I brainstormed on how I might best share my enthusiasm for (and firsthand experience of) the transformative power of public art without spending my weeknights at city council meetings, citing statistics under fluorescent lights. I want to advocate for what I see as the amazing potential for transformation in our public spaces but art advocacy seems, honestly, like a slog. I would have given up after 5 emails in Michael’s process. My husband will be the first to tell you: I am not a patient person.
Utility Box Art Painted at Jeffrey Fontana Park in San Jose, California Local residents are thrilled with the colorful vaults they now enjoy on their daily walks.
Despite the extensive coordination effort required, the vaults came out beautiful. Grassroots art advocacy is at the root of every public art project that happens. The impetus for the water vault project came from the Fontana Parks Neighborhood Association who organized and lobbied their local representatives to have art in their park. I can’t help but wonder if the benefits and opportunities of public art were better articulated to the “general public”, (particularly those who enjoy art), then the increased public awareness would lead to public pressure on decision-makers and organizations like Caltrans, the Water District, PG&E, school districts, and intra-governmental agencies to create better systems and streamlined processes – wherever and whenever possible – to support more art getting made. In Michael’s words: “By comparison, this project was a pretty small project as it did not require engineering (soils, structural, electric), off-site fabrication, transportation of large scale objects, road closures, complex installation processes, or excessive inter-departmental or inter-agency coordination (though water district approvals had to go through an extensive evaluation process).” We have worked on two projects together and he gets to the point quickly and keeps all the cats (artists, government agencies) herded in the same direction without fuss. It’s worth noting here that Michael is an efficient person. That is a crazy amount of effort for a wee bit of utility box art. 250 hours of staff time for project management and coordinating all the logistics.This does not include the help and time from the Anti-Graffiti team for applying the protective clear coat (at a cost of about $11,000), or all of the volunteer hours that stakeholders have put into this.A cumulative of 600 hours of artist time for their labor in creating their designs and painting the murals.Michael Ogilvie, the Director of Public Art for the City of San Jose, tracked the effort it took for approvals and coordination of the project. I recently was one of six artists selected to paint 12 utility boxes at Jeffrey Fontana Park in San Jose. I wonder if one of the primary obstacles might be overcome by educating decision makers what is possible, (mural art deters tagging, improves individual well being, unifies communities, improves the local economy, academic performance, tourism, and sparks creativity to name a few) and also to share best practices that ensure positive outcomes so that key decision makers can make an easy and informed choice where everyone wins. Where I see an abundance of blank walls as opportunities for transformation, many decision makers see an opportunity for problems. Key decision makers may not be familiar with the upside of public art if they haven’t experienced a community art success story firsthand, but they can imagine many potential risks: fear of inappropriate art, tagging, copyright lawsuits, not being able to paint over the artwork at the end of its life cycle, etc.
Public entities like Caltrans, PG&E, the water district, as well as some city governments and school districts may be “art ambivalent,” but the fact is they own A LOT of the ugly canvases that are ripe for bringing beautification through art into our communities. Handpainted Utility Box Art with Monarch Butterfly in Neighborhood
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