STUDENT POST: Public Art - A Unifier?

by Melissa Loken, undergraduate art history student

Art can have a unifying affect on a community or it can tear it apart. New York City had so much controversy over a piece of public art that their City Council voted, based on a minority of citizens speaking out against the work, to have the sculpture disassembled. Arguments against the public art included that it attracted rats and graffiti, took up space that could be better used, and could be a magnet for terrorists. Seattle Washington has a similar love hate type relationship with public art. Recently voting to have a bench that some called art and others called a magnet for acts of depravity, removed or moved to a new location. Danny Westneat, writer for the Seattle Times, pens, articles periodically about Good Art Gone Bad. One of his columns talks about art not being sacred and the need to purge public art when conditions warrant. The column can be found here. His articles obviously cause quite a bit of controversy and cause citizens to draw lines in the regarding public art.

In Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin Public Art has had a unifying effect. Faced with a downtown that had been partially torn down and abandoned over the years a group of citizens of all ages was brought together to focus on ways to revitalize the downtown. One of the groups decided that public art was a great way to bring new life to the downtown. They visited neighboring communities to view the best examples of public art and ultimately decided murals; specifically historic murals were a great way to engage the community in supporting public art.

Funding was the first challenge to be tackled. The group sought corporate and individual sponsors to support the creation of mural which depict historical scenes, people, culture, places, buildings and events of Wisconsin Rapids. For the first mural this proved to be an easy task. A jewelry store with a one hundred year history sponsored the cost of the entire first historic mural. Over one hundred people gathered under a tent in the downtown area to celebrate and view firsthand what members of the community had been buzzing about for weeks. Artist Susan Sampson, from Black River Falls, was on hand to speak about her representation of one hundred years of history of this strong local business.

This mural definitely had people talking. Some said it looked more like a billboard, some thought the brush strokes and definition in the faces of the owners of the decades were masterful. For the Public Art this mural was awesome because it caused the community to begin talking about art.

More business sponsored murals would follow. These next murals show scenes of paper mills, library history, power history, and logging followed. The turn outs for the unveilings draw more and more citizens. People marveled at being able to identify their family members in the works of art. A sense of excitement about what the next unveiling would bring was in the air.

The mural that really brought the community together is a mural depicting the early days of railroad history. For a donation of one hundred dollars patrons would get their name painted on the bottom portion of the mural. The community support was overwhelming. The mural had to be made large enough to accommodate all of the names supporting the creation of the celebration of the Iron Horse.

From there with the drive and determination of a retired nurse a mural depicting the history of the local hospital was funded through both private donations and support from the hospital itself. This hospital is a place where many community members have either been born or visited over the years. The unveiling of this mural brought retired doctors, nurses and former patient. Again causing the public to take notice in the downtown where the mural was hung very near the post office.

The murals have all been placed in strategic locations, all within the downtown, walking distance from one to the next. A bridge separates the east and west sides of the community, but these historical murals give reason to walk across that bridge and admire the beauty of a downtown on the cusp of revitalization. Visitors and Residents alike have been invited to Take a Walk on the Historical Side, the first brochure can be viewed here.

A community can make the choice to be engaged in the process of commissioning art so they have a better chance of getting the desired results or stand on the side lines and complain about the work that others do. Citizens have a choice of what community to live in and whether they wish to live in a place that sees public art as place to gather rats, or a place to gather people.