Northwest Arkansas residents can expect more art in public spaces as the area's four largest cities put more emphasis on such displays.
Rogers established a Public Art Commission in December, and Bentonville's Public Art Advisory Committee brought in the city's first three pieces of public art in the fall.
Public Art Definition
The easiest way to define public art is by what people think it is, said local artist Dayton Castleman. Some may think of it as any art they run into while on daily routines. Others may think of it as art funded by tax dollars. Some may think of it as any art that’s outdoors.
Source: Staff Report
Public Art in Northwest Arkansas
Public art is sprinkled throughout Northwest Arkansas. Below is a list of some of the area’s public art pieces and where to find them:
Fayetteville
Fayetteville has 45 public art pieces, according to its Fayetteville Art Walk map. Some include:
• The World Prayer Peace Fountain by Hank Kaminsky at Town Center at 15 W. Mountain St.
• The Recycle Sculpture by John Stalling at 735 W. North St.
• McClinton Fountain of Education by Hank Kaminsky at 1000 W. Bulldog Ave.
• The Castle by Frank Williams in Wilson Park at 675 Park Ave.
• Art Bike Racks by Eugene Sargent at the intersection of North Block Avenue and Meadow Street.
The Fayetteville Art Walk map can be found at http://bit.ly/1CXig… or on the city’s website at www.accessfayettevi… under “Mayor” then “News” then “GIS Releases Art Walk App.”
Bentonville
“SunKissed” by Nathan Pierce, “Ozarks Topography” by Ed Pennebaker and “PAC-Man” by Craig Gary are all on the North Bentonville Trail north of the city’s Bark Park on North Walton Boulevard. “SunKissed” can be seen from the highway.
Springdale
Team Springdale and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department partnered to install a mural of sea monsters and dolphins on the back wall of the Aquatic Center. The center is located at 1100 Watson Ave.
Source: Staff Report
Fayetteville was the first of the region's largest cities to create an arts council. It was formed after a group wanted to donate a Vietnam War memorial to the city, according to Leif Olson, with Fayetteville's strategic planning department.
"It came out of a need to have a process, a formal process, for adopting stuff that was going to be donated to the city," he said.
The arts council was established by resolution in 2007 and amended by ordinance in 2010, according to the city's website. It has nine members. It reviews all public art that is valued at more than $5,000 and makes a recommendation to the City Council, which gives the final approval or denial, Olson said.
Olson said he wasn't sure how many public art pieces were currently up in Fayetteville but said there were around a "couple dozen." Many are in city parks, along the trails and around the square.
City officials consider public art to be art loaned, bought or donated to a city and is displayed on city owned or maintained property. It is different than art that's in public view on private property.
"It's visible to the public, but it's not public art," said Olson, who is the staff representative for the Fayetteville Arts Council.
Public art is not new to Northwest Arkansas, but the nature of it has changed, said Dayton Castleman, local artist and member of Bentonville's Public Art Advisory Committee.
Monuments have historically been the way people understand public art, he explained. The way it is understood now, as contemporary public art, came about in the 1950s and 1960s. It got its start in cities where buildings were built further back from the street.Artists began to create large sculptures for those empty spaces, Castleman said.
Philadelphia was the first city to adopt programs for acquiring and commissioning public art when it create its Percent for Arts Program in 1959, according to the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.
There are now more than 400 similar programs around the country, said Patricia Walsh, public arts program manager at Americans for the Arts. The majority of major cities have them, and smaller cities develop them as they grow, she said.
"It helps them define who they are," she said.
Bentonville was the second large city in the area to create a formal process for accepting art. Officials reworked an old public art policy and established an advisory committee in 2013. It has five members.
Public art isn't something the city could ignore when it's home to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, said Shelli Kerr, planning services manager and liaison to the committee. The committee started with an application process for artists but has evolved to recruiting art, she said.
The committee selected, approved and recommended three sculptures for its first project to be placed on the North Bentonville Trail. They were installed last fall.
The City Council must approve any art that is going to be placed on public property in Bentonville.
The arts commission is looking at other concepts, but nothing has been determined, Kerr said. She said it may commission an artist to create a piece for the Community Center, which is planned to open June 6.
Rogers' Public Art Commission has five voting members and four ex-officio members. The desire to have public art in Rogers has been around for a couple years, said Darrel Smith, city planner. Crystal Bridges has increased interest in art, he added. A lot of people who moved to this area from larger cities are used to public art and want to see more here, he said.
"We're just taking our first steps right now," Smith said. "But I think it's going to be something that really catches on."
Rogers' art commission has the authority to approve artwork without approval of the City Council, Smith said. The commission approved the application and guidelines at its second meeting, in January, so it can start accepting pieces, said Bill Schopp, commissioner and owner of Poor Richard's Art Gallery.
Submissions don't have to be for outside pieces, he added. They could be displayed inside city buildings, too.
"I'd like to see a lot of historical-type art," Schopp said, noting it was a personal preference.
Springdale has yet to create a public arts council or commission, but its Parks and Recreation Department partnered with Team Springdale last year to put a mural on the side of the Aquatic Center. Team Springdale is a nonprofit group that promotes the city.
Team Springdale is in the early stages of another project where it will create, in partnership with artist Olivia Trimble, to paint eight-foot-by-eight-foot blocks to place around the downtown area and along the trail, said Amber Perrodin, Team Springdale co-founder.
The pieces of folk art will be painted with bright colors, resemble quilt blocks and conceptually celebrate the fabric of Springdale's rich and diverse culture, Perrodin said.
"We felt like that was something that we could put out in the world," she said. "It's not intrusive. It's not questionable. It's just simply and aesthetically beautiful."
The plan is to have one or two in place by May, Perrodin said.
Since Springdale doesn't have a public art ordinance or council, organizers of the barn quilt project plan to approach individual private property owners who are adjacent to city land, Perrodin explained.
"Once we get a few out there, I think people will get on board," she said. "It's not advertisement of any kind. It's just exposing Springdale residents, or people passing along the trail, that Springdale's got some culture."
Public art can have economic and enhancement benefits on a community, Castleman said. It can draw people to a place. Castleman explained that Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, nicknamed The Bean, in Chicago is the most photographed object in that city.
"In that sense, it becomes a brand," he said.
Though they may not brand Bentonville, Kerr said that the three sculptures on the North Bentonville Trail give people another reason to enjoy the trails.
"It also creates some tourism draw," she said of public art. "It can encourage people to stay a little bit longer and to see a little bit more of Bentonville."
Public art can also enhance people's experience of their community whether that's by adding an interesting object, drawing people's attention to something they haven't paid attention to before or honoring an important civic figure, Castleman said.
NW News on 03/29/2015