Lucy's Gone Away

On this chill of a day, a blustery afternoon after the first dusting of snow of the year, it might be appropriate to pause and remember part of Winston's public art past. In the mid 1970s neighbors in the revitalizing West End part of town contracted with an artist to gift to the city a work that seemed to symbolize the emerging yet unfinished rebirth of their own historic neighborhood. The artist, a young Thomas Sayre, placed the work in the woods-encircled natural amphitheater that is northeast Hanes Park. In a moment of unintended prophetic irony, the artist called the walled edifice "Lucy's Gone Away." Though not everyone appreciated the symbolism of the work, no one thought its presence in the landscape was in jeopardy. But, not many months after this picture was taken, a landscaping crew damaged part of the work while mowing. When someone asked what to do about it, no one in the city quite knew how to "fix it;" and, not long after that, one day the work was simply torn down. Lucy went away.

Public art is a mix of things large and small, temporary and permanent. But it almost always is intentional in its appearance in the landscape. The lesson of Lucy is, if a community is not intentional in preserving and maintaining public art in the landscape, it will disappear. Let's hope we've learned our lesson in Winston. Photo courtesy of Thorns Craven.

A Light in our Piazza - Tonight thru Saturday

Following on last month's Stevens Center performance of the Adam Guettel work about Winston-Salem folks on Italian holiday, tonight through Saturday night you can see the Millennium Center's piazza in a whole new light. Literally. Every thirty minutes, from 6:30-11:00pm.

As Ken Keuffel reported in the Winston-Salem Journal last Sunday, lighting students of Norman Coates at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts have teamed their design talents with lighting industry leader and masterclass teacher Paul Gregory to add a definite new spark to the public art scene in Winston. Underwritten by the founding owners of Lucifer Lighting in San Antonio, UNCSA supporters Gilbert and Suzanne Mathews, the show at 101 W. Fifth St. will have plenty of attention running concurrent with the annual Piedmont Craftsmen's Fair in town. It's just the kind of creative flash the town needs more of. Thanks to all involved in this project - perhaps something permanent is on the way soon?

Photo, from UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, shows how one of six different designs has been planned for the building - here by Michael Kohler and his team of Alex Bright and Kyle Grant.

Video of September 16 "Creative Bridge Design" Exhibit Opening

Triangle Neighbors Paint the Town

Or at least one whole street of it.

groundSPARK, the Raleigh Street Painting Festival, will be held September 19-21 in City Market, Moore Square Art District. Sponsored by Visual Art Exchange, this free and open-to-the-public event is part of SPARKcon, both a local talent showcase and a series of workshops to capture ideas about the creative future of the Triangle area of North Carolina.

The event won't just involve letting the kids loose with those oversize pastel chalk sticks on the asphalt (though they'll be a space for that, too). City Market will be filled with over 400 artists actually painting the street, using Martin Street in Moore Square as their canvas. The artists will have only 27 hours to complete their work and will work alongside graffiti artists, fashion designers and musicians to transform Downtown Raleigh into a work of art.

The Raleigh event reminds us in Winston that while we're unafraid to boldly dream of bridges and immovable legacies through public art and design, public art can also be joyously immediate and celebratory, even for a brief moment of time and space. It's a reflection of life - a mix of poof and gone, treasured and transcendent.