Across North America, public art is connecting artists with communities. It’s making a Splash in downtown Chicago, and is the source of Conversations in Tampa, Florida. From giant ears of corn in Dublin, Ohio to 5,500-pound shuttlecocks in Kansas City, Missouri, larger-than-life sculptures are bringing color and interest to communal space to engage the emotions and imaginations of local citizens. “

Today, there are more than 350 public art programs that support thousands of artists’ projects in airports, train stations, libraries, parks streetscapes, government buildings and neighborhoods –urban, suburban and rural,” according to Jack Becker, founder and artistic director of FORECAST Public Artworks. “The majority of public art programs (81 percent) are housed within a public agency – an office of cultural affairs, arts commission, or some other operating department.”

Typically, these agencies work closely with architects, business leaders, landscape designers and engineers to shape public space with art, not just to improve existing space. In cities like Seattle, Phoenix and Scottsdale, public art has become an integral part of civic infrastructure, including, bridges, wastewater treatment plants, freeways, parks, sports complexes and other projects. Since Florida established its Art in State Public Buildings Program in 1979, more than 1,000 works of art have been purchased and installed in state buildings, universities and state parks. Under this program, the cost of these projects cannot exceed half of 1 percent of the total cost of the building or $100,000, whichever is less. 

“Percent-for-art” programs like the one in Florida are a primary source of public art funding in more than 30 states, 300 cities and dozens of counties, Becker noted. Other revenue sources include the federal government’s Art-in-Architecture (AiA) program, The National Endowment for the Arts’ Art in Public Places Program, corporate sponsorships and private contributions from foundations and individuals.

In addition to increasing real estate values and creating opportunities for small local businesses, public art creates an economic ripple effect for the artists, their architectural and engineering consultants, fabricators, landscapers, lighting specialists, painting contractors and high-performance coatings manufacturers. For decades, Tnemec protective coatings have been specified for outdoor sculptures to provide high color and gloss retention, as well as outstanding resistance to weathering and the effects of ultraviolet (UV) light.

October is National Arts and Humanities Month when major cities to small towns across the country honor artists, historians, and cultural groups and invite Americans to experience the arts. Tnemec is proud that its high-performance, architectural coatings appear on prominent public art projects from coast to coast, including these remarkable sculptures: 

• Shuttlecocks, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Installed in 1994 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, these fiberglass sculptures feature Series 1072 Fluoronar, a high-solids fluoropolymer coating, in two satin finish custom colors – Shuttlecock White for the feathers and Atkins Pumpkin for the orange tips. (photo courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art)

• The Bat Column, a 1975 steel and aluminum sculpture shaped like a baseball bat is located outside the Harold Washington Social Security Center in Chicago. This Oldenburg creation was coated with Series 73 Endura-Shield, an acrylic polyurethane that is highly resistant to abrasion, wet conditions, corrosive fumes and exterior weathering. (photo courtesy of Kim Karpelws Photography)

• East of the River: Connections by Ann Allerdyce is located outside the Congress Heights Subway Station on the Green Line in Washington, D.C. The 15-foot-high by 14-foot-wide abstract sculpture was coated by the fabricator using Series 66 Hi-Build Epoxoline, an epoxy primer, and alternating bands of Series 1070 Fluoronar in a yellow gloss finish and Series 1076 Fluoronar Clear in high-gloss finish.

• Sunshades, created by Anita Margrill for Ventura Community Park in Ventura, California, consist of four 19-foot diameter aluminum sun shelters primed with Series 135 Chembuild, a polyamidoamine epoxy and topcoated with Series 1080 Endura-Shield in different hues of red, blue, green and yellow. (photo courtesy of the City of Ventura)

• Splash, a 1986 painted aluminum abstract sculpture located on the Boulevard Towers Plaza in Chicago, was created by Jerry Peart who used Series 73 Endura-Shield in several bright colors. 

• Field of Corn (with Osage Orange) was created in 1994 by Malcolm Cochron in Dublin, Ohio, and features 109 six-foot-tall pre-cast concrete ears of corn. Each sculpture is coated with Series 660 Prime-A-Pell 200, a clear, modified siloxane with diffused quartz carbide that resists water intrusion, stain damage, freeze/thaw cycling and rust damage. 

• Conversations, by Eric Higgs, consists of twelve 60-foot panels representing the evolution of conversation between different personalities. Designed to artistically enhance a six-story parking structure in Tampa, the fabricated metal panels were primed with Series 66 Hi-Build Epoxoline and topcoated with Series 1071 Fluoronar in multiple semi-gloss colors.

Public art projects like these engender “a sense of pride and community identity,” Becker added. “Public art has the distinct ability to add beauty to our shared environment; to commemorate, memorialize, and celebrate; and to transport us, if only momentarily, out of our daily routine. Public art is for everyone and it is free. Many people don’t visit museums or attend the theater; anybody can experience public art.”  

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