One of my favorite moments from the Phineas and Ferb cartoon series was a moment too complicated to explain fully. In short, Phineas and Ferb’s mom stumbles upon an unusual contraption she wasn’t really meant to see and says,
“Hmm…I’ll never really understand public art.”
Perhaps it’s meant to resonate with anyone who has ever stumbled upon an example of public art that they find incomprehensible. Of course, not all public art fits that mold.
What is “public art”? According to this piece from the Association for Public Art in Philadelphia:
Public art is not an art “form.” Its size can be huge or small. It can tower fifty feet high or call attention to the paving beneath your feet. Its shape can be abstract or realistic (or both), and it may be cast, carved, built, assembled, or painted. It can be site-specific or stand in contrast to its surroundings. What distinguishes public art is the unique association of how it is made, where it is, and what it means. Public art can express community values, enhance our environment, transform a landscape, heighten our awareness, or question our assumptions. Placed in public sites, this art is there for everyone, a form of collective community expression. Public art is a reflection of how we see the world – the artist’s response to our time and place combined with our own sense of who we are.
If you followed this year’s budget season, you’ll know that the County is embarking on a new permanent public art program called Arts for All.
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball is partnering with the Howard County Arts Council to create a new countywide Public Art program in Howard County, Maryland. This new ‘Arts for All’ program will solicit and commission iconic, permanent public art installations from a nationwide network of visual artists.
The new Arts for All program builds on the past ARTsites initiative, which placed art pieces around the county each year on a temporary basis. I’ve written about that before. Now the County, in collaboration with the Howard County Arts Council, will be selecting permanent installations to be placed through the community.
They want your input. And, much to my delight, the survey is not too long.
To give you a hint of what kind of art they will be considering, here’s a question from the survey.
Take the survey. It’s approximately three minutes long. (More if you overthink.) I would like to know how they intend to make sure that the art that is chosen represents more than the work and artistic sensibility of white male artists.
But that’s another story altogether.
What’s your favorite piece of public art? I’m a big fan of Cloud Gate in Milennium Park in Chicago, and the Man/Woman sculpture in from of the train station in Baltimore. But my favorite public art installation is right here in Columbia.
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