Public Art: Monumental?

I spent Tuesday night in North Platte, Nebraska.  I was wrecked, tired, and the Comfort Inn bed was deliciously inviting.  I slipped in to the crisp clean sheets and closed my eyes thinking about the drive. Slumber.  Wednesday seemed to be here well before I was ready.  I awoke, late.  I despise rushing, but I have a schedule.  Have to be in Boston by Saturday morning.  I jumped out of bed, grabbed my workout gear and dashed down to the exercise room.  Mumble, mumble, mumble, to myself.  "Going to have to cut bunches out of my day to stay on target."  After my workout, I stuffed some eggs down and showered, packed, wrote my blog and checked out.  Mumble, mumble, mumble.  My Nissan, Frontier reminded me of her insatiable desire for 89 octane and I drove out of the parking lot to find her fix.  What is it about looking for the best gas price, driving around trying to save a few pennies a gallon?  I filled her up...topped off and ready for another 650 miles on the road.  I headed to the I-80 East entrance, which was back next to the Comfort Inn I stayed at.  The light was red as I got to the freeway entrance and I happened to glance towards the hotel and literally right next door to the hotel was a 20th Century Veterans Memorial.  How the heck could I walk out and not see that!!!  Clean those glasses Robin.

For a brief second I thought, just go.  There will be others.  Really? I argued with myself.  Yes, no,Yes, no.  The light turned green--decision time.  I looked over my right shoulder, pulled out of the lane and headed towards the memorial.  I am so happy I did.  Okay, so let me jump ahead in the story almost six hours later. I now am in Iowa, I had seen a few spectacular art works off the freeway, but the few I saw came up so quickly that I wasn't able to stop as I passed the exit.  In Iowa, it seems, if you pass an exit you have miles to go before the next one to be able to turn around.  And as you all know, I was late and rushing and just couldn't afford the time.  I was again, mumbling to myself about what the heck was I going to write if I didn't see any art.  A short blog indeed.  Fate, acting hilariously, solved that almost immediately.  To my right, among the expansive fields and slow rolling hills standing at the crest was a cemetery.  It looked very old.  I have this fascination with old cemeteries.  My eleven year old daughter, Abigail, died on December 31, 1999.  We buried her in the Hixville Cemetery in Galt, CA.  It's a strange place.  One of the original California settlers burial grounds.  How do I know this?  Well, the dates on the headstones!  Almost half of the deceased were children.  Somehow that very fact was so soothing for us during such a difficult time.

I didn't miss the exit this time.  I quickly made my way up.  I drove into the cemetery, parked and walked up to the peak.  I took pictures.  I walked and looked at the headstones for the dead.  I embraced the sense there and look out across the expanse.  Beautiful Iowa farm lands. Monuments I thought.  The veterans memorial are monuments to the dead, for the living.  I think what I saw there was art?  Now as I looked down at the marker of Eliza Richart 1817-1887, my head was in turmoil.  Are all these headstones art?  Public art?  If sculpted monuments of brave men and women are seen as such, isn't a sculpted piece of granite, with beautiful images and perfect emotional words etched for eternity, art as well?  Help me here folks.  This questioned haunted me for the rest of the 650 miles.  I settled finally, 10:30 pm in Coralville, Iowa.  Another Comfort Inn.  I needed comfort.

It's morning, Thursday.  I got up on time.  Went down to work out.  NO weights...urgh!  Mumbling, I grabbed some eggs and went back to my room to blog.  Here's what I want you to think about.  History, pain, marking the moment, creating a communal experience, making it accessible to everyone--I am confident we all agree those are basic components to public art?

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Public Art Utah and Wyoming

Yesterday, I traveled from Tooele, Utah to North Platte, Nebraska; a 650 mile drive.  My quest?  To find and define public art?  As I drove along the I-80, historical marker after historical marker--marked, the history of our great nation.  Though I was on a search for "art" what I saw along that long stretch, the nature, the landscape, struck me like great amazing art has.  So today's collection of pictures mostly covers the stunning display of natural beauty.  I stopped at a vista just on the Utah side before crossing into Wyoming.  The pictures sky streaked with jet exhaust, lake and mountains existing as if there forever.  As I crossed into Wyoming my friend Lula asked during a call if Wyoming truly was Big Sky country.  I am sure you will agree after looking at the photographs of distant snow kissed mountain tops, lingering expansive plains and windmills speckling the backdrop, all truly eclipsed by a horizon of Big Sky country...indeed!

I also stopped at Green River Visitor's Center where a wonderful lady named Sharon -- her eyes as blue as Big Sky Wyoming -- toured me through the center.  I asked her about her thoughts on public art.  She was emphatic.  All art is public art.  Sharon took me to three different pieces she particularly liked as "public art."  Of the three, consider the wolf.  Is that art?

The final leg of the trip, before my lens succumbed to the setting sun, brought me to the Lincoln Highway memorial in Laramie.  Monuments and art at times are one.  Here is a perfect example of the power of art.  Though I was alone, the wind whipping at 35+ miles an hour.  The temperature dropping fast.  My fingers turning to ice.   I knew, if there was one other person, a kindred experience would surely occur.  That to me is part of the definition of public art. This monument, the masterful artistry of Lincoln's bust stunningly haunting.

I slipped into Nebraska as night ruled.  Humming along at 75 miles an hour.  Wondering what wonders waited for my travels in the bright of day.  I will find out in 1 hour.  Stay tuned.

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Public Art? What's that?

RSP Social Media Consulting. What to say about us?  I penned a rather spectacular outline to follow and use to impress all you readers.  Each time I began to type, I un-typed!  Blah, blah, blah -- it sounded so dreary.  So, as any good writer will instruct: "don't say it, show it."   Art & Community, Business & Politics are our focus.  We want to discover, unveil, reveal and explore the interconnections among these paradigms.  We want to forge partnerships at every level.

Example: on Twitter this past week, which is like a billion tweets ago in Twitter-time, an article on Leo Villareal's light art on the Bay Bridge and B.C. Biermann's App art was tweeted  (http://t.co/HaGTRtYgd5).   Also, SFMOMA's #FutureSFMOMA discussion on the redesigning of the museum was tweeted  (http://t.co/1IHgUzxe36).  All three happenings specifically note the importance of "public art" -- here is where business and politics enter the stage-- public art needs public and private money to make it happen.  That is the breeding ground of the primordial political ooze we all so love and know so well.

25,000 LED lights are now strategically place above and along the outside bridge span.  The concept, if I may paraphrase the author of the article, is the lights move randomly, blending in with the environment simulating impressions of the movement of clouds or the fall of rain.  The lights don't spell out "ART" or something like that.  There is an ethereal-ness to the whole project.  And as I read my head kept bumping into this concept of public art.  What is the purpose of public art?  There is a purpose, right?  Is there a difference between "art" and "public art?"  And with Sequestration looming about, I want to know where my tax dollar is being spent.  (Wow, when did that happen in this artist?).  Self, I said aloud, is a 2 year long "light show" public art?  Really?

So, as I do, I like to read the articles I choose to read, all the way through.  I do this for good reason.  As I perused deeper the author discusses B.C. Beirmann's App art and again relates this art as "public art."  This App allows the user to view particular city locations, you know like a city block, buildings etc as if they were artistic renditions.  That's the cleanest way to describe it, in my mind.  Self, I said aloud, a program App that allows you to see the possibility of a dilapidated neighborhood turning spectacular, by using your phone or IPad, well I can see how that could assist the public and be art.  Hmmmm, the brewing of a definition of what public art may be?

Internally, quite a battle ensued.  Public art -- a light show on a bridge or a software program application? Technology has certainly entered the world of art.   Really dizzying?  Okay now stay with me because I am getting to the point.  Just as I am struggling with these two totally opposite art expressions a tweet comes across from SFMOMA discussion where the curator Ruth Berson states the importance of environmentally sound design, specifically with lighting choices.  And this is part of their" public art" consideration.  I am sure you can see my dilemma.  SFMOMA, wants low light, energy conservation, and equates directly to assisting in the public art experience.  But Mr. Villareal is burning the electricity like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation....Sparky Likes!!!  You might be saying aloud to yourself, Robin, you are being superficial.  Am I?  That is the analysis I am applying to Villareal.  Is the pure emotional value, superficial and tantalizing, its basic reason for being, considered public art?  I am trying to find the public side of this art.  Is public then just art that is placed outside, or in areas where the masses flock?  Is there no definition between art and public art?  Does that mean the Monet on the wall at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena is public art?  If so, then all art is public art?

I do believe there is a distinction between art, and public art.  So much so I am going on a road trip across the US to find out what public art is?  I need your help.  March 18, 2013 I left Sacramento on a three week trip to film, photograph, question folks about this very question.  As I write now, I am just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.  I am heading east along the I-80 with my destination of Boston, Massachusetts.  I will then head south to Florida and come back across country to Los Angeles.  I will be traveling about 600 miles a day.  Here's where I need your help.  If you know any great "art" along this path, I want to know about it and go explore it and discuss with all of you what ART and Community is really all about.  Help me define Public Art.

Yesterday, the first day of my trip, as I drove through Nevada, I stopped at one amazing site.  It was the Thunder Mountain Indian Monument.  I am attaching the photographs so you can see.  I believe it is a great starting point for our discussion on public art.  Please share and post comments to my blog or to my Twitter account @FilmRobin.  I look forward to hearing from you all.

Please visit Smashwords.com and look for Dr. Robin Scott Peters Ebooks now available.