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| Luminescent Flora by Deanne Sabeck. |
The
Encinitas City Council approved two of Deanne Sabeck's glass and metal
sculptures in a meeting at the beginning of April. One will go at the entrance
to Oakcrest Park at 1219 Encinitas Blvd and the other at the southeast corner
of Newcastle Avenue and Liverpool Drive in Cardiff by the Sea, across the
street from the Cardiff Library. Both of these works, that were presented
anonymously to the public, got very high ratings. Another sculpture by Peter
Mitten was accepted for placement at the new Pacific View Arts Center that
will open later this year as well as Bunny Serenade
by Adrian Litman for the pad at Little Oaks Equestrian Park in
Olivenhain on Lone Jack Road.
But
two other sites will remain empty. The Encinitas Commission for Arts and
Culture chose other art works for these sites taking into consideration the
public comments and ratings, but the council deemed to decide for what might be
personal reasons, that these artists were not suitable, ignoring the
recommendation of their professional body of experts.
This
is not an isolated problem. Cities with no art master plans and cities with no
coherent public art plan often run into divided opinions about how art in the
public realm should be chosen and funded. We have seen examples of how major
works of art by renowned creators are turned away by cautious politicians who are
out of their league when judging art. The latest fiasco was in Del Mar when the
Isamu Noguchi’s sculpture worth half a million dollars was rejected.
Buying,
renting and accepting donated art works is a complicated puzzle. This entails
making sure that the artists are qualified, that the proposed work is
appropriate, and that the budget is acceptable. Outreach to the public for preference and
advice of experts has to be considered. Contracts have to be drawn up and
having the ability to work with artists and architects for completing the
creation, siting the work, and then lighting it and maintaining it are all
considerations. Remembering that art can be vandalized plays a part in the
decision. The County and City of San
Diego both have mandates for including a percentage of new construction and
larger renovation budgets for art. But working with non-profits to purchase
works is also an option.
There
are solid public art policies already created by other major cities so there is
no real need to re-invent the wheel in for public art. Luckily, we now have a
new San Diego County Arts and Culture Commission which has already started to
make recommendations on revising the public art policy county wide. Hopefully those new policies will trickle
down and be seen to be best practices by all the cities in our county.
Those
of us in the arts spend all of our lives looking at art and have a finely honed
sense of authenticity. That expertise is power and can be used for the good of
the community. We listen to health authorities and so please, in the arts, acknowledge
that expertise in the same way.
We
are also respectful of the efforts of artists who are an extremely important
resource for our communities. They not only bring aesthetic beauty and
challenging concepts, but economic growth and prosperity into our lives.
Finally,
we are not opposed to the public having input on public art for their
community. But this needs to be at the beginning of the process so that it can
be incorporated in the call for artists proposals. Let the art professional
make the final selections and set policy.
