Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The 2008 Lafayette Seminar

Welcome to the blog for the Lafayette Seminar!

The 2008 Seminar: ART + PUBLIC Engaging the Community through Art

How does public art contribute to the character and experience of our city? What processes best integrate public artwork into our community? What might the future hold for community art in Lexington? The tenth annual Lafayette Seminars in Public Issues address these questions.

The Wednesday evening presentations are free & open to the public- no registration is required. Participation in the Thursday discussion sessions is also free, but enrollment is limited to a maximum of 40 persons to ensure opportunity for discussion. Pre-registration is required, as lunch will be provided by the Gaines Center.


Click here to register for Art + Public
Click here to read more about the seminar.

3 comments:

Gaines Center for the Humanities said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Why does Lexington and LexArts need to continue to talk and talk about Public Art?? It is great to talk about- but it is way past time for action.

Most of us know the variety of formats that Public Art can take- it can be a permanent piece, a temporary piece, it can be sound art, light art, community involved art- a memorial, etc., all of these are wonderful forms of public art- all of which should be commissioned for any city that desires public art to enrich its citizens lives, and expose visitors to its unique culture as well.

We have all visited a city, and been touched by a chance experience with public art. It has inspired us, moved us, been memorable, or caused some sort of reaction.

There are plenty of thriving public art programs all over the country; Lexington can follow their basic template.
We do not need to re-invent the wheel, nor do we need to place one individual at the helm of developing Lexington's Public Art Policy. It needs to be a committee- of experienced folks- from all walks of life- and professionals with art experience. I bet any city with a thriving public art program would be more than happy to share some of its information about how their program is structured. I bet they would even offer up much of their written literature. Or Americans for the Arts- I bet they have some resources that they would love to share.

Certainly it is enjoyable to listen to artists from other places talk about their artwork- but I do not think that it actually helps Lexington grapple with its ideas about adding Public art for its citizens.

If Lexington wants a "Sound Sculpture" it should issue a call-to-artists, and have a consensus decision from its public art committee, and follow an established protocol- and commission an artist to make a "sound" piece. Or whatever form- we need them all.

We have been ripe for public art for some time now. Surely we can be more original than repeating "Horse Mania" over and over again. Horses are great, and we should highlight them, but we have a much more diverse culture that we can highlight. We already have one of the finest horse sculptures by Gwen Reardon- prominent- right downtown. Let's be creative thinkers. Kentucky is full of creative people.
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

There is a whole lot of money in a public art fund, no?????

Why are we not using this to just get something done???

How much of it is going to pay more consultants and guest speakers?

Why doesn't LexArts engage more Lexington and other regional artists?

Is our process to develop a public art program, public??????????????????