Discord arises on public art project

In April, the city issued a call to artists seeking proposals for a sculpture that was to be placed in a forthcoming roundabout at Orange Avenue and Ringling Boulevard.

After the June 5 submission deadline, the city’s Public Art Committee was responsible for assigning a score to each of the 162 proposals on a 20-point scale. Those scores were averaged, and city staff was prepared to contact the top three artists for a formal presentation to the committee. Eventually, the committee would submit its top choice to the City Commission for final approval.

Then, during a two-hour meeting of the Public Art Committee Aug. 10, the ranking of the top submissions was completely rearranged. One advisory board meeting likely changed the fate of the artwork that will ultimately stand at Orange and Ringling.

The Aug. 10 meeting also highlighted a divide among a group overseeing a long-term project to place a collection of sculptures in the center of the roundabouts the city plans to construct. Committee members shared differing views on what, exactly, valuable public art was supposed to look like in the city of Sarasota.

Some entries were easy for the entire board to dismiss. One sculpture appeared to be an abstract arrangement of red piping when approached from one angle, but spelled out “ART” when approached from another. That submission received an average score of 3 out of 20.

Among the highest-ranked proposals, however, consensus was harder to find. The top concept came from Cecilia Lueza. The piece, titled “Elevate,” is a globe composed of the outlines of birds midflight. It received a score of 14.2 on average from the committee, its lowest score a 10 and its highest an 18.

The third- and fourth-ranked pieces received particularly high marks from Tim Jaeger, the PAC member who awarded the lowest score to Lueza’s sculpture. The average score for those submissions, which came from artists Jorge Blanco and Nnamdi Okonkwo, respectively, were weighted down by low marks from board members Marvin Mills and Norman Schimmel.

Okonkwo’s proposal, titled “Unity,” generated particularly polarized reactions.

From Jaeger: “The Unity piece was interesting in that, one, it’s figurative, and two, I really thought of being able to drive or walk around it — it’s very visible from different angles and has continuous motion throughout. It’s a very gestural piece, which is very attractive to me.”

From Mills: “I can’t see the value of the Unity sculpture at all. I don’t see any aesthetic charm in this piece.”

Among these lines, a divide began to emerge at the Aug. 10 PAC meeting. Rather than contacting the artists in order based on the initial judgment, the board decided to revote on the top nine entries during the meeting. After the second round of voting, a new order emerged: Blanco and Okonkwo had the two top-rated entries, and Lueza’s piece had fallen to fifth place.

As a result, Blanco and Okonkwo will be the first two artists contacted for the final round of interviews with the PAC. Lueza won’t have a chance to interview unless two other artists decline the opportunity. So what changed?

Considering the entries in the context of the highest-rated proposals, rather than the larger field, shifted how the board rated each piece. That wasn’t the only factor in play, however. Board member Elizabeth van Riper was not present at the Aug. 10 meeting, which means just four votes decided the new rankings. And Jaeger voted strategically, assigning a perfect score to his top two choices, and awarding the lowest score possible to the other seven.

Jaeger explained his decision-making process after the meeting. He said he was interested in picking a sculpture that would help Sarasota’s public art collection stand out from other cities throughout the state of Florida. In his opinion, only the proposals from Blanco and Okonkwo fit the bill. (It helped that Blanco is a local artist, another hot topic for the PAC as sculptures are selected.)

“It was really all or nothing for me; it was a yes or no,” Jaeger said. “I didn’t want to vote 10 and say, ‘Maybe it’s going to work.’ It’s either, ‘Yes, this is going to work,’ or, ‘No, this is not gonna work at all.’”

Both Mills and Schimmel expressed a desire to see a sculpture with a more tangible connection to the culture of Sarasota. They praised a proposal from artist Brad Connell that featured brightly colored sails, drawing a clear line to the popularity of sailing in the region.

“It’s not enough to talk about the interesting texture or innovation,” Mills said. “I have in mind Sarasota, and I have in mind art that’s somehow contributing to and signifying and expressing the best in Sarasota. If I don’t find this in the art, I don’t find it as being art.”

Schimmel said part of this disagreement among the board — which will impact the future of public artwork on display in Sarasota — could probably be attributed to personal taste.

“I enjoy walking on the Ringling grounds,” Schimmel said. “I lived in Manhattan, and I guess I’m more used to traditional types of sculptures.”

Earlier this month, the city announced another call to artists for a sculpture at a future roundabout at Palm and Cocoanut avenues. As the PAC continues its search for this collection of artwork, Chairman Jeffrey Weisman suggested the project could help create a new identity for a community that celebrates its arts culture, rather than reflecting existing values.

“I don’t know that we have a ‘brand,’” Weisman said. “If we have a brand, we get to play with that brand and pick what direction we get to go in. Having something very modern can set the tone for the future of our town.”

As is always the case with art, however, it’s not hard to find a different perspective — even among colleagues on the same advisory board.