Artifact 9 – Public Art

Objectives:

• Learn about the First Amendment to the Constitution and US obscenity law
• Examine historical and current incidents of Censorship in the US and their relationship to public funding for the Arts
• Learn about the National Endowment for the Arts
• Explore the relationship of cultural values to free speech and tolerance

Original Post:

Public art has to do with expressing the evolution over time of topics such as technology, science, or just art in general. In Doss’s claims, “public art is as diverse as the people who view it” (Doss 1). This reveals that there are many controversies on public art because everyone views it differently. The controversies about public art were mainly presented in either cultural or historical views. “Public art controversy can be used as a tool that enhances community awareness and civic life”. I feel that this statement is absolutely true because public art is for all eyes to see and for them to have their own perspective on the evolution of different things.

The two Runquist murals in the Knight Library show the development of sciences and the development of arts. Overtime, people have been influenced by these murals by the evolution of the human progression of arts and sciences. Since this is found in the library, students get inspired that there is yet to be more innovation, industrious ideas and different types of art that can be made to keep on building the evolution. “Public art includes sculptures, murals, memorials, monuments, civic gateways, pocket parks, playgrounds, and outdoor performances” (Doss 2), so any student can be creative and develop new public art for everyone to look at, just like the Runquist brothers.

There are many different types of public art around the world, depending on where you go, it would sometimes relate. For example, whenever I go to Chinatown in Portland, Oregon, I see Asian public art with Chinese symbols and their exquisite architecture and art. This helps people who visit Chinatown get the feel of a place with authentic Chinese spirit. Moreover, this type of example gives people a spark of identity when they’re there, looking at the public art that they show people. It is mainly cultural and there are some historic art pieces in stores or restaurants that show past historic events that have happened in China.

Moreover, the source of controversy is “diverse and often competing self-interest [that] view public art as a direct extension of their particular cause” (Doss). Different groups want to see different things, and with many voices competing, it’s quite easy to see why it took so long to build the Washington Monument. Doss uses the example of the Memorial of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It isn’t possible to accommodate every interest group without taking away the original purpose of the artwork. During the Great Depression, Teddy Roosevelt made up the New Deal which is a very important historic event that needed to be put up in public art—the Washington Monument so that people can always remember the good deeds that Roosevelt did for people.

My relationship of my values to these issues is that it relates to the community, personal accomplishment and through creativity. Since public art has to do with putting art in the community and/or in a public area for the community to see, my value to community is pretty high in my list of values because I like helping out in the community, and letting others have art to be inspired by. Also, personal accomplishment is a huge value in public art. For example, FDR had a public art put up in Washington about himself because he had a personal accomplishment to show off to everyone, and for people to acknowledge. It takes a lot of creativity to come up with public arts such as the Runquist brothers’ murals.

Reflection:

This assignment helped me realize how important public art was. I knew so little about it and thought people were just trying to show off. But usually, these artists who display public art are only trying to influence and inspire people to become a better and creative person. I learned that public art has cultural and historic views because it is displayed for people to make different views on it. Public art is not only for beautification and jobs, but it’s mainly for identity. A lot of public artworks give a little part of home, by the placement of cultural areas like in Chinatown. Other examples, such as the Statue of liberty in the photo above or landmarks in Chicago are also represented as public artworks that give historic meanings.

This week’s assignment taught me that I could too paint public art that I could display for people to think about and be feel influenced. It is amazing how there are artists who use art to give a voice to the voiceless. This gives the area an identity, which is a reason why I love Eugene, because there are many artists out there who just display their public art to people to get them to feel inspired.

Goals:

• Understand how public art gives an area identity
• See what groups the public work represents
• See how history and culture relate to public art

 

Sources:

Doss, Erica. Public Art Controversy: Cultural Expression and Civic Debate. American for the Arts, October 2006. Print.

Let’s go back a step.
Again! Again! Back to the beginning!

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