What is Metro Parks thinking? (UPDATED)

In the past few weeks a tall metal object with the words "On Air" (pictured above) was constructed at Morgan Park near the playground and in front of the community center. It is obviously an homage to Nashville's broadcast past.

But is it meant to be a climbable jungle gym for kids?

If so, I'm not sure what the design wizards at Metro Parks was thinking. Unlike the playground equipment, which is set on top of a cushioned, rubberized surface that softens falls, the radio tower (or microphone?) is set in cement. And look closely at yellow electric bolts attached to the upper rings. The sharpened metal plates are exposed. I could very easily see a climber horribly impaled on them after a misstep.

This strikes me as one huge design fail.


UPDATE: thanks to a tip in the comments below I searched the Metro Arts website and discovered that this sharp-pronged metal tower is actually a bike rack that Metro Arts (managed by Jennifer Cole, wife of former CM Erik Cole) commissioned in 2010. That explains the concrete pad it is sitting on. Now, how are they going to keep the little tykes who frequent the community center and Morgan Park playground from climbing "Steelskin Studio On Air" and either falling on hard concrete or getting speared on those cutlass-like steel bolts atop the pylon? Is public art in a public park really "public" if it is not kid-friendly? How could Metro Parks approve installation of this design? Why couldn't Morgan Park get safer public art, like the "handlebar mustache bike rack"?


UPDATE: Metro Arts responded to questions raised about the new Morgan Park bike rack on Twitter.

Of course, no one was impugning their program. In fact, if they had bothered to look back in the Enclave archives, Metro Arts officials would have seen that I am largely supportive of the program of public art, especially against the demagoguery of conservatives.

But this post is plainly not an attack on their program. It merely questions whether installing a tall monkeybars-like feature with hazardous sheet metal elements near a playground is a wise practice, even under the auspices of "art".

One more thing. I think it is awesome that Metro wants to encourage more kids to bike. The problem is: how does a sculpture that does not even come across as a bike rack on first impression to average people encourage more kids to bike?

East coast blogger asks Crystal Bridges official why museum enabling Fisk art sale

O'Keeffe donated collection to Fisk in 1949

The day was a day that will live in infamy almost 6 years ago when news broke that North Nashville's Fisk University was trying to sell art pieces in its renowned Stieglitz Collection to pay its bills. Thanks to baffling of the school's more recent attempts to sell to the Wal-Mart Empire heiress, who has been busy scoring art from other places, the demand for Steiglitz seems to be waning, according to art blogger Lee Rosenbaum. She hits a museum official with a hard set of questions:

Q: The point is that [Association of Art Museum Directors] was directing its comment at Fisk, over which it has no leverage. And the place where it does have leverage is the place that desires membership in AAMD. My question is: How do you justify in your mind being the other side of a transaction that has been condemned by the leading professional organization in your field?

Upcoming opportunities to enjoy and to support fine arts in North Nashville

An announcement from Chris Clarke at the Tennessee Women's Theater Project regarding cultural events here in the North Nashville community (the first three are at the Z. Alexander Looby Theater, 2301 Rosa L. Parks Blvd, Nashville 37228):

Tennessee Women’s Theater Project Announces 2010-2011 Season

Tennessee Women’s Theater Project has scheduled its 2010-2011 season of professional theater, presenting two plays new to Middle Tennessee audiences, and the return of the company’s annual Women’s Work showcase of performing and visual arts.

• October 1 through 17, 2010 - Unravelling The Ribbon. This is the US professional premiere of an acclaimed Irish play about the effects of breast cancer on three women. 7:30 pm – October 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15 & 16. 2:30 pm – October 3, 10 & 17.
• February 25 through March 13, 2011 - Impressionism. This gentle romantic comedy, set in a small art gallery, shows how love can heal broken lives. 7:30 pm – February 25, 26, March 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 & 12. 2:30 pm – February 27, March 6 & 13.
• May 6 through 23, 2011 - Women’s Work 2011. Our fifth annual showcase and celebration of performing and visual arts created by women. Presenting artists to be announced. 7:30 pm – May 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20 & 21
  2:30 pm – May 8, 15 & 22.
• Warriors Don’t Cry on tour 2010-11 – we’re taking our celebrated one-woman show, based on the memoir of Little Rock Nine member Melba Pattillo Beals, on tour to schools and other organizations, including some two dozen free performances in Metro Nashville high schools.

According to Chris, tickets for the Looby Theatre shows are $15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors, and $10 for Thursday shows. For more information and reservations call 615-681-7220 or jump to www.twtp.org.

Not Surprised at All

Award-winning?

I gave it my thumbs up last year.

We could have had much worse.

Cool Public Art Waterfalls in NYC

Enough discussion about landlocked public art.  Nashville needs to find some cool water feature art to install on the Cumberland.  Check out the Big Apple:

Local Artist and Kids Help with Community Mural in Wedgewood Houston Neighborhood

Local artist Margaret Elliott recently enlisted the help of children with the Harvest Hands After School Program to help her with a neighborhood-upgrading mural on a blank concrete retaining wall. She has posted pictures of the effort on her blog. The entire project has also been spearheaded by Wedgewood Urban Gardens.

Sounds like an exemplary partnership between an artist who volunteers her professional skills and local community-based organizations on behalf of the neighborhood.

Metro Resolution Would Would Approve and Match $50,500 Arts Grant for Community Projects

A resolution coming before Metro Council on Tuesday would generate over $100,000 for granting purposes above and beyond the already allocated $2.25 million in the Arts Commission's budget. According to the Metro Council Office:

[The resolution] approves a state arts commission grant in the amount of $50,585 for the Arts Build Communities program. These funds will be used to make grants to non-profit organizations for community arts projects .... There is a required local match in the amount of $50,585 to be provided from the Metro arts commission budget.

Assuming that this resolution passes, the possibility of applying for grants is something to keep in mind for those neighborhoods whose groups are working on streetscape projects.

Wal-Mart and Fisk

A Wal-Mart heiress is going to use part of her fortune--made through a corporation that forces its "Associates" to work after they punch out, a business that maintains sweatshop conditions abroad--to purchase a stake in Fisk University's art collection, which reportedly will pump in money to save Fisk's academic accreditation. The Wal-Matron is also pledging to renovate the Fisk art gallery and to provide an internship program in Arkansas for Fisk students.

Let's take a moment to consider the irony of an heiress, whose fortune is built on garnered servitude and plantation capitalism, riding in to save the accreditation of a university that was founded in part to commemorate the abolition of slavery.

One Lit Ghost

At the Charrette bzorch announces the official lighting of Ghost Ballet (Nashville's first public art):

The official lighting of the Ghost is on October 9th at the upcoming greenways benefit dinner on the Shelby Street Bridge. The cost is $100 and starts at 6:00pm. The lighting is at 8:00pm.

Nashville Ranked 7th Best Metro Area for Artists

Jump to BusinessWeek's rankings. Nashville is #7 based on art establishments, population age, arts & culture index, diversity index, and cost of living. Los Angeles is #1.

Council Darling Takes One on the Chops

The Metro Council has given him $250,000 out of the Arts budget that he didn't ask for, toyed with the idea of giving him more police-like blue lights for his auto fleet, and may just try to transfer Animal Control to his oversight. But the ethical cauldron Sheriff Daron Hall now finds himself in concerns charges of self-promotion and a conflict of interest over department Christmas cards. The cards were financed by one of the jail's private vendors and have Hall's name on them. This story has gone national.

Mardi Gras King Was on Lower 5th Avenue Tonight

Does Tygard Think Metro is Made of Money?

At next Tuesday's council meeting, Charlie Tygard will introduce a bill requesting that the Parks Department reimburse patrons of the TACA festival at Centennial Park who were towed after they parked on the grass because Parks "made no effort to warn patrons ... that parking on the grass was prohibited." Tygard, who counts himself among the council's fiscal conservative bloc, is essentially asking Parks to spend more taxpayer money on disaffected drivers. This is a memorializing resolution, so Parks is not bound to follow it if the council adopts it.

We didn't have any problems finding out that we could not park on the grass when we attended TACA (and to be honest, whenever I've parked on the grass for events in the past, I knew that I was taking a risk of getting towed, even as everyone else was doing it; but I accepted the risk). Parks did put signs up, so the charge that they made "no effort" is exaggerated. But if Metro gets in the habit of reimbursing people for ignorance of the laws, then I reserve my right to complain in the future when they do not notify me personally of any changes that cost me money.

I've always heard that ignorance of the laws is no excuse. Charlie Tygard may not agree.

TACA or Toad

We got up early (for a Saturday) and went to TACA Crafts Fair in Centennial Park this morning, because the parking situation is more challenging than in previous years.


It was a nice jaunt because the crowd was small and temps were cool. They have a lot of neat stuff, but I tend to prefer June's American Artisan Festival, because the Artisans seem to offer more to choose from.

Thus We See How Reporting Merely Stage-Sets Editorials

It appears that yesterday's Harless piece on some hidden MAC controversy was nothing more than a lead in for today's NCP editorial against committee process in choosing art. But it is such a weak argument. This is the best the editors can muster:

[T]he [Metro Arts] commission must realize that there will be citizens who will look at the pieces — for which they paid with their taxes — and shake their heads. They will undoubtedly wonder why — at the very least — they could not have seen the proposals of the eight semifinalists and offered some feedback.

Right. So instead, let's just erect the ubiquitous Stratocaster or the portly Junior-Samples-in-bronze to keep some citizens from shaking their heads. The editors are going to have to give a better argument than head-shaking for converting procurement to a popularity contest.

My guess is that there are a number of shapes and forms in public spaces that citizens shake their heads at, but does that mean we should stop allowing their fellows who are artistically or architecturally trained from representing them in these important processes? When the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in our nation's capital was first built, I remember a good amount of head-shaking being done, because people did not understand its lack of literalness beyond the literal names of those who died. Yet, now that "wall" is one of the most visited, most beloved (because it is the most honest?) memorials in Washington. Would the public have directly approved of it beforehand? I doubt it.

The truth is that there have always been citizens who shake their heads at art in its many forms. I shake my head at lots of different art pieces, but that doesn't mean that I'm arrogant enough to believe that what I may not prefer is devoid of significance just because I fail to wrap my mortal coil around it. I don't expect to like every piece of art I see, but someone else might, and what is important is balance among competing ideas rather than barren popularity. The NCP editors obviously fail to grasp that. They also fail to grasp that the more open the procurement process becomes to the public, the more special interest groups instead of individual citizens rush in to influence that process, and we end up with another set of elites--who usually have lots of money but little or no fine arts or design training--telling us what we will look at in the public square.

Reporting Drama Where There Is None

What is it with Nashville City Paper reporter Bill Harless that he needs to create controversy that does not exist? There is no scandal in the Metro Arts Commission (MAC) selecting art for the new public square without direct popular involvement. Notice I did not say "public" involvement, because Jane Q. Public is involved through the democratic process of electing a mayor and a council to oversee the Arts Commission. Our government is not just democratic; it is also a republican form, which provides a check against the arbitrary mob-rule mentality of majoritarian democracy. And frankly, most of us do not have time to go to every Metro commission meeting and to micro-manage their procurement processes.

So the art selection process for the Public Square does not have popular involvement. So what? This isn't "American Idol" or "Dance with the Stars." I would like those who govern to have dignity higher than rabble-rousing with bread and circuses. I have never heard of an Arts Commission converting its procurement process to a popularity contest. Harless surely fails to provide any precedent from any other community that would warrant such an idiotic gesture.

We require nobler gestures. One of the purposes of art is to educate and to make people think outside of preconceived boxes. If MAC just hands us the most popular art possible, it will not be helping the public look beyond its particular blind spots. For Harless to suggest that I should be entitled to influencing MAC directly to install art that I like is like suggesting that when I pay a university money for an education, professors should only tell me what I want to hear. Education is not a popularity contest or a comfort food. The best education or art challenges people to see truth or beauty with eyes that they had not previously used.

But beyond its whole vacuous appeal to the lowest denominator, Harless's report contains a noxious subtext that serves the priorities of the conservative wing of Metro Council. His underlying assumption from the first paragraph seems to be that, in paying money, people also pay for political influence, and he finally gets around to quoting council member Eric Crafton in the final paragraph, who is the only person to give Harless's assumption a sympathetic response. However, Harless's assumption is dangerous in a constitutional democracy that holds that influence over the political system is an inalienable, natural right that does not affix to the amount of money the public pays. If our right to influence MAC relied on the money that we pay, then quite logically, those who pay more money should have more political influence. There is very little democratic in that possibility, regardless of its popularity.

Charlie Tygard's Broadside Against the Arts

Council member Charlie Tygard told the Nashville City Paper that, because he could not get some department cuts that he wanted, he went after Arts Commission. That was popular with the conservative horde in Council chambers, who no doubt see Piss Christ in every statue that doesn't resemble Billy Graham and a cross. Council responded by slashing $258,400 from Arts, sending it instead to the Sheriff's Office. The spirit of Fate Thomas was no doubt lurking around the chambers near Tygard's corner when he hatched that misdirection. An extra cheap jail clean-up detail or two make a few constituents happy; meanwhile Nashville's relative poverty of public art will continue.

Tygard also raided the Mayor's Office and leveraged $50,000 so that Council members could build one single Habitat for Humanity home and feel closer. Now, I'm not down on Habitat. They are an effective private charity that makes a real difference in people's lives. But Tygard's primary intentions are not to build a house for a needy family; his primary intentions are to sponsor a bonding event for current Council members. The buzz is that the event is also self-promotional: Tygard is running for Vice Mayor. So, why raid the Mayor's budget so that Charlie Tygard can promote a Kumbaya Council and his own electability? Seems to me that he should have worked for that $50,000 the old fashioned way: by lobbying his cohort for pledges of private donations, which actually may be ethically done in back rooms. Instead, Tygard lazily used Council prerogative to channel public money to this private charity. This may end up costing those of us who benefit from Metro services like the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods.

Council member Erik Cole called Tygard's amendment and the conservative horde to the carpet:

I don't vote on the budget to make a political statement about who's in the Mayor's office.

No, Mr. Cole, but apparently the conservatives do. Though in the final analysis, Charlie Tygard's single Habitat House will amount to nothing but ground clutter compared to a Purcell legacy that leaves us sidewalks, community centers, and a beautiful downtown public square.

Orpheus Schermerhorn

One of the panels on the still-under-construction Schermerhorn Symphony Center downtown. I am guessing that this panel depicts the Greek myth of that musical charmer, Orpheus, who went down to the world of the dead to bring back his wife, whom herself had been killed by a serpent. The three-headed dog at the top would be Cerberus, Hades' (lord of the dead) watchdog, whom Orpheus lulled to sleep with his lyre in order to get in. The story ends tragically as Hades, impressed by Orpheus' musical prowess, allowed him to take his wife, but not look back; Orpheus, of course, looked back and lost his wife again. The male figure on the right may be Hades pulling her back. So, what does this tell us about musicians? That they are quite charming but otherwise foolhardy and incontinent?

By the way, this is the second piece of recent large public art in Nashville to depict nudity (the first being "Musica" over on Music Row). I wonder if it will generate another outcry among the prudes?

Say It Ain't So!

Fisk University's Van Vechten Gallery is one of the best-kept secrets in near Northwest Nashville. The collection is simply an amazing, internationally renowned treasure trove. It's a damned shame that the University plans to sell Georgia O'Keeffe's Radiator Building, Night--New York. Losing an O'Keeffe masterpiece would be a huge blow to our community.

Don't Rock The Jukebox? Do Rock The I-Pod.

Just another reason why Nashville should continue to diversify it's musical, cultural, and artistic offerings, rather than simply relying on Country to put it on the map.

The Mayor's Office recently announced a branding initiative to spotlight the "wide variety of musical genres" available to audiences in "Nashville Music City." That's a step in the right direction. The Mayor's branding initiative also distinguishes Demonbreun Street from the Music Row Roundabout to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center as “The Music Mile.” While that seems to allow "5th Avenue of the Arts" to develop its identity outside of the corporate (especially Country) musical sphere, it seems to ignore the historic African American musical legacy centered around Jefferson Street, as well as the Museum of African American Music, Art & Culture, which will be built at the corner of Jeff St. and 8th Ave., North.