ART
NOT NEW BUT MOSTLY UNKNOWN
The Art in Public Places program isn’t new but little
has been said about it since the first ordinance creating its
framework and establishing the Public Art Advisory Board
was adopted by the city council in 2007. That ordinance was
refined and replaced twice, with the last replacement taking
effect in 2018.
The board works quietly in the background, making selections
and recommendations to send to the Planning and
Zoning Board which then decides what to recommend to the
city council.
The advisory board was suspended in 2015 for lack of
quorums at its meetings, but was reinstated in 2017. It began
meeting again in October of that year and its work on public
art took off with a bang.
It was quickly deluged with hundreds of designs for
wrapping the city’s large metal roadside utility boxes with
artwork. It spent several months reviewing them, and to date,
157 utility boxes have been wrapped with original artwork
and lush photographs transferred onto a special clear film
and then placed carefully around each box.
The board dug itself out of that in early 2018 and began
working on submissions from developers who wanted to
install art instead of paying fees into the public art fund.
Through 2019 the board also ranked submissions from artists
who responded to calls for art from the city for placement
in front of city hall, botanical gardens, and at the Bayshore/
Selvitz roundabout. Eventually, a sculpture representing families
could be placed at Westmoreland Park, council members
said. One submission, a colorful, realistic representation of ice
cream pops, would look great in a park, they said.
Five agave sculptures from 6 to 12 feet tall will be placed at the entrance to
Verano South in Tradition. The landscaping will include real agave plants.
They are also known as century plants.
A public art master plan is in the works. According to
Tobin, the city’s long range planning administrator, a consultant
was recently selected. He is Josh Lapp, from Designing
Local, based in Ohio. She took him on a tour around the city
in the first week of February. There are plans to network with
residents at a future date to find out what they want so that a
draft of the plan can be created.
There is no timetable for the master plan yet. But as the city
grows, residents can look forward to more and more art to
enjoy as they drive, walk and cycle around town. E
Lighting at night will provide a
dramatic view of Michael Szabo’s
Relate in the roundabout at Bayshore
Boulevard and Selvitz Road. This
rendering of the sculpture shows
how the lighting from beneath
highlights the graceful curves.
Port St. Lucie Magazine 39