Posts from ‘Public Art’
Since the Town of Jackson’s wide-reaching DRD (Downtown Redevelopment) plans were voted down via public referendum seven years ago—a true, in-your-hands measure of community sentiment expressing its will that we not over-develop our town, not turn it into a playground for mismatched, overbuilt developments, not speculate that we can match Teton Village’s resort destination allure—-we’ve watched development happen. When citizens said “no” to DRD, development rights were simply granted individually, one project at a time.
And here we are, with a fist full of empty commercial space, large quantities of unsold real estate units, and a community that feels ever more transient. Too many citizens wonder if they should stay in the valley or leave it.
Town planners and community have been, for years, giving their lives over to creating an acceptable plan for this special place. We have been asked to trust our comments are truly heard by our leaders, charged with representing the public’s interest. As a community, we cannot afford to know we’ve all been whistling dixie. We want a logical process of implementation.
Otherwise, for all these years, our community has merely engaged in an exercise.
Preserving environment and quality of place, managing growth, and creating a viable, broad-based economy are Jackson’s great challenges. We need a certain critical population mass to achieve
that balance, but most crucial is ensuring we promote and protect our wildlife, its habitat and other environmentally sensitive areas.
We must continue moving towards making the arts a part of the Town of Jackson’s future. We can remind all visitors of our history by including beautiful and lasting public places in our Comprehensive Plan. That sort of planning aids in building tourism and helps us towards finding out what level of economic success we can expect to reach. We should, as Candra Day has said, be strengthening sustainable tourism practices, using cultural assets as tools. Growth should incorporate landscaping, parks, and grace of space. Let’s create space both sacred and fundamental. Without these provocative elements, we forfeit a higher level of urban vibrancy.
Officials must strategize to attract new businesses–businesses offering solid, long-term employment—to Jackson. Attract and establish products and services desired and supported by locals and visitors. Strive to fill all this empty commercial space, rather than plan for more building.
It still appears that developers are feeling encumbered by wildlife. Our core economic stability lies in protecting and preserving the power of this place. All new projects should be primarily concerned with that goal. Geography and wildlife are our golden eggs–they will only become more precious.
Keep downtown vibrant, give it an identity separate from Teton Village’s—we cannot match that profile—and use it as a place where families who can’t afford $400 a night lodgings may stay. We want to keep those “families of five from Toledo.” We want them to be able to come hereand experience the wonders of this place–we want to educate them. If we do not, why will anyone want to protect this place?
Former Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance Director Franz Camenzind has said, “We come home, there’s a moose in the yard. We pick up the phone, call our friend in Atlanta, and get them to guess what’s outside our window. It’s not just going to the parks to see these animals, it’s having them right there with us. Living with them. Nobody has the diversity of wildlife we do, let alone have it as visible as it is, interwoven with community.”
Back in catch-up mode thanks to that culprit, Spring Break. Very late breaking news, below:
Members Only, the Art Association’s 2011 exhibition of works by Art Association members of all ages, opens at the Artspace Main Gallery in the Center for the Arts Friday, April 15. A reception will be held 5:30-7:30 pm. Presented in memory of former Art Association board member Norman Shapiro, the show celebrates community creativity. Cash prizes and children’s class scholarships will be awarded.
Also opening April 15: Solidarity, featuring work by Amy Jurekovic and Amanda Sullivan in the Artspace Theater Gallery, is an exhibition about examining, celebrating, and defining self. 5:30-7:30 pm. www.artassociation.org
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Artists have until April 22, 2011, to submit qualifications and concepts to create art that will “enhance” Jackson Hole Community Pathways System North 89 pathway underpass. The underpass, scheduled for construction this summer, will consist primarily of four concrete retaining walls. Those surfaces will act as canvas for the artist whose ideas for embellishing the walls best meet non-profit visions for the space. The underpass will be a connector and gateway to the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s new sculpture trail, designed by Oakland based landscape designer Walter Hood. It also provides bike and pedestrian access between the Town of Jackson and Grand Teton National Park, running parallel to the National Elk Refuge.
Budget for the project is $25,000. To find out more about the project—and learn more about budget fund allocations—contact the Jackson Hole Public Arts Initiative by logging on to their website here. 307-413-1474.
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From the National Museum of Wildlife Art:
“Master wildlife artist Carl Rungius first visited Wyoming and Yellowstone in 1895, inspiring his life’s work of depicting Western animals. In a new exhibition, Above Timberline: Engravings by Carl Rungius, May 7 through October 2, 2011, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, which maintains the largest public collection of Rungius’s art in the U.S., will display its complete set of Rungius drypoints, featuring examples of many of his favorite subjects, the Rocky Mountains’ famous game animals in their natural habitat.
Also a big game hunter, Rungius used his anatomical knowledge of wildlife to create accurate portrayals. Equally accomplished as a painter of wildlife and landscapes, his work also serves as a valuable record of the
animals and their environment, while his reputation as a premier wildlife artist won him fans including President Theodore Roosevelt, whom Rungius worked with to help make positive changes in wilderness preservation and big game hunting.
The pieces on display in the museum’s new Above Timberline exhibition use an intaglio engraving technique known as drypoint etching, where lines are scratched directly into a cold metal plate, leaving ragged “burr” edges. While the burr is removed in copperplate engraving, in drypoint it is left intact to produce softer lines and a more painterly effect.” www.wildlifeart.org
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Painter Scott Christensen has three new works available; all measure 10 x 12 inches and are fine choices for those starting plein air collections. You can find out more about Christensen and his work at www.christensenstudio.com. Email kristinm@christensenstudio.com.
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A certain local arts writer continues to display aggressive hostility towards Jackson gallery arts. Does he consider everyone but himself an establishment enemy? His alter ego is a cross between a
Kennedy sailboating skipper and William F. Buckley, Jr.—-a Montauck Yacht Club member charicacture. And he sometimes goes out searching for his brother “Teddy.” Calling Dr. Freud! Therapists would opine that the excessive talk about his and others’ sex lives are distractions from ……….well, good luck with that.
There is a long list of reasons why Vertical Harvest’s garage garden project merits a green light. Its value as public art lies near the top.
The proposed vertical garden is more than a green project (see this link for an April, 2009 post on vertical gardens). Vertical gardens are one form of public art, and creating a good plan to incorporate public art into town planning would be a very smart move for Jackson. As Americans for the Arts notes, it’s important to clarify the difference between public art and art placed in public spaces. ArtSpot is an example of the latter; a vertical greenhouse an example of the former. ArtSpot offers art to everyone; one needn’t visit a museum or gallery. That is benefit in itself.
Public art incorporates planning around a specific site, considers how it will affect the public, how environmental conditions will figure in, evaluates what the art says about the site and community it inhabits. Vertical Harvest’s garden will provide healthy food, cleaner air, jobs (engineers, food growers, architects, designers, solar scientists…) and add welcome beauty to an unremarkable structure.
Successful public art is a powerful tourism tool. It builds cultural appeal. It builds recognition of place; it interprets place. All these elements stimulate economy. Well positioned public art draws people through urban spaces. Public art would engage visitors who don’t make it more than a block south, north, east and west of the Square and encourage them to venture further.
Often, public art is not fully appreciated until years after its installation. But you need only consider your favorite public art landmarks. Can you imagine the cities and spaces they inhabit without them? Over time, dynamic public art becomes an enduring symbol of place.
Vertical Harvest’s project design leaves most of the garage accessible for parking. If its building specs permit, the newly green space could be rented out for public functions, fund raisers, weddings, bat
mitzvahs, etc. All generating revenue. The Town of Jackson’s identity, going forward, seems up in the air. Adding significant amounts of public art to available spaces (planning for and creating an open sculpture garden adjacent to the Center for the Arts, for example) will help Jackson move into an identity clearly different from that of Teton Village and Shooting Star. It is a very difficult course to try and match their status as luxury ski resorts.
Jackson’s 2010 Fall Arts Festival’s resounding economic success indicates that arts are the Town of Jackson’s trump card. Let’s play it.
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Eco-landscape designer Patricia Johanson sends this video made for a NYC art exhbition; the clip profiles the Petaluma Water Recycling Facility and Salt Lake City, “finally in construction after large cash settlements and other concessions to a developer who owned an easement across our trail.” Good public gardens and public art also increase real estate values, says Johanson.
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Wyoming’s Olive Fell (1896-1980) will be the focus of Cayuse’s attention on Thursday, February 17. Stop by Jackson’s best Western and National Parks Americana gallery from 5-8 pm that day, and see how Fell’s work “presents a reflection
of the beauty in stillness, the peaceful wonder, and the fun and humor that still compose the American West.”
Cayuse’s Mary Schmidt shares Fell’s history:
“Born in Big Timber, Mt in 1896 (Fell) spent her early childhood in the remote areas of the northern part of the state….Her natural relationship with the wilderness drew her to move to the 1800 acre Four Bear Ranch after her schooling, and this is where she remained for the duration of her life. The Four Bear Ranch, 25 miles west of Cody, was close to both Yellowstone and the protected game refuge of the Absaroka Range; thus allowing her to track and observe animals. From the beginning Fell’s works were highly regarded on a national level. In 1934 her etching For Minds to Know was selected as one of best 100 prints of the year. Her works were seen at the International Etchers show in LA; the Northwest Printmakers show in Seattle; and at The National Art Exhibition in Chicago in 1939. It was a natural that Fell would develop a long relationship with Yellowstone. In the 20s through the 40s Fell created postcards, posters, and letters for park visitors. Locally she also began loaning works to the Buffalo Bill Museum, later renamed The Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Her works hung in the museum for years and they, along with the Montana Historical Society, still have the largest collections.”
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Meet photographer John Richter during during Thursday, February 17th’s Gallery Walk.
Remember wildflowers?
Richter Photography is located at 30 King Street, across from Shades Cafe. Stop by to visit Richter and see his work 5-8:00 pm. For information, phone 307.733.8880 or email sales@johnrichterphoto.com.
