Art committee to begin considering new installations

Eight years after a public arts ordinance passed, creating a funding mechanism to bring more art to Petaluma's civic spaces, the city finally has the funding and plans in place to move forward.

"It's an exciting time, I think we have opportunity to do something that can really transform public spaces," said Alison Marks, chair of the city's public art committee.

The Public Art Master Plan, five years in the works, was approved this summer by the City Council. It dictates how public art is funded, what constitutes art, and where it can go. Advocates of the plan have called it a major step toward increasing the amount of artwork in town.

The plan is funded by requiring builders of large-scale commercial developments to install on-site art worth 1 percent of their project's total costs, or pay that same amount into the city's Public Art fund.

That funding mechanism was put in place eight years ago, but until recently, little money flowed to the fund due to a lack of building in Petaluma. As a result, little public art was purchased through the city. One exception is Cherry Soda, a colorful sculpture by Penngrove artist Robert Ellison, currently situated near Boulevard Cinemas. At first, the sculpture was loaned to the city through the Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation, but then the foundation worked with the city to enable the purchase of the sculpture through the public art fund, but that has been the only purchase to date. With the recent construction of the East Washington Place shopping center, however, money has flowed into the fund and there's now a balance of about $290,000.

"It's kind of this wonderful opportunity," Marks said. "We have the plan in place, new development is happening, and we can start to see the fruits of all the community work to make this happen."

Now that the plan is completed and there is money with which to commission public art, the city's art committee embarked on the next step - public outreach - last weekend. On Saturday, the committee unveiled its Public Arts Master Plan at a forum held at the Petaluma Arts Center. An estimated 75 people showed up.

"We had to keep finding more chairs," Marks said, adding that a diverse group of people showed up. "Quite a few people were just interested in how public art benefits the community, and really want to see some community-based projects happen."

Marks added that others attending included city and county leaders and local artists interested in contributing to public art in town.

She said the goal of the meeting was to introduce the master plan and "get people's imaginations going."

To do so, the committee brought in speakers, including a gallery owner who helped the committee craft the master plan, Chandra Cerrito, an arts administrator with the local Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation, Debra Lehane, public artists Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector, and environmental artist and builder Topher Delaney.

"We wanted people to see what the possibilities were, what other artists are doing," Marks said.

Now, Marks said, the committee must decide what aspects of the master plan to prioritize. It must also choose an initial project to tackle, including a site for the art.

Marks encouraged residents to weigh in at committee meetings this fall on what kind of art they'd like to see.

Meanwhile, the developers of the Deer Creek Village shopping center, which is under construction on North McDowell Boulevard, plan to commission their own art for their project. The developers haven't finalized their plans for the artwork at the site, but initial proposals include an art walk with rotating art displays and artistic benches throughout the project.

The Public Art Committee meets the fourth Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Petaluma Arts Center.

(Contact Jamie Hansen at jamie.hansen@arguscourier.com.)

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