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Log inNew art reshaping the city landscape
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New art reshaping the city landscape
by Outspoken on Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:42 am
New art reshaping the city landscape
But how well Greater Portland's latest public art will stand up to public critique isn't clear.
By BOB KEYES
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
Portland’s visual landscape is changing.
Last week, the Portland Public Art Committee placed two sculptures by Maine College of Art graduate Vivian Beer in Winslow Park, a small and easily overlooked grassy preserve along Baxter Boulevard by the Back Cove.
By fall, the city could have a towering crane-like sculpture hovering 80 feet above the West End, overlooking Portland Harbor and celebrating the life and legacy of the late P. D. Merrill, one of the city’s industrial leaders and champion of the waterfront.
And if all goes according to plan, come October the first swatch of paint will be applied to an oil tank on the South Portland side of Portland Harbor, the first stroke in what promises to be the most ambitious and expensive public art project in state history.
And every step of the way, you can be sure someone will complain.
By its very nature, public art is controversial. It involves enhancing a cityscape or bringing a different level of appreciation for the natural or built environment through artistic expression.
The new projects renew an age-old debate about the role and value of public art, and boosters point to them as a sign that Portland and the community at large might be turning a corner in terms of vision and the quality of its public art initiatives. If these projects go as planners hope, they might allow the community to move beyond recent high-profile controversies.
Then again, aesthetics are a matter of personal taste.Case in point: Boothby Square. Two years ago, the Portland Public Art Committee – a nine-member volunteer board – commissioned an artist from Massachusetts to create an environmental sculpture in the Fore Street square that serves as a gateway to the Old Port when approaching from the east.
The idea was to sculpt stainless steel and tall grass to resemble the waves of the Fore River, which many years ago extended all the way up to what is now Fore Street. The piece, called “Tracing the Fore,” has drawn blistering criticism from friend and foe alike.
The grass didn’t come in the way it was supposed to, and instead weeds and clover dominate. Many people who live and work in the area liked Boothby Square better when it was just a park, instead of a piece of art.With the project over budget and reviews wickedly cool, Boothby Square has become more a black eye than a feather in the cap for the city.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=197802&ac=PHnws
But how well Greater Portland's latest public art will stand up to public critique isn't clear.
By BOB KEYES
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
Portland’s visual landscape is changing.
Last week, the Portland Public Art Committee placed two sculptures by Maine College of Art graduate Vivian Beer in Winslow Park, a small and easily overlooked grassy preserve along Baxter Boulevard by the Back Cove.
By fall, the city could have a towering crane-like sculpture hovering 80 feet above the West End, overlooking Portland Harbor and celebrating the life and legacy of the late P. D. Merrill, one of the city’s industrial leaders and champion of the waterfront.
And if all goes according to plan, come October the first swatch of paint will be applied to an oil tank on the South Portland side of Portland Harbor, the first stroke in what promises to be the most ambitious and expensive public art project in state history.
And every step of the way, you can be sure someone will complain.
By its very nature, public art is controversial. It involves enhancing a cityscape or bringing a different level of appreciation for the natural or built environment through artistic expression.
The new projects renew an age-old debate about the role and value of public art, and boosters point to them as a sign that Portland and the community at large might be turning a corner in terms of vision and the quality of its public art initiatives. If these projects go as planners hope, they might allow the community to move beyond recent high-profile controversies.
Then again, aesthetics are a matter of personal taste.Case in point: Boothby Square. Two years ago, the Portland Public Art Committee – a nine-member volunteer board – commissioned an artist from Massachusetts to create an environmental sculpture in the Fore Street square that serves as a gateway to the Old Port when approaching from the east.
The idea was to sculpt stainless steel and tall grass to resemble the waves of the Fore River, which many years ago extended all the way up to what is now Fore Street. The piece, called “Tracing the Fore,” has drawn blistering criticism from friend and foe alike.
The grass didn’t come in the way it was supposed to, and instead weeds and clover dominate. Many people who live and work in the area liked Boothby Square better when it was just a park, instead of a piece of art.With the project over budget and reviews wickedly cool, Boothby Square has become more a black eye than a feather in the cap for the city.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=197802&ac=PHnws
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Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
