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March 13, 2007
Speaking of Art
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| The Chico
Beat's editorial on the recent
art survey created by some local artists (and others) was pretty much to be expected.
They didn't like it. When I had previously read some nice
things about the survey in the E-R that was a
solid indicator that the Beat would disapprove. The Beat writes... "It looks more like an effort to manipulate the public's existing antipathy toward public art. This suspicion is reflected in the way the survey is designed. Respondents are presented with a set of public arts projects and asked to grade each on a scale from "strongly like" to "strongly dislike." But each project is listed with how much it cost the city, with no reference as to which of several pots of money funded the project." |
Daniel Donnely, one of the survey creators, addressed this concern when he wrote in the E-R... "Out of the 300 respondents who have taken the survey, there have been three or four who have commented that the survey is trying to manipulate people by asking how they feel about specific public art projects while also listing the dollar amounts of these projects. I feel that it's important for people to know how much a project costs when taxpayer funds are being used..." I agree that the price of public art is an important factor. There are people in town that won't like public art at any price. There are some that will like it no matter the price. Most people will like it at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, "reasonable" is a subjective term. From Donnely's comments on the survey results it can be deduced that "COBA" was deemed very reasonable in price and the "Silver Plow" not so reasonable at $130K (COBA was the over-sized paintings featuring rotating artists that hung on Zucchini and Vine for a few years). It would be odd for an Art Commission to not want to see the survey results, no matter what the scientific value is. Public opinion on art is hard to come by. What's more odd is that the Chico Beat is so antagonistic towards the survey. They seem to have an agenda of their own. Apparently they can express their own opinion of art, but the rest of us need to keep quiet. This was most true when they decided to offer their own antipathy towards public art with their opinion of the Martin Luther King Jr. statue. From the Beat editorial discussing the King statue in Community Park... "Maybe if the coalition had not been so focused on the idea of a bronze statue in the first place, another piece might have been selected, one more creative, more interactive, more appropriate to the site. It probably also could have cost less than $70,000." They must have an agenda since they mentioned the price. Even worse, they forgot to tell us which of the several pots of money that statue's funding came from (in this case half the money was private). Or maybe they just enjoy being hypocrites. If you want to give your opinion on public art projects, take the survey here. |
Posted by Lon at March 13, 2007 12:00 AM
Comments
I love the idea of the Public Art fund Matching Program. I was the main proponent years ago and helped write it. Anyone that wants to sponsor a project can rally the fundraising and the city matches it.
The MLK statue, the huge metal leaves at 7th. and Salem, the Old City Hall mural on 4th St. the murals and mosaics at the Chico Observatory, are great examples.
The sponsors choose the site and the artist and hammer out the deal. They are accountable for the public appeal, durability etc. This keeps the overall cost within reason and the City still only springs for half. It also encourages artists to hustle up work for themselves.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at March 13, 2007 11:46 AM
The response with the opinion poll has been very positive for public art. I believe that the Beat's line about "the public's existing antipathy toward public art" has proven to be a busted myth.
Artists (those who do art) are independent, competitive and opinionated but they still appreciate and support each other's work.
The insinuation that they don't is another busted myth.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at March 13, 2007 01:50 PM