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Chandler displaying its own collection of artwork
BY KEN SAIN
Staff Writer
Chandler Museum Administrator Jody Crago had been working on setting up a new exhibit that was about to open.
It was late, the sun had set. As he walked through the museum’s hallway he glanced outside the windows.
“There’s two young people, laying on the ground, staring up at the artwork as it moves and changes,” he said. They were enjoying “Infinite Wave,” a public arts sculpture that doubles as a shade structure outside the museum’s entrance.
During the day, it’s easy to walk under and think of it as little more than a shade structure. Then you notice the shadows. There are 202 wings, or as the construction workers called them, butterflies attached. As the sun changes position, so do the shadows.
But it’s at night when Jeff Zischke’s artwork truly shines, as dozens of programmable LED lights put on a show.
“They actually hired a lighting designer to perfect how to light it,” Crago said. “It bounces light off of the white concrete and back onto the panels. And it’s kinetic, so it moves and changes. It makes it a whole different art piece at night.”
When the City of Chandler builds anything, from a museum to City Hall, one percent of that budget is dedicated to adding a public art project. For the museum, that was “Infinite Wave.”
The museum is currently hosting an exhibition of some of the city’s public art. Most of it, however, is already on the streets, including statues and murals in downtown. The exhibit is scheduled to run through March 27.
“We’ve got about 200 pieces in the collection,” said Peter Bugg, the city’s visual arts coordinator is in charge of the city’s public art collection.
Bugg said he’s actually been trying to get that number down. The city owns some physical objects in the digital archives of the museum, such as film negatives. Since it has the prints, they don’t need the negatives and have been trying to find them a good home.
“It’s a full-time job to care for all these objects and keep them in good shape, especially things that are outdoors and need maintenance,” Bugg said. “We’re working on getting good documentation of everything, so we can get more things online so people can experience it that way.”
He said they’re also working on creating a map that would allow people to travel around the city and see the different works of art.
And there is a lot to see.
“I think you would be surprised is somebody like Peter … walked with you downtown, I think you’d be utterly surprised that in such a small area how much there actually is,” Crago said. “The public arts program does such a good job of integrating interesting design or an artistic aspect into what is a normal thing.”
One area that has been done is commissioning artists to paint original works on utility boxes around the city. Bugg said they’ve done 31 of those boxes so far, most in uptown and near Hamilton High School. He said they plan to do five more this year.
“The bulk of our public art collection is downtown,” Bugg said. “We’re trying to reach out more in the community and see other places where we can put it. It makes sense to have objects downtown, because a lot people come and see it there, but we also want to meet people where they are.”
Bugg said when they add to the collection he looks for a few things.
“We want some sort of tie-in to the local community,” he said. “It could be kind of broad, like desert imagery. Or something specifically Chandler related. Also, trying to support the artists that we have here locally.”
Bugg said they do consider artists from outside the area, but in general they try and support Valley artists. Crago said this is the first time the museum has displayed the public art in an extensive manner. Both men did not know how often an exhibition like this might return.
“It’ll be as we can,” Crago said. “We both have exhibitions schedules, he does six to eight shows a year (at the Vision Gallery), we do at least that many, plus we do big shows designed by us, so we’re always changing.”
One thing that is not likely to change soon is the light show each night at the museum, which runs from dusk until 10:30 p.m.
Jody Crago, administrator for the Chandler Museum and Peter Bugg, city visual arts coordinator, have developed the “Public Objects” exhibit at Vision Gallery, highlighting
art work that Chandler owns. (David Minton/Staff Photographer) “It’s a full-time job to care for all these objects and keep them in good shape, especially things that are outdoors and need maintenance, we’re working on getting good documentation of everything, so we can get more things online so people can experience it that way.”
