Petaluma’s Best to work on public art

David Best, a world-renowned artist known for his ornate Burning Man temples, was last week tapped to create a piece of public art for his hometown of Petaluma.

At its June 22 meeting, the Petaluma Public Art Committee voted unanimously to work with Best to identify a site and a budget for a yet-to-be developed piece of public art. The commission would be the second for the committee, which was formed after the passing of a 2005 ordinance that also established a public art fund.

The move comes on the heels of the committee’s recent decision to commission San Francisco-based artist Brian Goggin to create public art for the Water Street promenade. Best was a finalist in the lengthy process, though the committee opted to work with him to create art at another location on city-owned property.

“We obviously liked what he had to say, we just didn’t feel the site was right,” Chairwoman Caroline Hall said. “We want to find an appropriate site where his message comes across clearly.”

Though a site will be chosen through a collaborative process, Best said he’s already envisioning options that could include municipal buildings such as the city’s police or fire stations or the Committee on the Shelterless’ Mary Isaak Center. He said he’s “glad” he wasn’t chosen for the Water Street commission, a site he didn’t necessarily draw inspiration from.

“I’m excited to work with you to look at maps and find a place that needs a kick in the ass,” he told the committee.

Best’s lengthy career has included creating a number of temples ceremoniously burned at Burning Man, a Nevada-based arts and counterculture festival, as well as other commissions, exhibitions and art car projects. He emphasized his focus on a synergetic community effort while creating pieces, both in Petaluma and abroad.

He expressed a desire for his new work to pay homage to the varied aspects of his Petaluma community, including the late Walter Haake, who developed the Petaluma’s Foundry Wharf, and Royce Van Bebber of the steel fabrication business Van Bebber Brothers. He also referenced an aspiration to represent other facets of the community, including members of the city’s transient population.

During preliminary conversations with the committee, he also suggested creating a scholarship for a local student to play a role in the process.

Catherine Alden, a member of the subcommittee, said Best will present an idea for a specific piece once a site and budget are set. The location will be selected by November, while a concept will be approved by next March, according to a draft work plan.

“His pieces are so beautiful and iconic,” Alden said.

Though it’s still early in the process, Best said he has high hopes for the project.

“It’s going to be good,” he said an interview. “I don’t know what it’s going to be, but it’s going to be elegant.”

He said he wants the piece to speak to those who may feel lost, while also bolstering a neglected space in town.

“It would be nice to make a piece that someone who feels pretty bad about themselves could walk by and say ‘oh, wow, they made that for me,’” he said.

Best’s intimate knowledge of the Petaluma and its residents resonated with Chairwoman Hall.

“He just knows Petaluma so well,” she said. “He knows Petaluma inside and out - the good and the bad.”

Best suggested that a crowdfunding campaign could help increase the committee’s budget and broaden the reach of the project. Funding will come from money collected from developers of large projects who are required to either pay a fee into the fund or commission their own public art.

The art fund has a $418,436 balance, according to the most recently available April statement.

The committee is also seeking to formalize a work plan, establish a process for selecting smaller artworks and identify its top sites for placing art, with discussions to continue at its July meeting.

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com.)