Iowa West Public Art is an initiative of the Iowa West Foundation that developed from a public art master planning process. This process and the resulting Public Art Master Plan explored elements of successful public art programs. The following questions were at the center of this dialogue.
What is Public Art? Read more
What is the role of artists in public art? Read more
Why is public art valuable to the community? Read more
What is Public Art?
Public art is the manifestation of creativity on many levels. It is typically acquired through a competitive commissioning process in which professional artists propose ideas for site-specific works that are intellectually, physically and intuitively accessible. Almost any public improvement, be it a new building or community enhancement or landscape or streetscape renovation, offers ideal opportunities for commissioning and installing public art.
Successful public art is presented in an ever-widening variety of genres. The selected genre reveals to the viewer the context by which the artist was inspired and stimulates greater interaction between the work and its audience. Above all else, public art must be of the highest quality, accessible to the public, specific in character and evocative of context and meaning.
While the experience of Public Art is inclusive, individuals will form unique understandings that can alter over time and after repeated exposures. As this process of discovery takes place, viewers can come away feeling enlightened as well as astonished at the power of creativity and the artist's ingenuity. Ultimately, a successful public artwork will be a portal to the past, a parallel to the present, and a door to the future and deliver an experience that will take viewers on an adventure by turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Public art can be defined as "original works of art in any medium for temporary or permanent placement in outdoor (or indoor) settings and accessible to the public for their enjoyment."1
Public art projects may well result in artists creating work with unusual materials and curious forms. The materials become the metaphorical skin of an idea and give tangible meaning and life to the work and propel a visual dialogue between the artist, the work and the audience. These works, when sited in urban environments reflect the creative process at its best and heighten public appreciation of:
• key streetscapes (e.g., lighting, curbs, sidewalks, and pavement). Public art will energize daily life, particularly when it's prevalent in the urban environment.
• functional items (e.g., kiosks, street furniture, signage) that are common and interactive and are found in public spaces everywhere.
• floors, walls, windows, doors, and stairwells which can be manipulated in artistic ways that communicate and tell stories, particularly in the form of literary works, digital media or film, and projected images.
• environmental elements. Earthwork and landscaping create art on perhaps the greatest canvas of all—Mother Nature.
1 A Master Plan for Public Art, the District of North Vancouver, the Arts & Culture Commission of North Vancouver
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What is the role of artists in public art?
Today, a new way of thinking about public art has emerged. In current practice, an artist is an essential member of the design and construction teams. This allows their vision and creative energy to be infused from the beginning and sustained throughout the project. Importantly, this collaboration allows the project to become much greater than a mere sum of its collective parts.
In this creative collaboration the public artist and community share values, beliefs and cultural context that result in a shared visual expression. So, while the studio artist follows their own head and heart in relating and expressing their ideals, the public artist collaborates in determining and articulating the community vision as well as the personal artistic vision.
The character of a community and its sense of place can be profoundly changed by public art. A powerful example is Maya Lin's "Vietnam Veterans Memorial" in Washington, D.C. Her simple, but powerful, idea has the ability to transcend the complexities of emotion and recognize the need for national healing. Her elegant and evocative memorial is installed in a reverential place and visited annually by millions of people.
Another, yet decidedly different, work evokes quite a different response. It is "The Cincinnati Flying Pig" by artist Andrew Leicester, created in collaboration with the Minneapolis architectural firm of Meyer, Scherer and Rockcastle. Mr. Leicester describes his work with a bit of humor …
"The work consists of four bronze winged pigs emerging from smoke stacks above a canal lock. Cincinnati's main industry in the 19th Century was pork packing. For a while, it was the largest pork processor in the world and gained the nickname ‘Porkopolis'. Proctor and Gamble made soap and candles from the pork fat left in the slaughterhouses bordering the canal. The remaining blood and offal were swept into the canal and flushed down into the Ohio. Its resultant sanguine appearance earned it the appellation of ‘Red River.' Therefore, this choir of four phantom angelic porkers sings the praises of all their brethren who died so the city may prosper."
"Prior to the completion of the Cincinnati Flying Pig project, a public debate arose over the prominent inclusion of the pigs amongst the thirty historical references in the work. Mayor Luken questioned their ‘appropriateness' as to representing his vision for a ‘modern' Cincinnati. This ignited a media blitz, which ended several months later in a town hall meeting to debate ‘enshrining the swine.' A full-size hog was let loose amongst the council members as well as several pink-ribbon (festooned) piglets. After solemn debate, a public vote was taken ending in a raucous victory for the pro-pig supporters. Thus officially sanctioned, the pigs got to fly, if only once, to their final resting places above the canal."1
1 Attribute and copyright, Andrew Leicester
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Why is public art valuable to the community?
Public Art is a unique way to visually or tactilely communicate with the public. It is an interactive medium with the artist providing the tool for communication and the audience reacting with unique and individual perspective and interpretation.
Ideally, artists conceptualize ideas with the intent of creating site-specific, integrated works of art for the public. Such distinguishing characteristics may well include:
• the cultural and historic significance of the area.
• the area's amenities, infrastructure and surrounding natural/artificial landscape.
• the possibility of alternative uses for the site.
• the site dynamics and any features that connect contrasting elements with the surrounding environment.
• the scale of the work as it relates to the dimensions of the site.
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