History of Public Art in Scottsdale

Scottsdale Public Art Program
In 1985, the Arizona city of Scottsdale adopted a one percent for art ordinance and established the Scottsdale Public Art Program with the goal to enhance the quality of life afforded area residents and visitors. Since that time:

70 permanent public artworks commissioned through the Scottsdale Public Art program

Scottsdale's program and projects have won local, regional and national awards. Public art has taken many forms ranging from the walls of the Pima Freeway to James Turrell's Skyspace at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. The Scottsdale Public Art Collection includes traditional sculpture in the public square such as Ed Mell's Jack Knife, a noise abatement wall popularly known by neighbors as the "fish wall" and the signature design elements of the Loloma Transit Center by artist Vito Acconci and architect Doug Sydnor. The Public Art Collection includes work by acclaimed artists, who collaborate with the public and with design professionals, including Kevin Berry, Carolyn Braaskma, James Carpenter, Mags Harries, Larry Kirkland, Laurie Lundquist and Jack Mackie. Projects underway include work by Paolo Soleri, Donald Lipski, and Al Price, each creating works for the Arizona Canal.

The Scottsdale Public Art Program is managed by the Scottsdale Cultural Council, a private, non-profit 501 (c) (3) management organization that administers the arts and cultural affairs of the City of Scottsdale, Arizona and also manages the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

As sculptor Kevin Berry watched the nursing home patients staring vacantly at passing traffic, an exciting idea came to him...

Why not add some life to that stretch of barren roadway so the residents could gaze at birds and flowers rather than bleak pavement? The artist answered himself in the creation of The Hummingbird Garden , a pocket park, planted with hummingbird-friendly shrubs and flowers. The artist's creation has literally transformed the triangle between Scottsdale Road, Drinkwater Boulevard, and Monterey Way into a cluster of blooming plants native to the Southwest.

For his imaginative concept, Berry won the 1995 Crescordia , an award given yearly to visionary thinkers and contributors to the environment. Berry's project, built with the engineering team of Greiner Inc., was chosen for the award by the Valley Forward Association, a public interest group that supports quality of life issues in the Valley of the Sun, in partnership with The Honeywell Corporation.

Enhancing Public Buildings
In the past, public art projects have often been conceived in isolation from their planned location and then dropped into place. The new approach to public art is based upon involving artists as active members of the building project's design team as early as possible. Artists, working alongside the landscape and building architects, developers and others, provide for a more organic integration of artwork which results in a much greater impact on the project design and site.

The incorporation of public art into the City's development efforts gained momentum in 1985 with the adoption of a Percent for Art Ordinance. The ordinance provides for the establishment of a fund which allows for the commissioning of public art works.

In 1989, the first piece commissioned through the Public Art Program was Ken William's Mustang Wall, a bas relief mural located at Scottsdale's Mustang Library. Since then, fifty-six temporary and permanent artworks have been created under the Percent for Art Program. An additional ten projects are in various stages of progress. The City has also lent its support to temporary artworks such as the unique masking tape murals of Michael Townsend which have adorned the Scottsdale Center for the Arts during the annual spring Arts Festival. Working by night with two assistants, Townsend created medieval castle facades and other fanciful images with royal blue masking tape. By dawn, the Center walls were transformed into enormous, playful scenes that delighted viewers during the length of the festival.

Another temporary project supported by the City is the work of Master Italian Street Painter, Kurt Wenner, who has created a three-dimensional chalk "painting" on the pavement during the Arts Festival.

Beginnings of an Art Collection
Scottsdale's commitment to the support of public art has a long history as well as an ambitious future. After the acceptance of two paintings in 1967 by artist Earl Hammock, donated by Mr. And Mrs. Gilbert Maxwell of Scottsdale, the City formally established a collection. From that beginning, the City's art collection, managed by the Scottsdale Cultural Council, has expanded into a holding of 795 works valued at over $7 million.

One of the first works of art commissioned by the City of Scottsdale was Windows to the West , a Cor-ten steel sculpture by the world-renowned sculptor Louise Nevelson.

By 1973, the piece purchased with financial support from Scottsdale's residents, other donors and the National Endowment for the Arts, was placed at the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall. The Civic Center Mall, on six acres in downtown Scottsdale, currently exhibits 16 donated or purchased works.

Time/Light Fusion, 1990 A Wise Investment
Public art has been an excellent investment for Scottsdale, both aesthetically and economically. This conviction is supported by the tremendous growth in the value of artworks purchased thus far. For example, Nevelson's Windows to the West has significantly increased in value since it was originally commissioned for $40,000. Dale Eldred's hanging glass pendulums Time/Light Fusion at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts is another example of a public art project which has substantially increased in value.

As for investment return in the form of public appreciation, few pieces in the City's collection can match that of Larry Kirkland's Imagination Gives Us Wings , certainly one of the most popular public artworks in Scottsdale. Installed at the Scottsdale Library, the work comprises two parts: a mammoth golden feather of gilded aluminum suspended at the building's entrance and a silhouette of a bird in flight high above the walkway. As the sun traverses the sky the bird appears to move across the library entrance.

The City's approach to the future of public art is founded in the acknowledgment that art is a vital component of Scottsdale's future and quality of life.

Today, public art in Scottsdale often falls into two categories: functional infrastructure projects where artistic enhancement is expanded beyond typical embellishment, and that which is highly sculptural. Often, projects fulfill both categories. Each potential artwork is treated case by case, with unique scope, construction plans, funding sources, politics, and community position. After the artist selection process, the Scottsdale Public Art Program generally writes a contract for the artist to collaborate with a design team to develop art elements for the project. Depending on the outcome of the design contract, the artist may be contracted to fabricate all or portions of the art element. It is not uncommon for the art to be fabricated and installed by an outside contractor under the supervision of the artist.