Hot Topics >>> Art for Everyone
March 2009
By Paula Theotocatos
“I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That’s art to me.” Maya Lin |
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When we first moved to Phoenix from the east coast, I was fascinated with the colorful images of animals and Native-American symbols carved into roadway noise-abatement walls and imaginative pedestrian bridges shaped like mountain ranges or grasshoppers. This was my first introduction to the Phoenix version of a public arts program. My previous knowledge of public arts was that of pigeon-blessed statues or monuments in public parks. And, it still is that, of course. But, in Phoenix and Scottsdale the city governments have taken a keen interest in beautifying the public domain by funding and inviting artists to submit their designs for walkways, parks, bridges and even bus shelters. One of the reasons that Phoenix can be so innovative is that it is a relatively newer city than the older cities of the northeast and western coasts, whose infrastructure is already well-established. “We have the advantage here in Phoenix of being a young city as compared to the older cities on both coasts,” says Ed Lebow, Public Arts Program Manager. ‘We are able to build our infrastructure with a fresh eye and incorporate new and daring artistic concepts.” |
Public art not only beautifies a city’s landscape, but provides an expression of a community’s positive values, sense of identity, and pride in their neighborhoods. Cities that embrace public art demonstrate their civic pride as citizens, along with their community’s involvement and collaboration. Roadsides and pedestrian corridors are enhanced; green space thrives, and artists are given the freedom to express their art in a larger scope than would be possible in an indoor gallery.
The Phoenix Public Art Program was established in 1986 by the Phoenix City Council to acquire artwork of the highest quality, to create community landmarks with community input, and to offer professional development opportunities to Arizona artists. Public art is funded through capital funds used to build city projects such as libraries, parks, and fire stations. Artists are selected via an open artist call, which is overseen by the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. More than 120 projects have been completed since 1986 and approximately 60 more projects are currently in various stages of development. Following is a brief review of some of these imaginative and beautiful works that you may have seen along highways, in parks, at the airport and the new Phoenix Convention Center.
CAMELBACK PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS
The underpass on Camelback Road between 24th and 26th streets was conceived as a safe link for pedestrians crossing between the Biltmore Fashion Park and the Esplanade along Camelback Road. The artists, Rosario Marquardt and Roberto Behar, have transformed a utilitarian pedestrian underpass into a welcoming and safe crossing. Marquardt and Behar designed a magnificent floral “carpet” of exterior-grade terrazzo flooring. The design uses thirteen different colors, which showcase the lovely colors of Arizona’s desert flowers, and the ethereal beauty of the butterfly – 166 of them in all.
NISBET ROAD PEDESTRIAN “MOUNTAINS” BRIDGE
If you drive regularly on State Highway 50, I know you have seen the small-weave galvanized chain-link cage that surrounds this pedestrian bridge, which has been formed into a clever replica of mountain peaks. The artist, Laurie Lundquist, created a whimsical design that provides safe passage for pedestrian and bicycle traffic over Highway 51. The 260-foot span runs east and west, establishing a link to the north and south bicycle paths on the west side of the highway. Lunquist’s concept of jagged peaks was inspired by the mountain vistas to the south. |
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BASELINE ROAD STREETSCAPE
The award-winning Baseline Road Streetscape was designed by artists Mags Harries and Lajors Heder to add shade and comfort for walkers and bus-riders as part of a larger street improvement along Baseline from 7th Street to 40th Street. The artists drew inspiration from memories of the area’s farms and agricultural buildings and machinery to build the arbor-shaped bus shelters, which are covered with flowering vines like greenhouses. The shelter roofs, which are painted in a variety of bright colors, are shadowed with fruit and flowers. Under the arbors, green steel tractor seats and custom benches offer shaded seating areas to wait for a bus while enjoying views of South Mountain. “Ghost Trees” made of rebar and covered by vines provide shaded gateways at major intersections. Metal inserts in the sidewalks suggest plow furrows, while trees and flowering plants create a colorful grid along street medians and curb strips.
KYRENE MONTE VISTA PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
The Kyrene Monte Vista Pedestrian Bridge at Ray Road and Thunderhill Place in Awatukee Foothills was designed by Phoenix sculptor Al Price. Price is well-known for his sculptural installations that use steel wire and halogen bulbs to create environments filled with slowly changing patterns. He designed this pedestrian bridge, which is mostly used by school children as they make their way across Ray Road to Kyrene Monte Vista Elementary School, as an elegant double-helix shaped cage that would create a sense of movement. The cage uses the sun’s rays to cast interesting shadows across the bridge deck and roadway beneath it. Before he developed his design, Price consulted the 4th graders at the school by conducting a series of bridge-making workshops with them. |
THE MILLIPEDE
Sculptor Tom Otterness possesses a sharp sense of humor and he uses it to create his imaginative bronze sculptures. Otterness’s work has been exhibited in communities across the globe and is in collections at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, among many others. For the Phoenix Convention Center, Otterness created three sculptures of desert creatures, enlarged to human scale. The creatures include a millipede with a hat and shoes; a walking stick in high heels, and a scorpion holding two small men in top hats tugging at a bag of money. Accompanying sculptural elements of people, scaled down to Lilliputian dimensions, will interact with the creatures. The sculptures will be set into a unique water-harvesting garden designed by Phoenix landscape architect Christy Ten Eyck at the southeast corner of Washington and Fifth Streets
So, if you are in the habit of driving on Phoenix’s roadways in a half-trance, going over your to-do list in your head, and not noticing the unique designs that have been constructed to make Phoenix a more beautiful place to live, wake up and observe! Public art belongs to everyone.
602.262.4637
www.phoenix.gov/arts |
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