Stacy Levy

When a public artwork is unveiled, we assume it was planned to look that way from the inception of the project: a straight arrow from proposal to completion. However, this is usually not the case.

Typically, there are a myriad of changes, alterations, trimming, and edits that take place at anytime during design as well as construction phases as a project progresses towards completion. The flexibility to revise the project and respond to proposed changes is the most valuable skill an artist can acquire when seeking to create public art. Changing situations and the resulting alterations are the common currency of public art and artists must accept and expect alterations when agreeing to a public art commission.

I have a solid foundation of built projects that underwent revision and will discuss various lessons-learned from my perspective as an artist at the Public Art Preconference prior to the Americans for the Arts Annual Convention in Pittsburgh this June.

At the session, I will be joined by other public art professionals who have worked on teams including: Natalie Plecity, a landscape architect from Pittsburgh, and Cath Brunner, public art director of 4Culture in Seattle.

The session panel will discuss how projects are altered by unforeseen site conditions, community input, and government changes as well as funding issues. Conversely, we will also share the refreshing about-face when revisions lead to new and more creative solutions. All of these forces have an impact on the final public artwork—some help improve the project, other situations can stamp out great ideas with too many limitations and other requirements.

We will present examples from both sides of the coin: projects improved by changes and others permanently and detrimentally altered in the process of implementation.

The panelists will address different ways they have navigated unexpected situations and share project management tools to create an outstanding artwork that offers a sense of pride of completion for both the design team and the community.

So, before you arrive in Pittsburgh in June, the next time you view a public art project, think about the many and varied scenarios that may have informed the final work.