Creating Place: North Carolina’s Artworks for State Buildings 1 Creating Place: North Carolina’s Artworks for State Buildings Michael F. Easley, Governor, State of North Carolina Lisbeth C. Evans, Secretary, Department of Cultural Resources Mary B. Regan, Executive Director, North Carolina Arts Council Nancy K. Trovillion, Assistant Director, North Carolina Arts Council Jeffrey J. York, Public Art & Community Design Program Director Judye D. Jacobs, Public Art & Community Design Program Assistant North Carolina Arts Council 221 East Lane Street, Raleigh, NC 27601 919.733.2111 www.ncarts.org Photography Credits Unless otherwise indicated below, photographs appearing in this catalog are © 1999, 2000 by Tim Buchman Cover photograph - Zoological Egg Rest and James and John Biggers in front of their mural, North Carolina Belongs to Children, © 1994 by Alan Westmorland David Brewin and Joseph Miller in their studio and Connie Bostic with Thorn of Memory mural, © 1996 by Benjamin Porter A child puts the finishing touches on the Education Wall, © 1992 by the News & Observer Publishing Co. Residents painting Decisions mural, © 1993 by Charlie Newton Education Wall and Conservator Ted Monnich examines Gnomon for stress fractures, © 2001 by Joe Newberry, North Carolina Arts Council From Here to There, © 2001 by Michael Zirkle Graphic design by ARCHETYPE, Raleigh, N.C. Printing by Nittany Valley Offset, State College, Penn. This is a project of the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts. 2000 copies of this public document were printed on recycled paper at a cost of $7,248 or $3.62 per copy. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the North Carolina Arts Council. An Online catalog of the Artworks for State Buildings Program is available through the North Carolina Art Council Web site: www.ncarts.org/awsb.cfm Cover: Horace Farlowe Zoological Egg Rest, 1994 Marble North Carolina Zoological Park, Asheboro, N.C. 2 Contents 6 Foreword Mary B. Regan, Executive Director, North Carolina Arts Council 7 Artworks for North Carolina’s State Buildings Jeffrey J. York, Public Art & Community Design Program Director 33 A Brief History of North Carolina’s Public Art Program Linda Johnson Dougherty, Independent Curator 38 Creating Place: Getting Started With Public Art Jeffrey J. York 40 Public Art Collection Map 41 Collection Checklist 45 Selection Panel Members 1982-1995 3 Acknowledgments This publication is the result of the efforts and support of many people, espe- cially my colleagues at the North Carolina Arts Council. Enthusiastic support and guidance given by Executive Director Mary B. Regan and Assistant Director Nancy Trovillion was crucial to the catalog’s realization. Director of Marketing & Cultural Tourism Maryanne Friend and Communica- tions Manager Joe Newberry provided ideas and suggestions about the organiza- tion and tone of the catalog and served as patient editors. Communications & Public Arts Program Assistant Judye Jacobs deserves special recognition. Through her persistence and diligence, information about the artists and selection panel members was researched, compiled, typed and edited. Moreover, she was instrumental in keeping the publication on track with impending deadlines. Administrative Assistant Gail Frye used her superb editorial skills on the draft manuscripts and lists. Budgeting & Purchasing Officer Cindy Mixter helped in drafting contracts and purchase orders necessary for securing design and printing vendors. Support Services Director Ardath Weaver and Information Systems Manager Christine Wagner provided support in manipulating data and visual image files needed for the publication. Tim Buchman, whose talents are evident, produced the majority of photographs in this catalog. Jean McLaughlin, Georgann Eubanks, Amy Brannock, Renee Piechocki, Maya Emsden and David Mitchell provided assistance with research and in securing quotations. Linda Dougherty, former Project Director for more than 20 of the Artworks For State Buildings Program projects and guest essayist, interviewed individuals who participated in the Program to provide historical continuity of facts. Finally, to the many legislators who supported the efforts of this program, the hundreds of state government officials and citizens who served on the various project selection panels, and above all, the artists who created the artwork, a special thank you. JY 4 James (R) and John Biggers (L) in front of their mural, North Carolina Belongs to Children, 1994 5 Foreword By Mary B. Regan, Executive Director North Carolina’s Public Art Program was born in the Legislature. Its architects were two determined and passionate legislators who wanted North Carolina to take her place beside those other states who had declared it a matter of public policy that art should be included in all state buildings. First, there was Senator Mary Seymour of Greensboro who, in 1982, got $5,000 in end-of-the-year money set aside to buy a piece of art for a public space in the state government complex. Then, in 1987, Representative Marie Colton of Asheville spearheaded a successful drive to move the program into a larger context by setting aside one half percent of the construction costs of all state buildings for art. This was a real high point in the partnership between the arts and the Legisla- ture. It cemented a simple but sophisticated concept - that art should be an integral part of government buildings, that it makes a statement about the work that goes on inside and that citizens are welcome in the state’s public places. It is not possible to think of public art in North Carolina without acknowledging the enormous space in that whole process that Jean McLaughlin occupied. From 1982 until 1998 she ran these difficult, challenging and exhilarating programs with energy and style. She held out in front of us a vision of what North Carolina could be. She believed absolutely in the power of the arts to transform the face of our state. She was smart and articulate and made the case for public art with grace and passion. But, public art, by its nature, invites controversy. It appears there in front of you. It belongs to the taxpayers. It practically demands a response. And in 1995, in the midst of the culture wars in Washington and significant political transition in North Carolina, the program lost its funding. In those seven years, before funds were eliminated, many North Carolinians had become enthralled with the concept of public art. They saw the wonderful art you will read about in this book and they saw how it enlivened and humanized public spaces and buildings. They became curious about how this art came to be placed in spaces where they had not expected to encounter art. They liked a lot of the art, and they were intrigued by it. They got visions of what else could be done. They wanted to transform the public spaces back in their own hometowns in the same way. Along those lines our focus shifted and Creating Place came into being. This program adds another level of opportunity for citizens to encounter art in their own communities. It puts together teams of community leaders, planners and artists to develop public art and design projects that will give meaning and identity to their communities. We now work through arts organizations, other community groups, and municipal and county government agencies to promote public art. It is something of a natural progression for us, this time driven by local communities, grassroots efforts, and smart people with big dreams. 6 Artworks for North Carolina’s State Buildings by Jeffrey J. York Introduction FROM 1982-1995, the state of North Carolina spent $1.8 million on art through its Artworks for State Buildings (AWSB) Program. This included administration costs. A professional appraisal of that same artwork completed in July 2000 showed that the value of the art had nearly doubled to $3.3 million. The Program “In good times and supported the commission of 58 site-specific projects and the purchase of three in bad times, we’ve existing artworks. Sixteen other artworks were donated to the collection. In total, between 1982 when the N.C. General Assembly first appropriated funds for art in recognized the power state buildings and 2000 when the last AWSB contract was fulfilled, 100 separate works of art by 78 different artists were placed at or in state buildings. of art to enrich people’s lives.” Artists, architects and landscape designers, university faculty members, and even public school instructors competed for and received commissions. Individuals –Marie Colton, N.C. Legislator, residing in or with birth ties to North Carolina made up 68 percent of those 1979-1994 artists. The large number of North Carolina artists who received commissions through a very competitive selection process speaks to the talent of the state’s artists and fulfilled one of the goals of the AWSB Program, which was to promote the development of North Carolina artists and craftsmen. Other artists from around the country added different perspectives and helped the Program achieve a national reputation. In writing about the artwork from a historical point of view, I have chosen a thematic arrangement rather than following a chronological or geographic progression of the projects, which is how they are organized in the checklist. Approaching the collection thematically helps to dispel the notion that the program produced art in a vacuum and shifts the focus from who did what, and when, to the connection of the artwork to the site. Such an approach shows, for instance, the breadth and practicality of integrating art with campus architecture. It demonstrates that public art need not be static, but can be participatory and interactive.