It took me a while to try to understand the meaning of these paintings and figures. I still don’t think I have already totally understood them. However, in the article Public Art Controversy: Cultural Expression and Civic Debate by Erika Doss, he writes “Public art is as diverse as the people who view it” (Doss 2). This quote simply means that different people have different opinions when they view the public arts. There are two interesting murals, Development of Arts and Development of Sciences. Both murals have the same setup and each one has eight panels. Compare these two murals, I am more interested in the sciences one. After I read “A Response to the Runquist Murals”, I figure out that what are the meanings of each panels. They are “Stone Age”, “Iron Age”, “Early Egyptian”, “Greek Period”, “Renaissance”, “Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries”, “Students storing up traditional knowledge” and “Modern Period”. According to Maruska, Maruska think this mural means “figure at base of tree represents humanity rising to erect posture of thinking being”. And on the other hand, the Development of the Arts mural is “a symbol of universal human aspiration to create things of beauty”. I like looking at these two pictures, because I like the way the painter represents the symbol of art or sciences in the different times by using eight small pictures in a structure made by up a tree. I am glad we have some public arts in our Knight Library, because students can get inspired that they could become more innovation and have more motivation to keep on building the evolution like the people in the murals. In Doss’s article, he states that “public art controversy can be used as a tool that enhances community awareness and civic life”(Doss 1). It is just like the situation that I mentioned about the students in the Knight Library.

Doss still writes “It’s difficult to imagine any kind of contemporary public art that might adequately address the multifaceted interests of today’s diverse America.”(Doss 5) I have a self experience about it. Last time when I went to Las Vegas, in the casino hall, there is a statue of God of Wealth, which stands for good luck and being rich. Therefore, people touches his abdomen before they gamble in the casino. This is a trick by the public art. Sometimes, public art can achieve some wishes and hopes to the human beings, more or less. Furthermore, not everyone gets the same message from a public art because we all have our own perspectives on life. For example, people have different jobs, different background culture, and different age. These things could all affect one’s opinion when that person see a public art. In other side, the designer of public art always think about all these factors when he makes an art. He should think where should it built, for which kind of people should be seen and etc.

In my opinion,  public art can be very beneficial if done correctly or put an appropriate place. Because the majority of the public art is related to the local culture. If one public art is put in the inappropriate place, this will be not only useless, but also might have some negative effects. For example, if that statue of God of Wealth is built in a normal street in America. It will be stolen or destroyed by somebody at night, because it is made by gold and it is not necessary to have a symbol of power of rich in the street. Let’s go back to the murals in the Knight Library, we have to admit, these two murals make Knight Library unique, and totally different from other libraries. Therefore, public art can not only affect the people around by, but also affect the place itself. Hence, we need to appreciate the public art works, which are making our lives more meaningful and letting us get inspired by these works.