Milling Around Tooza Design “Milling Around” is a two-story wall installation made up of hundreds of athletic shoes. It has reference to the rec center’s purpose as well as the history of the area. The shoes are a nod to the function of the building (a basketball court and jogging track), and the shape refers to the grinding circular mill stones that were part of the site over a hundred years ago. 21’ diameter Athletic Shoes Millcreek Recreation Center, Salt Lake City, UT “It is completely up to the Salt Lake County Council to determine if one percent of the construction cost should be dedicated to public art. When that money is in place, the Design and Construction team will determine where the art wants to be. That will be decided by the usage of the building and how much public space is available. Should it be on the exterior or the interior? If it is interior space, then the public has to have access to the space.” Once the RFQ is written, the scope of work, the background, and the nature of the art (sculpture, mural, painting, etc.) that is desired, then the public art selection committee is assembled. In Salt Lake County, that typically is comprised of seven to nine people, including the architect, the client, the contractor, people from the art committee, the artists and people from the community. Valerie added, “When you put together your selection committee, you have to be very wise who you bring in. You should not give too much power to one or two selectors. It should not become political.” There are typically two ways to choose the artist for the project. Committees will commission a piece of art based on a site-specific mock-up, or they will hire an artist based on their portfolio, reputation, and experience, and work with the team to create an appropriate piece of art. Like architecture selections, the proposals are evaluated and then short-listed, then, according to Valerie, “there is a real conversation, sometimes as part of an interview, about what the piece is going to say, what it will depict? What will best complement the architecture?” Valerie enjoys working with an architect who is also an artist, as they understand both the practical and conceptual sides of the project. Rob Beishline, AIA, is just such a person. Rob started his undergraduate work at Weber State in 3D Design. He transferred to the University of Utah and majored in architecture, completing both undergraduate and Masters work in architecture. Rob works four days a week at Method Studio as an architect and the fifth day with Tooza Design — a business he and his wife founded to do art installations, many of which are projects funded by taxpayer Artists found opportunities to be interactive, relational and were chosen and curated by public selection committees. They embraced public movements like environmentalism and sustainability and designed pieces activating the setting in which they were placed. Public art became more about the public. As Nancy Boskoff, former Director of the Salt Lake Arts Council said, “Not always, but more often, public art has turned toward more reflections of the community and the location — appropriate because the works are in public spaces and paid for with public money.” As time has progressed, artists who seek commissions in the public realm with taxpayer money have become sensitized to what the public contemporaneously believe is an appropriate use of its money. The process itself has become more public, and representative selection committees are often utilized to select artists and/or artwork. Although public art certainly can still be divisive, the public funding process has made it far less prone to political controversy. As abstract art has been added to more figurative and representational works in public collections, it is more likely that the public will ask, “But is this art?” before they topple it because it offends their political or social sensibilities. Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, and the State of Utah all have varying but similar public art programs. Valerie Price, the former Salt Lake County Public Art Program Manager, talked about the process the County uses to select artists and art for its architectural projects. 25
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==