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SET-ASIDES FOR ART

ILLINOIS IS A LEADER
IN SUPPORTING PUBLIC ART

by Michael Hawthorne

When they think of the University of Illinois, people often focus on the welcoming arms of the Alma Mater statue outside the Illini Union on the Urbana campus. The weathered sculpture by Loredo Taft is a magnet for camera-toting freshmen and their parents looking for a snapshot that captures the essence of collegiate life. Images of the statue are featured prominently in university literature and promotional material.

As the state underwent a building spree during the past decade, the U of I has quietly become a magnet for a more modern form of art, commonly referred to as public art. The abstract, outdoor sculpture pieces match the grand scale of the academic buildings they surround and often are designed to reflect the work that goes on inside. Similar pieces, along with paintings, quilts and other forms of art, are part of nearly every state building constructed since the late 1970s. With little fanfare outside the arts community, the state has spent nearly $5 million since 1977 funding 500 projects through a program known as Art-in- Architecture, which sets aside 0.5 percent of the cost of new and renovated state buildings to decorate them with the work of Illinois artists.

The largest collection financed through the program is at the James R. Thompson Center in the Chicago Loop, a fitting distinction because the former governor whose name adorns the glass and steel office building pushed for more state funding of the arts. The state spent nearly $600,000 for 147 works of art tucked throughout the building. Every day, hundreds of people walk through the lobby past the painted welded steel sculpture, "Bridgeport," by Chicago artist John Henry.

At the behest of Thompson and then-state Sen. Dawn dark Netsch, Illinois was one of the first states in the nation to set aside money for art in building projects. The federal government, 32 other states and numerous cities now operate similar pro-

Anvil Tops, by James Winn, is located at the Illinois State Library in Springfield.

12 / December 1996 Illinois Issues

grams, says Laura Loyacono, who follows the arts for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Like most art, pieces funded by the so-called "Percent for Art" programs often receive mixed reviews.

"Public art is about making public spaces more congenial and more interactive," says Loyacono. "What is rejoiced by some is criticized by others, but these programs require educating architects and public officials about the role an artist can play in a building project."

Some citizens may grumble about the art, but there is nothing in the Illinois collection that resembles the federally funded projects that have incurred the wrath of conservative congressmen. There are no homoerotic nude photographs by the late Robert Mapplethorpe or American flags on the Capitol floor similar to the controversial Dred Scott Tyler piece displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989.

Indeed, funding for the Art-in- Architecture Program has never become an issue among state legislators, largely because the money is tucked into capital appropriations for multibillion-dollar state buildings. The amount spent on art for each project is a fraction of the total cost.

"I think it helps that this money isn't going to performance art or anything that's incredibly controversial," says Stephen Luecking, a DePaul University art professor who created the massive "Upwells," a 40-foot spire and plaza outside the U of I's Beckman Institute in Urbana. "I have a friend who does a lot of Holocaust-related work with swastikas that I think is great art," he says. "But that probably wouldn't go over too well with community leaders looking for sculpture to put outside city hall." Michael Dunbar, a sculptor who coordinates the state program, says it helps politically that only Illinois artists are allowed to participate. A committee of artists, state officials and community representatives oversees each project and reserves the right to reject submissions.

Art under attack in Congress is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which has drawn fire for funding individual projects such as the Mapplethorpe photographs and the female performance artist Karen Finley, who appeared topless in public with chocolate smeared on her breasts.

There is nothing that risque in the Illinois Art-in-Architecture collection, but that doesn't mean public art isn't controversial. In North Carolina, a "nonvisual sculpture" installed in a new revenue department building drew complaints from employees and a local newspaper columnist.

"Spiraling Sound Arts," intended to pay tribute to the state's diversity, plays dozens of sound bites from 36 loudspeakers hidden in the building's entrance and ceiling. "Had state officials set out to do the dumbest and most inappropriate thing possible, they could not have succeeded more spectacularly," fumed Dennis Rogers of the Raleigh News & Observer. "For $150,000 you could pay six teachers or police officers for a year instead of buying a tape that offers two minutes and 48 seconds of boiling lard."

Because Illinois' "Percent for Art" projects are funded through capital appropriations, it would be impossible to use the money for another purpose. If it isn't used for art or some part of the building project, it isn't used at all.

Says Loyacono: "These programs typically draw complaints from people who wonder why they aren't funding more statues of some guy on a horse."

By depending on appropriations for bricks and mortar projects, the number of works funded by the Art-in-Architecture Program each year reflects the state of the economy. When a recession in the early 1990s forced the Illinois General Assembly to cut back on building projects, Art-in-Architecture cooled off as well. The one art project commissioned in 1991 cost $90,000 — a relatively small amount in a $30 billion state budget.

"A good economy is good for artists, just as it's good for plumbing contractors and construction firms," says Dunbar. "But if we chose our first work from New York, every time we got some money people would want to fly to Paris or New

Illinois Issues December 1996 / 13

York to buy art. That would have made us an easy target for budget cutters."

Artists say the program has been helpful to their careers and has helped keep the arts community thriving in Illinois. That's good for the economy, they say, because they end up spending the bulk of their commissions at home. "People who criticize this type of art don't realize that artists are taxpayers too," says Dann Nardi, a Bloomington sculptor. "My taxes are being spent on a lot of things I'm not happy about." Nardi is one of five artists finishing $290,000 in sculpture for the new Chemical and Life Sciences building on the U of I Urban-Champaign campus. The group also includes Peter Fagan, a U of I art professor who created the Illinois Workers Memorial on the Capitol grounds and a statue of former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley in the Capitol rotunda.

A Heritage Revisited, by Preston Jackson, is at the Cahokia Mounds Museum and Interpretive Center in St. Clair County.

By showcasing sculpture, paintings and other art forms in and around government buildings, the Art-in- Architecture program also has moved art outside the galleries and into everyday public life, where people can't avoid it even if they aren't interested.

For instance, the "Upwells" plaza designed by Luecking has become a popular summer gathering place on the U of 1 campus. People lean against the spire while reading books and children play in the water pools. Few may notice that it is an abstract astronomical gauge marking the Earth's path through the solar system.

"A public building should be more than an impersonal concrete bunker," says Bloomington painter Mark Forth, who did 11 paintings through the program for a building at Illinois State University in Normal.

Says Dunbar: "We've all been in enough sterile, dim government buildings we would never want to visit again. People may not realize the effect public art, combined with good architecture, has on their lives, but they realize they are in a warm, inviting place wherever it's located."

Artists used to working in their studios also need to adapt to working with engineers, construction workers and maintenance crews. As he installed his sculpture, Luecking helped devise a plan to remove snow from around it during the winter months.

Some states now require artists to incorporate their work into the buildings, which often makes the art less noticeable. In Ohio, several projects involve decorative ceramic tiles set into the floors of government buildings.

By contrast, Illinoisans have a tough time ignoring much of the sculpture financed by the state. "Growing in Illinois," a 23-foot-long steel sculpture by Richard Hunt of Chicago, is a huge, dark abstract that rises 15 feet above the corn and soybean fields surrounding the Veterinary Medicine Building at the U of I. "The whole construction is like a large animal growing, developing from the Earth," Hunt once said in describing his work. Likewise, two huge paintings by Harold Gregor in the Illinois State Library in Springfield attract considerable attention.

Dunbar plans to keep it that way. The program is financing 12 works at several state universities that have been lumped together in a project called

"Sculpture for the Third Millennium." The scope of the endeavor befits a man who came to prominence in state government during the administration of "Big Jim" Thompson.

"A great work of art will stand on its own wherever it's located," says Dunbar. "We prefer to integrate a work into a building rather than have the artist jump through hoops to make it fit. Plus, we've found that the less restrictive we are in the beginning, the more creative the art is."

One state lawmaker says the program remains obscure in the political world because legislators tend to focus on the overall capital budget, not individual items in each building.

"Unless you pay attention to the details of a state building contract, you'll miss it," says Rep. Bill Black, a Danville Republican. "Some of my colleagues who rail against set-asides may be surprised to know they've voted several times for a set-aside for artwork."

Black's knowledge of the program dates back to his days as an administrator at Danville Area Community College. When a campus building was renovated in the early 1980s, the project included $9,000 for an acrylic painting by Ken Holder of Bloomington entitled "Into the Canyon."

Art-in-Architecture gives artists a chance to advance their careers. Dunbar says, and also helps make the state a mecca in the art world. Viewing sculpture and other pieces inside and around the Thompson Center has become part of tourist packages in Chicago, adding the state office building to the itineraries of people in town to visit the Art Institute.

"The people running this program aren't going to buy junk, so when you are in that collection, you are sure to be noticed," says Edward McCullough, a Cissna Park sculptor whose "Argonaut III" stands near the U of I's Agriculture Engineering Sciences building. "Monet said it best: 'The best compliment you can pay any artist is to buy their work.'"

Michael Hawthorne, formerly a reporter at the Illinois Statehouse, is now an Ohio Statehouse reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

14 / December 1996 Illinois Issues