Art for the People
Filling the Holes in Our Collective Soul
Editorial by Betty Carpick
What do you think public art is? An outdoor or an indoor mural? A sculpture? A statue in a park? A memorial? LED drone displays? A holiday lit home? Wawa’s Canada Goose? Beardmore’s Snowman? Projections mapping? Paintings in organizations and institutions? Performance art? A handmade quilt hanging on a clothesline? Or do you think there are more important things like repairing potholes than spending money on seemingly high-minded art? Public art is meant to be available and accessible to everyone, yet it undeniably conjures up thorny opinions.
Public art can be site-specific, permanent, or temporary. It can tackle social, cultural, political, historic, economic, and environmental themes. It can be realistic, abstract, conventional, unconventional, humorous, serious, subtle, exaggerated, and everything in between and beyond.
Public art can be created single-handed or collectively. It can be conceived and constructed by local artists or those from elsewhere. For artists, being awarded a public art commission through a rigorous, exacting process is an honour. It’s a way of sharing human truths, artistic expression, and means for an income in an often-precarious work life. If you consider Bacon’s Law, you’re likely six degrees of separation from someone who’s had a role in a public art project, either as an artist, craftsperson, tradesperson, or installer. Depending on the nature and location of the work, public art can be made from just about anything—metal, wood, concrete, paint, plastics, and more. Public art is an evolving form that reflects the fluidity of our world.
As humans, we have a built-in tendency to share things with other people, and often that’s visually or experientially. You don’t have to be a hardcore art freak to appreciate public art. Who’s to say that a kid’s chalk drawing on the sidewalk can’t delight you like Man from the Caribou Totem by Ahmoo Angeconeb, the pair of sculptures at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery? You may feel emotional looking at the Terry Fox Memorial by Manfred Pirwitz and not so much with Traveller’s Return, the aluminum droplet cluster by Andy Davies at Prince Arthur’s Landing. You may never have noticed the steel panels by Roy Thomas with Randy Thomas at the base of the Celebration Circle at the Spirit Garden, but make a habit of visiting the outdoor murals of over 70 artists in Thunder Bay’s first graffiti alley on Cooke Street.
We experience, create, and appreciate art and making in our own ways. There’s no insider secret code to “getting” public art. Even if you think you don’t know anything about art, even if you’re in no mood to learn, it doesn’t lessen your experience. You don’t have to achieve enlightenment or explain your impressions with profound language. It’s great if an artwork sparks conversations or when the craftsmanship, talent, resourcefulness, ingenuity, or the materials speak to you. The next time you encounter public art, take time to focus, undistracted, on creativity shaped by human hands. You may find yourself getting an unexpected hit of dopamine from what you discover.