with PAR, Murdoch responded

Wave Rave Cave (pictured), completed in 2002.

jury comments, but he never saw Sacrifice

Light for these purchases. This ruling could

complaint was lodged. No charges have been

arguments remain, the city plans no further

Murdoch's

resolution of "permissible" criteria. For more

citylight5-2004.asp. [Photo

by Dan

Corson.]

National

Ceffen

contributed

final

site plan,

Park

Service.]

to this

above, courtesy

until

article. the

NEWS Upcoming

Events

M I N N E S O T A ROCKS!â&#x20AC;&#x201D;an international stone carving symposiumâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;will be held May 21 to June 30, 2006, in St. Paul, Minn. Sponsored by the nonprofit Public Art Saint Paul and Hedberg Landscape and Masonry Supplies, the event will bring together fourteen master stone carvers from around the world. They'll set up shop at an outdoor studio on the front lawn of St. Paul Technical College. Using stone from Minnesota quarries, the artists will create

BLUE TREES CUT D O W N The city of Melbourne has revoked a commission

sculptures that will be permanently installed

who was to have begun Sacred

details, visit www.publicartstpaul.org.

in public settings in and around St. Paul. For

to conceptual artist Konstantin Dimopoulos, Grove - the

Blue

Forest in late 2005. The artist planned to use

a biologically safe, water-based, blue pigment to color forty-five mature elm trees along a

boulevard in a Melbourne park. Dimopoulos said he wanted to use art to highlight trees

as sculptural forms and the need to replenish the world's trees. Dimopoulos had received a grant from Arts Victoria to create Sacred

Crove.

SIZE MATTERS Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, about

After revoking his commission for that project,

twenty-five miles north of Cincinnati, com-

for another Dimopoulos project: Red Centre

August. The figure, with upraised arms, has

the city reallocated a portion of the funding

pleted a sixty-two-foot-tall statue of jesus last

Melbourne's Federation Square. The artist is

looking for other sites for Sacred [Photo

courtesy

the

been dubbed "Super Savior" and "Touchdown

Crove.

Jesus" by locals. The statue, by artist James

artist.]

Lynch, has provoked diverse reactions, rang-

ing from charges of idolatry to claims that

Interstate 75 has become safer since it went up.

The nondenominational Solid Rock Church,

which has 3,400 members, spent $250,000 on

the fiberglass and Styrofoam structure, which is passed by about 87,000 vehicles a day.

[Photo

courtesy

Solid Rock

Church.] Americans for the Arts will host its 2006 Public

Art Preconference June 1-2, 2006, in Milwaukee, Wise. MATERIAL M E A N I N G : PROCESS,

BIG ART, SMALL S C R E E N Britain's Channel 4 will premiere a new televi-

sion series, Big Art Project,

for the Fall 2007

season. The series will follow six communi-

ties as they commission and install public art

BicycLff

projects. Channel 4 solicited nominations from

towns across Great Britain for appropriate

sites and projects. Over 1,300 projects were

Hw'

nominated. Channel 4 narrowed those to six in

April: Burnley, Cardigan, Mull, Newham, North Belfast, and Sheffield. These communities will

work with a curator during the next eighteen months to help select and collaborate with

an artist. The purpose of Big Art Project

GRAFFITI SELLS

is to

dramatize the practical and creative challenges

Is graffiti entering the mainstream? Several

recent developments suggest that the formerly

transgressive art form is acquiring a more conventional cachet. Atari recently introduced a new

revered "All-City King" while fighting with rival

One way to play "Getting Up" is on a Sony

on urban walls. The company has paid building owners for wall space in major cities, including

Ryan

Singal.]

by Santiago Calatrava, and a glimpse of Ned Kahn's latest kinetic sculpture, Wind

[Digital

rendering

person's

by the

Leaves.

artist.]

Arts Council England will host the W O R L D S U M M I T O N ARTS A N D CULTURE June 14-18, Places, Transforming Lives" will consider the and social regeneration. The event features a dozen local tours, including a trip to Angel and a public art walking tour. For

STEINER TO HEAD PUBLIC ART F U N D

more information, visit www.artsummit.org.

Fund appointed Rochelle Steiner as its new

T H E ROAD LESS TRAVELED: C O N S I D E R I N G

2006. Steiner was formerly chief curator at

campaign that features graffiti-style drawings

courtesy

the famous Milwaukee Art Museum, designed

role of arts and culture in physical, economic,

director. She assumed her post on February 6,

PlayStation. Sony has launched an advertising

response

202-371-2830 or visit www.artsusa.org/events.

Among the highlights will be a reception at

planners, and funders.

In November 2005, New York City's Public Art

gangs and dodging the Civil Conduct Keepers.

and one

Kohler Arts Center in nearby Sheboygan. For

more information about the preconference, call

of the North

to move up the ladder from unknown "Toy" to

ads in Philadelphia

Milwaukee, and a visit to the John Michael

2006, in Newcastle Gateshead. "Transforming

with community members, artists, curators,

Pressure." Players attempt to use graffiti skills

Sony graffiti

breakfast roundtables, tours of public art in

of creating public art. It will include interviews

video game called "Getting Up: Contents Under

San Francisco, Miami, and New York. [Photos

PRODUCT, A N D PRESERVATION will include

T H E ART O F VERNACULAR E N V I R O N M E N T B U I L D E R S will take place September 27-30,

London's Serpentine Gallery. Before that she

2007, at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in

and at the Saint Louis Art Museum. A Los

will focus on twenty installations from the

worked at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis Angeles native, she has a Ph.D. in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester-New York.

Sheboygan, Wise. This international conference center's collection, including the premiere exhibition of Emery Blagdon's Healing series. For details, visit www.jmkac.org.

Machines

CAMPUS RECENT PROJECTS

An exhibition of video, photography, and

mixed-media sculpture by Mona Hatoum ran

from November 1 to December 23, 2005, at

the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery at Reed College in Portland, Ore. A Palestinian

artist living and working in London, Hatoum is

interested in the cultural dynamics of immigra-

tion, gender, and physical and psychological

displacement. The Cooley exhibition included her large-scale steel sculpture LA G R A N D E BROYEUSE. [Photo

courtesy

the

artist.]

BEAR, a twenty-three-foot-tall stone sculpture by Tim Hawkinson, was completed in June,

2005, at the University of California San Diego campus, where it joined fifteen other public

artworks that make up the university's Stuart Collection. Bear, which was assembled from eight uncarved granite boulders and weighs 180 tons, was three years in the making. [Photo

by Phiiipp

Scholz

Rittermann.]

Since 1997, Conrad Bakker has been making

U P T O W N R H Y T H M by sculptor James Simon was unveiled February 9, 2006, at Duquesne

product doubles in a series called

University in Pittsburg, Penn. The nine- by

Projects.

DUMPSTER, appeared from September 13

twenty-five-foot work was sculpted in clay and

to December 10, 2005, at the University of

cast in concrete panels. Depicting a three-

Illinois at Chicago. Many of Bakker's smaller

dimensional day in the life of Uptown—a boy

creations—reproductions of mass-produced

on a bike, two women shooting baskets, a

items—have been anonymously abandoned

couple dancing, a man at a backyard grill—it

on store shelves, and some have been sold

was installed on the wall of a parking garage.

through classified ads or on eBay, where they

Simon's other ceramic work can be viewed at

are listed along with the real products they

www.simonsculpture.com. [Photo

by Ceorge

Thomas

Mendel.]

Untitled

The latest installation in the series,

mimic. Dumpster Untitled

Projects

is the largest product in the

line and the first work intended

for several months of outdoor placement. [Photo

courtesy

the

artist.]

CAMPUS RECENT PROJECTS

Artist James Sardonis sculpted SAINT MICHAEL T H E A R C H A N G E L , a seven-foot granite statue A forty-foot-tall polymer sculpture by renowned

on the campus of Saint Michael's College in

University of Akron-Ohio campus July 19 and 20,

to the college in 2004 by an anonymous donor

hollow polymer pieces placed into cylinders

who died in the September 11 attacks on the

glass artist DALE CHIHULY was installed on the 2005. The work is composed of eighty-three

Colchester, Vermont. The sculpture was given

in memory of three Saint Michael's graduates

attached to a stainless-steel armature, and is

World Trade Center. Sardonis gained recognition

sity's Goodyear Polymer Center. This is not the

featuring two life-size whale tails diving into a

scale work; his recent bridge sculptures in

cover of the college art history textbook,

Tacoma, Wash, utilized the same technology.

A World

[Photo

located on a traffic circle in front of the univer-

first time Chihuly has used polymer in a large-

courtesy

University

Akron.]

in 1989 with Reverence,

"sea" of grass. Reverence

a thirty-six-ton sculpture was chosen for the

of Art, by Henry Sayre.

by Jeff

Morton.]

fessi

Philadelphia glass artist Ray King has created

more than one dozen large-scale works for col-

leges around the U.S. One of his most recent is

at the Health Sciences Education Building at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Completed in 2004, UTAH CASCADE is a light-

responsive glass and cable sculpture suspended

from the lobby ceiling. Forty-three feet high by

twelve feet in diameter, the artwork consists states, "My work is composed of products of

of 2,400 four-inch square pieces of laminated

with the community. I engage in obsessive,

and arranged as an elegant waterfall of color

of the 2005 Sculpture on Campus Program.

tiveness of consumer habit."

found at http://arts.utah.gov/public_art_

Composed of thousands of discarded cigarette

[Photos

Christine Holtz is currently working on her Masters of Fine Art degree at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), where she recently completed ADULT PACIFIER as part

butts, the message is self-explanatory. As Holtz

society collected privately or in collaboration

safety glass strung along stainless steel cables

repetitive acts of labor to simulate the repeti-

and light. A slide show of the piece can be

courtesy

SIUE.]

program/featuredpublica rtwork.html.

[Photos

courtesy

the

artist.]

RECENT PROJECTS

ME VAR... REVOLUTSIA (I AM... T H E REVOLUTION), a collaborative public art project in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, appeared in downtown Tbilisi during the summer of 2005. The work was conceived and executed by artist Roger Colombik, designer David Janiashvili, and writer/historian Dr. Ketevan Kintsurashvili. It consisted of banners depicting children and the elderly, which were hung along Rustaveli Street, the principal boulevard of the downtown district. [Photo

of Agnes courtesy

Roger

Colombik.]

Los Angeles artist Marie Sester currently has

two works in progress. BE[AM],

which was

begun in 2005, is an interactive installation that

displays visuals from a database of American

pop culture and lets viewers control the move-

ments of such iconic figures as Charlie Chaplin,

The P I O N E E R C O U R A G E S C U L P T U R E PARK in Omaha, Neb., was dedicated in September 2005 with the installation of several bronze sculptures depicting pioneer families and their covered wagons journeying across the prairie. The works were created by Blair Buswell and Edward Fraughton. Their creations join Kent Ullberg's Spirit

of Nebraska

was installed in 2002. [Photo sculpture

of a pioneer family

Wilderness, of Buswell's courtesy

the

which bronze artist.]

Phase I of LIGHTS O N TAMPA was launched

Wile E. Coyote, and Super Mario. BE[AM]

projections, and kinetic and interactive works

controllers via Max/MSP, Jitter, and OpenGL.

incorporated works by two additional artists.

a wall-sized projection moves in fluid but inde-

January 7, 2006, and featured light sculpture, by six artists. Phase II began in March and

uses

a robotic projector and employs video game

In THREATBOX.US, a public space installation,

Phase III is set for late 2006 and early 2007.

terminate patterns until an approaching person

Knapp's permanent City Hall project,

the viewer by swiftly moving toward her and

Pictured above is a Phase I work, Stephen Affirmations,

utilizing his unique brand of

"lightpainting" with dichroic glass. [Photo

courtesy

Luminous

the

artist.]

is detected. Then the projected image "attacks"

transforming into a colored spotlight centered on her body, which pursues her if she tries to escape. Internet viewers can watch the scene

through a webcam interface atwww.sester.net. [Photo

courtesy

the

artist.]

RECENT PROJECTS

The CENTER O F ART A N D NATURE at the Beulas Foundation (El Centra de Arte y Natura-

leza de la Fundacion Beulas) opened its doors

in Huesca, Spain, with the objective of combining, in an internationally referenced place, the

various relationships among art, nature and

contemporary culture. Through the Art and Nature program, financed by la Diputacidn

de Huesca, various artistic installations have been created in specific sites throughout the

province. Six projects have been commissioned

to date, including Portuguese artist Alberto

Carneiro (whose 2006 concrete environment resembles a contemporary fortress), Richard

Long, Ulrich Riickriem, Siah Armajani, Fernando

CasSs, and David Nash. The objective is to

offer an artistic landscape capable of generat-

ing a more contemporary image of Huesca that

would call international attention to its unique focus on the fusion of art and nature. Pictured

H O M E L A N D SECURITY G A R D E N was created

by Chang-Jin Lee for the World Financial Center

Winter Garden in New York City, where it was on display from August 22 through September 15, 2005. The finished artwork consisted of 200

"safety kits" displayed on 107 Astroturf-covered pedestals. The kits resulted from workshops

conducted throughout NYC with 200 partici-

pants, who donated items related to their notions

of safety. The artist created individualized kits based on interviews with each participant.

[Photos

courtesy

the

artist.]

A C H I N A T O W N B A N Q U E T is an interdisciplinary public art, education, and multimedia project among Boston-area high school students. Designed to raise awareness about the history and culture of Boston's Chinatown, eight multimedia "courses" attempt to model how the visual arts can influence education and community development. [Photo

courtesy

Giles

Li.]

is Armajani's Mesa picnic

para

[Photo

Foundation.]

courtesy

Beulas

Huesca

(2000).

RECENT PROJECTS

WELL-LIT C H E S S PIECES by Marjorie Kouns

transformed Washington Square Park in New

York City for an entire year beginning April 23, 2005. The installation, which was sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council,

consisted of eleven large-scale chess pieces

clustered in the four corners of the park, and twenty-six lampshade covers hung on the

park's lampposts. The chess pieces were made

of welded iron rods covered with chicken wire

and decorated with Formica decorator counter-

top chips and used MetroCards. The lamp-

shades were made of flame-retardant canvas

coated with acrylic pigments and glaze sealant. [Photo

by the

artist.]

From January 9 through May 26, 2006, the

Cambridge Arts Council presented PUBLIC

ART/MOVING SITE, a traveling exhibition by DeWitt Godfrey, Michael Oatman, and the

Spurse Artist Collaborative. The artists were

S W E E P A N D VEER was one of three temporary

and common attributes of three New England

Arts, an Arts Council England, East initiative

and Below Falls, Vt. Godfrey installed a sculp-

the region's visual arts organizations and

asked to respond to the unique characteristics towns: Cambridge, Mass.; New Haven, Conn.; ture of flexible forms at Cafe Pamplona in

Harvard Square (above). Oatman created

Model

Citizens:

A Miniature

Epic based on the

works of local model makers: dollhouses,

model railroads, and dioramas (left). Spurse

created a Provisional Restaurant as a site for a spontaneous and flexible community.

[Photos

courtesy

the

artists.]

installations supported by Escalator Visual

led by Commissions East in partnership with galleries. Commissioned by the Norwich City

Council to celebrate the city's ancient markets,

Anna Townley and Lawrence Bradby created a

site-specific drawing in a busy city square and a booklet describing short cuts and "intimate

routes" around the city. Using white household paint, the artists marked out routes across a bustling shopping area called Hay Hill. The lines were based on observations of how

people typically cross the square. The installa-

tion was on display from July 2-17, 2005. [Photo

courtesy

Escalator

Visual

Arts.]

RECENT PROJECTS

Artist Vito Acconci and his Acconci Studio

created M U R ISLAND, a dome that morphs

into a bowl, in Graz, Austria in 2003. Situated in the middle of a river that runs through the

city, the bowl functions as a theater and—when not in use—a public gathering place. A cafe is enclosed in the dome, on top of which a

waterfall runs into the river. Where the dome

merges with the bowl, a playground is formed

by the warp. In this in-between space is a three-

dimensional grid, a space frame that functions as monkey bars. Mur

Island

rests on a floating

platform mounted on two hidden bridge piers and connected to both shores by footbridges. [Photos

courtesy

Acconci

Studios.]

Le Grand Cafe, an exhibition space in Saint-

which brought together five artists (Francis

Alys, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Marcelo Cidade, Jordi Colomer, and Anita Molinero) who share a

vision of modernity closely tied to the character

of cities, especially those in southern Europe or Central and Latin America. Colomer's tekton

(a reference to Malevich's

Anarchi-

Architeckton),

completed in 2003, investigates the relation-

ship between architecture and d£cor. His video

features a character carrying cardboard models

of notable or ordinary architecture in Barcelona, Bucharest, Brasilia, or Osaka. In front of the

original building, the individual holds up the model like a demonstrator.

[Photo Galerie

o/Anarchitekton (Brasilia) Michel

Rein, Paris,

France.]

courtesy

RECENT PROJECTS

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In March 2006, Jeremy Langford completed a four-year commission to create eight glass sculptures for a new visitor's center in the catacombs near the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The sculptures represent episodes dating from the Biblical narrative of the patriarchs through the rebuilding of modern Israel. Located entirely underground in a network of ancient chambers, the sculptures are constructed from tens of thousands of pieces of sculpted glass. One of the project's highlights is a nine-meterhigh sculpted glass column entitled YEARNINGS. Weighing over fifteen tons, it is suspended above a 2,ooo-year-old ritual bath and a wall from the time of King Solomon's Temple that were discovered during the preparation of foundational supports. For details, visit www.langfordartglass.com. [Photos o/Yearnings and Holocaust (Shoah) © the artist.]

LATITUDE, a kinetic sculpture by Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter, was commissioned by the state of Connecticut for Capital Community College in Hartford. The artwork is suspended in the college's five-story atrium. A twenty-seven-foot-diameter aluminum ring is fringed with laser-cut silhouettes alluding to Hartford and other locales that share its latitude (4i°7' north). The ring, supported by two architectural cross beams, completes one rotation every twenty-four hours. Each day at noon the silhouettes of the college and the city of Hartford, gold-leafed and thus distinct from the rest of the sculpture, arrive at the topmost position. [Photo by Clements/Howcroft.]

THE PLAIN OF HEAVEN, a recent exhibition sponsored by Creative Time, consisted of sound, drawing, film, video, photography, performance, and installation works by fourteen international artists. It was inspired by the redevelopment of the High Line, an unused elevated rail structure running along the west side of Manhattan, and was on display October 14 through November 20, 2005, in a vacant meatpacking warehouse at the southern terminus of the High Line. Adam Cvijanovic's monumental landscape painting honored the railroads which helped deliver goods to the East Coast. According to the artist, his work, The Union Pacific Main Line (Laramie, Wyoming), depicts "the fulcrum between west and east at its highest point, where it traverses a kind of heavenly plain." [Photo courtesy Creative Time.]

RECENT PROJECTS

Devorah Sperber was one of twenty-three artists who participated in T H E PUBLIC ART

From November 2005 to January 2006,

London's Q U E E N STREET was illuminated by

light installations from four artists.

Underglow,

by Susan Collins, used LED lights to illuminate

twenty storm sewer drains. Tim Head's

Float

consisted of brightly colored lights that slowly rose and fell across the ornate stucco facade

of a building at the junction of Queen Street and Cannon Street. For Rush Hour,

Mark Lewis

filmed the elongated shadows cast by com-

PROJECT O F PUERTO RICO, a major public art initiative consisting of over ninety projects and interventions in urban areas, parks, and plazas. Sperber's Refections

(2004) is constructed

from 60,000 spools of thread that coalesce into a photorealistic image when seen reflected in twenty-three convex mirrors mounted on an opposing wall in the San Juan Centro Medico Train Station. [Photo

with detail courtesy

the

artist.]

muters during the morning and afternoon rush hours, then projected them in larger-than-life

size on buildings and other structures. David

Ward's Nocturne

STORK PAYS VISIT EASTER MORNING TO EMERGENCY HOSPITAL

was an audiovisual work that

illuminated Dick Whittington's Church with a

projection of the night sky, accompanied by the

sound of bird songs. [Photo of twenty

sites) by Richard

o/Underglow (one

I j

Davies.]

T H E TRAVELLERS, by Nadim Karam and Atelier Hapsitus, features ten large-scale

sculptures representing a century of migration

to Melbourne, Australia. The project was

inaugurated March 12, 2006, at the Sandridge Bridge. That event was timed to coincide with

UNDERWATER CANOPY, 2006, a site-specific

the Commonwealth Games 2006, which took

sculpture by Carl Cheng for the new Santa

Monica Library, was inspired by an underwater

Artist Abner Nolan's B E F O R E A N D AFTER T H E

place in Melbourne from March 15 to 26.

EARTHQUAKE is the first exhibition in the San

Among the largest moving sculptures in the

combined into images that depict the forest as

Street 2006 Kiosk Poster Series. Nolan collaged

thus functioning as a giant urban clock. The

circular skylights using a laminated glass photo

devastating 1906 earthquake and fire in San

kelp forest in Santa Monica Bay. Digital photos

of undersea aquatic life taken by the artist were if one were walking across the sea bed. Seven

interlayer process are part of a thirty-three-foot-

diameter shadow canopy that casts abstract

water patterns in a courtyard reading room and cafe. [Photo

by John

Doe

Co.]

Francisco Arts Commission's Art on Market

world, The Travellers

historic photographs taken shortly after the

Sandridge Bridge was built in 1888 to

Francisco with San Francisco newspaper head-

was decommissioned in 1990. For details,

The posters are on display February 13-May 11.

[Photos

lines taken a few days prior to the earthquake.

[Photo

courtesy

the California

Historical

Society.]

run on rails at set times,

accommodate Australia's Gold Rush and

visit www.hapsitus.com. courtesy

the

artists.]

RECENT PROJECTS

With T H E S N O W S H O W 2006, curator Lance Fung (interviewed in PAR 33) raised the bar.

Scheduled February 6-March 19 in Sesstriere, Italy, in conjunction with the 20th Winter

Olympic Games, artist-architect collaborations resulted in seven new projects. This included Kiki Smith and Lebbeus Woods's Looking

Class.

In a frozen pond were encased stars and a

bouquet of roses, eternal images of beauty. A

female figure of ice named Alice sits gazing into the pond. Her beauty fades with every

sunrise. According to Fung, "This exhibition

will place a new emphasis on the temporal

process of aging, melting, and disintegration." Other artists in the show included Yoko Ono, Daniel Buren, Juame Plensa, and Carsten Holler. [Photo

courtesy

The Snow Show.J

The Abington Art Center in Jenkintown, Penn., inaugurated its summer series

Inside/Outside

inspired by the November 2004 oil spill in the

stainless-steel net. The four asymmetrical legs

and other species in the wake of this and other

Katsura tree. Warren Angle created La

Brea,

Delaware River and the plight of water fowl

depict the profiles of eight noted scientists,

environmental disasters. La Brea looks like a

ping pong game of scientific concepts.

with a hundred duck heads forming the pattern

by the artist,

www.Buster5impson.com.]

Lace II

irrigation system. Typha Latifola

laboratories in Seattle. The focal point of the

[Photo

Michele Brody's Arbor

saplings of the Norway Maple into three over-

lapping circular forms suspended from a living

whose paired visages represent a metaphorical

Garden.

consists of a lace-covered walkway constructed

Seattle-based artist Buster Simpson created

plaza is Ping Pong Table, a bronze table with a

Dovetail

with PASSAGES, an exhibition of outdoor sitespecific works by five artists. Roy Staab wove

P I N G P O N G PLAZA for the Rosetta Inpharmics

five new birdhouses related to her 2002 work, A

pool of tar in the shape of the United States,

of an American flag. Joan Bankemper created

of copper pipes that support a hydroponic drip (Cattails),

Lisa Murch, was created from ordinary plastic

vertical blinds. The exhibition ran from June 5 to November 23, 2005. [Photo

of La Brea courtesy

Abington

Art

Center.]

RECENT PROJECTS For six weeks this winter, it was literally the coolest place in Minnesota. Robot-carved custom ice-fishing holes. A heated shack for singing karaoke, broadcast live on the lake's own radio station: K-ICE. A full-sized camera obscura. A gigantic marshmallow for knitting baby blankets. A functional lake research station. Scrabble and Boggle and Domino tournamnets. Zombies and tap dancers and a firelight performance about a sixteenthcentury natural philosopher burned at the stake. With a home-grown, home-made feeling, the ART S H A N T Y PROJECTS celebrated its third successful winter on ice, featuring over thirty unique artist projects on a frozen lake. Unseasonably warm weather forced the shanties to be erected close to shore (in case the ice melted, they wouldn't have far to sink), which had the unintended effect of creating a

friendly village-like community. Unfortunately, this also caused the Bigloo,

built to house an

experimental sound project, to melt. Visitors

sought shelter in the nearby Vista

Shanty,

whose clear vinyl walls and green shag rug gave

—

one the impression of being inside and outside at the same time. More information is at www.artshantyprojects.org. [Text by Ziegter.

Photo

Quito

of the Team Lake Research Shanty

(left) and the Knitting Shanty by Emmet

Byrne.]

September 16-October 30 were the dates of

the ninth ISTANBUL BIENNIAL, focusing

on urban and social realities. Curators Vasif

Kortun and Charles Esche chose the city itself

as the theme: "Istanbul, as a metaphor, as a

prediction, as a lived reality, and an inspiration has many stories to tell and the Biennial will

attempt to tap directly into this rich history

and possibility." The Biennial featured thirty-six artists and utilized seven venues, including the

Antrepo No. 5, a former customs building. Two

public projects were noteworthy. Otto Bercham

focused attention on the inhabitants of the street with Temporary

Person Passing

Through.

Bercham resurrected the nineteenth-century

pictoral communication, "Hobo signs," to

address a current social reality in the city, and placed these signs throughout the Calata city

area. Karl Heinz Klopf s Mind

The Steps (left)

focused on six public settings. Rather than

creating a new artwork for the Biennial, Klopf

highlighted—literally—six step formations within

the city using theatrical projector spotlights,

transforming age-worn staircases into stage sets. [Text and photo

by Dr. Zerrin

Iren

Boynudelik.]

ADD TO YOUR LIBRARY! Order Back Issues of P u b l i c A r t Review o n l i n e . Art on the Waterfront Public Art in Transit For the Environment Multiculturalism Historic Places Sculpture Gardens Self-Taught Artists New Directions Percent for Art Temporary Issue 11: Censorship Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue

www.pubiicARTreview.org

1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 10:

• www.publicJlliTrsview.org

Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue Issue

12: 13: 14: 15: 16: 17: 18: 19: 20: 21: 22:

Graffiti Technology Commemoration Time & Place Regarding Land Democracy Sons & Daughters Public Service Our Neighbors Making Time Public Hearing

• www.publicAHTreview.org

Issue 23: Issue 24: Issue 25: Issue 26: Issue 27: Issue 28: Issue 29: Issue 30: Issue 31: Issue 32: Issue 33:

•

Nature Trails Handcrafted Nuts & Bolts Return Ticket History Lesson Take Action Crossroads Light Foreign Affairs Plan Ahead Muralism

www.pubiicARTreview.org

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