The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

One of my last public art commissions was for the new high school here in Washington State. This was during Covid, meaning our meetings were virtual on Zoom. My original proposal was for two 60 foot long murals, one at the entry, the other facing the main highway. Both were approved by my committee but subsequently overridden by … well, I never knew. The administration maybe. Or a school board. But as we say in the biz, back to the drawing board.

But first the project manager had to tour me through the building again, hopefully choose alternative sites which, oddly enough, weren’t plentiful. When we entered the library on the second floor, there were sidelights at the doorways and over the main entryway just below. About when we decided these might be appropriate sites, the librarian, curiosity aroused by intruders in her fiefdom, strolled over to inquire what we were up to. The project manager informed her we were considering placing artworks here in her biblioteca.

Now you might think this would be cause for some small excitement, possibly even mild interest in what sort of aesthetic enhancement … but then you obviously have not dealt with that public that is so prominently spotlighted in the nomenclature of Public Art. Our librarian, alarmed now at this invasion of her sanctuary, asked, “Why do we want this?”

Indeed. Why do we put art in our new buildings? Before I could posit a possible explanation, my project manager beat me to the punch. “Because,” she stated matter-of-factly, “we have 1% for art money and we need to spend it.”

Simple as that , no further justification, no fancy hyperbole on my part, just basic economics, skip the rest. Sure, I wanted to ask why my librarian thought books mattered, why maybe she became a librarian in the first place and not an accountant or why in god’s name did she think a philistine should be allowed to teach our kids.

Nope, I kept my mouth shut and drove home sadly, considering lopping off an ear. Art … mostly for the thick-skinned. Public art … only for us crazies.