Latest / Inside West Palm Beach / Public Art in WPB: Yours To Explore!

Transcript

Public Art in WPB: Yours To Explore! · Inside West Palm Beach

• 13:03:39
  Welcome to Inside West Palm Beach. I'm
• 13:03:41
  Gerry Marcelo. Some
• 13:03:43
  say the character of a
• 13:03:44
  city can be framed by the art they choose
• 13:03:46
  to display. West Palm is no
• 13:03:48
  exception with a good deal of beautiful
• 13:03:50
  world-class art sprinkled throughout the
• 13:03:52
  community. How does the art get there?
• 13:03:55
  How is it selected?
• 13:03:56
  And what art have you not
• 13:03:58
  yet discovered? We'll
• 13:03:59
  talk about that next.
• 13:04:01
  And joining us today is Sibili Gantal,
• 13:04:12
  Director of Arts for the City of West
• 13:04:13
  Palm Beach. Sibili, welcome. Thank you,
• 13:04:16
  Jerry. Thanks for having me. It's always
• 13:04:17
  good to have you back. You know, we have
• 13:04:20
  a city that has a wide population of
• 13:04:23
  beautiful public art, but I don't think a
• 13:04:25
  lot of people understand how you became
• 13:04:29
  the art director for the City of West
• 13:04:31
  Palm Beach. Tell us how, what's your
• 13:04:33
  story? How'd you get here? Oh sure. So I
• 13:04:35
  do have a background in art history,
• 13:04:38
  arts administration, and believe it or
• 13:04:39
  not policy. So this,
• 13:04:41
  yes, I have a master's
• 13:04:42
  of policy. So the combination of... Wait,
• 13:04:46
  wait. Forgive me. At some point in art
• 13:04:50
  history my professors are like, "Okay, so
• 13:04:53
  what are you gonna do with this?"
• 13:04:57
  And they were right. And so I started, I
• 13:04:59
  took a class, a legal art class. It went
• 13:05:06
  into another class about issues in the
• 13:05:09
  legal system that dealt directly with the
• 13:05:11
  visual arts. I was very intrigued.
• 13:05:13
  Interesting. Yes. So I ended up with a
• 13:05:17
  master's in arts administration and
• 13:05:19
  policy based on this just
• 13:05:22
  interest of how the arts fit into more
• 13:05:27
  of, you know, into policies but also the
• 13:05:31
  legal system and case studies. It was
• 13:05:33
  just... Do you deal a
• 13:05:34
  lot with copyright? Like
• 13:05:36
  copyright issues? No, not as much as you
• 13:05:39
  would think. I mean, there are cases that
• 13:05:41
  way, but it's all like bigger issues of,
• 13:05:45
  you know, because arts are
• 13:05:47
  innovative. So artists push boundaries
• 13:05:50
  and artists will, you know,
• 13:05:54
  apologetically push something to test
• 13:05:57
  something. And so, yeah, no, but yeah.
• 13:06:00
  You're right. Really interesting things.
• 13:06:01
  Effective art will get
• 13:06:02
  people thinking and probably
• 13:06:04
  will ruffle feathers every so often. If
• 13:06:06
  it snows your ruffle
• 13:06:07
  feathers, someone's going to
• 13:06:08
  call a lawyer. Right. But the ruffled
• 13:06:11
  feathers are usually opinions, which
• 13:06:13
  bring out... That's what everybody has an
• 13:06:16
  opinion in art, which I love, by the way.
• 13:06:19
  Okay. Because that means that they've
• 13:06:21
  taken the time and
• 13:06:21
  something has hit them. Whether that
• 13:06:23
  opinion is whatever on the scale, 1 to 0,
• 13:06:28
  10 to 0, excuse me, they
• 13:06:31
  have an opinion about it.
• 13:06:32
  That means something hit them. And that's
• 13:06:35
  the whole point. And
• 13:06:36
  that's the whole point.
• 13:06:37
  Okay. So you got this degree and you have
• 13:06:40
  this knowledge. What
• 13:06:41
  brought you to West Palm Beach?
• 13:06:44
  Family brought me to Florida from Los
• 13:06:46
  Angeles. So family brought me
• 13:06:48
  here and I was doing a bunch
• 13:06:50
  of different things in my field. And I
• 13:06:54
  got a phone call from someone
• 13:06:56
  saying that the city of West
• 13:06:57
  Palm Beach was looking for, at the time,
• 13:07:00
  it was a part-time public
• 13:07:01
  art coordinator and that they
• 13:07:04
  had this new public art program and I
• 13:07:06
  should apply. So I did. I
• 13:07:09
  ended up with the position.
• 13:07:11
  When I first started here, it was a
• 13:07:13
  part-time position. It
• 13:07:15
  was under community events,
• 13:07:17
  which is under parks and recreation. And
• 13:07:20
  one of the first things I
• 13:07:21
  did was work with the community
• 13:07:22
  events department. We got a lot of large
• 13:07:24
  scale temporary art
• 13:07:27
  projects into the Great Lawn area.
• 13:07:30
  Not the green market, not during the
• 13:07:33
  summer. So we did that. And
• 13:07:35
  at the same time, we did a lot
• 13:07:37
  of initiatives that brought local artists
• 13:07:40
  into the Great Lawn as well
• 13:07:42
  with just temporary projects.
• 13:07:44
  When you started prior to your beginning
• 13:07:46
  and working with the
• 13:07:47
  city, was there a lot of art
• 13:07:49
  already in place or did you
• 13:07:50
  sort of get the ball rolling?
• 13:07:51
  No, I got the ball, you know, I call them
• 13:07:54
  the adopted pieces because the,
• 13:07:56
  what people don't understand, there was
• 13:07:58
  sort of a kind of a
• 13:08:00
  program, but not really. It wasn't
• 13:08:03
  locked into an ordinance. It didn't have
• 13:08:06
  a public art master plan attached to it.
• 13:08:09
  It wasn't official.
• 13:08:09
  Yeah, it wasn't really official. So there
• 13:08:11
  was like adopted
• 13:08:12
  pieces was what I call them,
• 13:08:13
  like scatterings that happened throughout
• 13:08:16
  the decades, but there
• 13:08:17
  wasn't anything in place.
• 13:08:19
  And so the city actually took the
• 13:08:22
  initiative to say, well, why don't we
• 13:08:25
  reinstate the program?
• 13:08:26
  Why don't we actually hire somebody? Why
• 13:08:29
  don't we like get
• 13:08:30
  things going? So I mean,
• 13:08:31
  kudos to the city at the time for putting
• 13:08:34
  that together. And so
• 13:08:35
  this, what was missing was
• 13:08:38
  people's idea of what public art could
• 13:08:40
  be. And that was when it's
• 13:08:43
  like, well, public art can be
• 13:08:44
  a lot of different things. So why don't
• 13:08:45
  we introduce public
• 13:08:47
  art to the community via
• 13:08:49
  temporary projects?
• 13:08:50
  There you go. So okay, so you actually,
• 13:08:52
  you've asked the next
• 13:08:53
  question that I think is most
• 13:08:54
  appropriate. Let's define
• 13:08:56
  what public art actually is.
• 13:08:57
  Ah, anything that's publicly accessible
• 13:09:01
  in the public realm. I mean, it could be,
• 13:09:04
  it really can be many, many things.
• 13:09:08
  Materiality of art and what
• 13:09:10
  artists use has changed over
• 13:09:12
  decades. So even in my, in the public art
• 13:09:15
  ordinance, I mean, it
• 13:09:17
  is a broad definition
• 13:09:20
  intentionally because an artist can come
• 13:09:22
  in and do a performance
• 13:09:24
  piece, not a performing piece.
• 13:09:27
  And it could be a public art moment. You
• 13:09:31
  could have something that
• 13:09:32
  is there for a 24 hour period
• 13:09:35
  and something that's up to 18 months and
• 13:09:37
  that's something there
• 13:09:38
  that's for 20 years. But the
• 13:09:41
  defining thing is that it's made by a
• 13:09:43
  professional artist and
• 13:09:46
  that it's in the public realm.
• 13:09:47
  All right. Question for you. Is it
• 13:09:49
  possible to have private art that's
• 13:09:52
  publicly accessible?
• 13:09:53
  Yes.
• 13:09:54
  Okay. Do we have any
• 13:09:55
  examples of that here?
• 13:09:55
  Yes. Our Percent for Art program. So that
• 13:09:58
  hits all the private
• 13:09:59
  developers in the city. And so
• 13:10:02
  it's their private property, but it's in
• 13:10:05
  public plazas normally and
• 13:10:09
  could be on their buildings,
• 13:10:11
  the one on Banyan Street, Orchid City. So
• 13:10:16
  as long as it's publicly
• 13:10:18
  accessible to the public.
• 13:10:20
  So let's talk about that a little bit. It
• 13:10:22
  was obviously
• 13:10:22
  development and growth here in
• 13:10:24
  West Palm Beach. It's
• 13:10:25
  exploding. That's an understatement.
• 13:10:28
  Yeah. As part of the program to bring new
• 13:10:34
  development into the city,
• 13:10:36
  there is an art component
• 13:10:38
  to the agreement or the...
• 13:10:41
  Oh, what do you mean? So
• 13:10:43
  when developers come in...
• 13:10:45
  Yeah. See, if a developer comes in, I
• 13:10:46
  want to build a building,
• 13:10:47
  the city can say, "Well,
• 13:10:48
  Lovie, it's great. We'd
• 13:10:50
  like to have some art as well."
• 13:10:51
  Yes.
• 13:10:51
  Do they do that?
• 13:10:52
  Yes. So it's a Percent for Art funding.
• 13:10:54
  So that means anything
• 13:10:56
  that's over half a million
• 13:10:57
  that's subject to the public art. So they
• 13:10:59
  could put art into
• 13:11:01
  their development site,
• 13:11:02
  if it makes sense. Or they make a
• 13:11:05
  contribution and that funding actually
• 13:11:07
  goes to areas in the city
• 13:11:10
  that usually don't have arts because
• 13:11:13
  they're not going to have
• 13:11:14
  development. Or it goes into a lot
• 13:11:16
  of temporary projects that brings in the
• 13:11:18
  local artists to come in
• 13:11:20
  and have an opportunity.
• 13:11:22
  And don't quote me on the exact number,
• 13:11:26
  but we're in the high 70s
• 13:11:28
  of local art commissions.
• 13:11:30
  That's awesome.
• 13:11:31
  Yeah. It's been fantastic. And the idea
• 13:11:34
  is, you're a local artist,
• 13:11:36
  you want to get your feet wet,
• 13:11:37
  you're not really sure what the process
• 13:11:39
  of an actual public art
• 13:11:41
  commission looks like.
• 13:11:42
  So we created the Commons Project, which
• 13:11:45
  allows them to
• 13:11:46
  experiment, to create something with
• 13:11:50
  funding that's already been provided in
• 13:11:52
  the public realm
• 13:11:53
  temporarily, and kind of figure it out.
• 13:11:55
  Let's talk a little bit about the Commons
• 13:11:57
  Project. I think we're winding the clock
• 13:11:59
  back a little bit to COVID.
• 13:12:01
  Yes. You remember. Remember?
• 13:12:03
  Yeah. I was very-
• 13:12:04
  You and I out there.
• 13:12:07
  Facebook Live and mass.
• 13:12:10
  Talking through our mass, doing Facebook
• 13:12:11
  Live. It was quite a special good.
• 13:12:14
  But tell us about how, because you
• 13:12:16
  mentioned the Commons Project. What was
• 13:12:18
  its birth and where did
• 13:12:20
  it finally end up? Where did it go?
• 13:12:22
  So the Commons came out of COVID. So
• 13:12:24
  during that time, the businesses were
• 13:12:27
  suffering and the city
• 13:12:28
  commission started providing funding, a
• 13:12:32
  means for businesses to stay
• 13:12:35
  afloat. That would come back
• 13:12:37
  to the city. I came in and said, "I'd
• 13:12:40
  like to do the same thing
• 13:12:41
  for our creative sector."
• 13:12:42
  So we provided funding, but with the
• 13:12:45
  caveat that they would
• 13:12:46
  create something and provide
• 13:12:48
  something for the public. It was
• 13:12:52
  devastating what was
• 13:12:53
  happening, but at the same time,
• 13:12:54
  what occurred was that public spaces were
• 13:12:59
  once again brought into
• 13:13:02
  the realm of importance and
• 13:13:03
  significance. And so everyone started to
• 13:13:05
  realize, "Wait a second. Our public
• 13:13:08
  spaces have a lot of
• 13:13:09
  meaning and this is where we collectively
• 13:13:13
  congregate. We can see each
• 13:13:14
  other even behind the mask."
• 13:13:17
  So local artists were brought in and they
• 13:13:20
  did temporary projects,
• 13:13:22
  kid you not, from a day event to things
• 13:13:25
  that stayed there a bit longer.
• 13:13:27
  Sure.
• 13:13:28
  And they all got to experiment and they
• 13:13:31
  had funding for the
• 13:13:32
  piece, but they were also
• 13:13:33
  provided funding and
• 13:13:35
  everyone used it differently.
• 13:13:36
  And what I remember most about that
• 13:13:38
  project was, in spite of the
• 13:13:41
  fact that we were all sort of
• 13:13:42
  holed up in our various homes and dealing
• 13:13:45
  with an unknown evil or
• 13:13:48
  danger lurking, we saw the artists
• 13:13:54
  some of the pieces were hopeful. Some of
• 13:13:58
  the pieces were very dark
• 13:14:00
  and sort of tried to capture
• 13:14:02
  embodies for me the fear that we all had.
• 13:14:07
  And so it not only was
• 13:14:08
  something that people came and
• 13:14:09
  talked about it and looked at the pieces
• 13:14:11
  and made comments, it captured the
• 13:14:14
  emotion of the moment.
• 13:14:16
  Moment, yes.
• 13:14:17
  In the 2020 and 2021. It
• 13:14:19
  was a very important moment.
• 13:14:21
  I agree. And we have a documentary, 15
• 13:14:25
  artists, 15 spaces that exists as the
• 13:14:29
  time capsule of that
• 13:14:30
  moment. Sure.
• 13:14:31
  So you can go back and look at it, it
• 13:14:32
  exists. Well, that
• 13:14:34
  comments made such an impact that
• 13:14:39
  we kept going. And so now
• 13:14:40
  we're in our fourth iteration.
• 13:14:42
  Oh, wow.
• 13:14:43
  Fourth iteration, we're in the process.
• 13:14:46
  We already did the call.
• 13:14:48
  The committee's already
• 13:14:50
  shortlisted 10 artists. They will
• 13:14:52
  present, they will select
• 13:14:53
  five and those five will
• 13:14:55
  move on to create something.
• 13:14:56
  Let's talk a little bit about the process
• 13:15:00
  for becoming involved in
• 13:15:02
  public art. If I was an
• 13:15:03
  artist, how do I approach you? How do I
• 13:15:05
  bring my ideas to you?
• 13:15:07
  So there's a couple of things. So I don't
• 13:15:10
  accept unsolicited public art proposals.
• 13:15:13
  I'm always happy to have a conversation.
• 13:15:15
  If artists send me
• 13:15:17
  something, I introduce them
• 13:15:19
  as if they are a Palm Beach County
• 13:15:22
  artist. I introduce them
• 13:15:25
  to the Palm Beach Cultural
• 13:15:26
  Council. They have this wonderful
• 13:15:27
  directory. That directory
• 13:15:29
  keeps growing and growing.
• 13:15:32
  That directory is used. I give that to
• 13:15:36
  the private sector
• 13:15:37
  constantly. If you're looking
• 13:15:40
  for a specific art, especially a lot of
• 13:15:42
  the, and beyond public
• 13:15:45
  art, just so you know.
• 13:15:46
  So this directory also has helped those
• 13:15:50
  who are building hotels,
• 13:15:52
  looking for paintings and
• 13:15:53
  photography and works on paper. So I am
• 13:15:57
  looking at it more than
• 13:15:59
  just a public art resource for
• 13:16:01
  developers. So I point them that way
• 13:16:03
  because it's a great resource
• 13:16:04
  and should be on there anyway
• 13:16:06
  because they do all these calls beyond
• 13:16:08
  what the city does
• 13:16:09
  because we don't do that many.
• 13:16:11
  I do that. I also encourage them to, if
• 13:16:15
  they don't have a website,
• 13:16:17
  if they don't have Instagram,
• 13:16:18
  you got to put yourself out there. And
• 13:16:23
  then all the development
• 13:16:25
  that's happening is actually
• 13:16:26
  available on the city's website under
• 13:16:28
  Planning and Zoning. You can
• 13:16:31
  do research. Who's building
• 13:16:33
  what? Where are they building it? Who
• 13:16:35
  have they brought in as the architect?
• 13:16:37
  Who have they brought
• 13:16:38
  in as design? I mean, you got to do your
• 13:16:39
  homework. Yeah. And just
• 13:16:40
  go for it. So there's a huge
• 13:16:42
  amount of resources that are available
• 13:16:43
  for artists to dive in
• 13:16:46
  and to learn more about it.
• 13:16:47
  Is there any official pathway that they
• 13:16:49
  need to follow as far as
• 13:16:51
  saying, "Okay, I want to do a
• 13:16:53
  piece." I mean, what is the official way
• 13:16:56
  of getting involved?
• 13:16:58
  There isn't an official way.
• 13:16:59
  There is no official way. No, because the
• 13:17:01
  developer also usually has, in our
• 13:17:04
  consultant on retention,
• 13:17:06
  a lot of them have their own art
• 13:17:08
  collection. Okay. So they
• 13:17:10
  have a group, a grouping. A lot
• 13:17:14
  of the private developers I've worked
• 13:17:16
  with who have said, "I kind
• 13:17:17
  of want to stay local. That's
• 13:17:19
  where the cultural council directory
• 13:17:21
  comes in." And I'm like, "You
• 13:17:22
  got to dive into this. You will
• 13:17:25
  find what you're looking for." All right.
• 13:17:27
  I got to have a question
• 13:17:28
  for you. You mentioned earlier
• 13:17:29
  that sometimes a piece of art will last a
• 13:17:32
  short period of time.
• 13:17:32
  Yes. Okay. Or it even is a
• 13:17:34
  performance. But a piece of art lasts a
• 13:17:37
  short period of time.
• 13:17:38
  Sometimes art will last a long
• 13:17:40
  time to the point that it becomes pretty
• 13:17:42
  much a landmark. We've had
• 13:17:44
  some instances of art that
• 13:17:47
  it's time for them to be changed out. Do
• 13:17:49
  you get a lot of negative
• 13:17:50
  feedback or feedback about a
• 13:17:52
  piece that has been around a long time
• 13:17:54
  and people want to keep it?
• 13:17:55
  Yes. So just, well, I don't know
• 13:17:58
  if it's negative as much as it's
• 13:18:00
  concerning. Concerning. I
• 13:18:02
  don't know if concerning is
• 13:18:03
  negative. That's true, but explain what
• 13:18:06
  concerns they have. So the
• 13:18:07
  concern is, "Oh, is there any
• 13:18:09
  way to save it? Can we do it?" So there
• 13:18:12
  was just a slew of murals
• 13:18:14
  that went away. Unfortunately,
• 13:18:18
  the city doesn't regulate murals in a way
• 13:18:21
  that says the private
• 13:18:22
  sector has to keep them. There
• 13:18:24
  was one that was on our garage. What I
• 13:18:28
  felt from that is a couple
• 13:18:29
  of things. One, I had already
• 13:18:31
  reached out to the original artist who
• 13:18:33
  was surprised to hear.
• 13:18:35
  He's from Croatia. He's in
• 13:18:36
  Croatia. He was surprised to hear it was
• 13:18:39
  still up because it was
• 13:18:40
  created as a temporary piece
• 13:18:43
  during an art festival. But I told him
• 13:18:47
  what was going to happen
• 13:18:48
  because our garage needed
• 13:18:50
  fixing and that's... Yes, structural
• 13:18:53
  maintenance required it. Yes, required
• 13:18:55
  it. So this is something
• 13:18:56
  beyond the public art realm that we can
• 13:18:59
  control. Right. But at the same time,
• 13:19:02
  there was these other
• 13:19:03
  murals that had nothing to do with the
• 13:19:05
  city, but that the timing of it was
• 13:19:08
  amazing. But what I got
• 13:19:10
  out of it was, "Oh, people are noticing
• 13:19:12
  and this is passion and this
• 13:19:15
  is great." But the other ones
• 13:19:17
  were private and private people with
• 13:19:20
  their... It's their
• 13:19:21
  building. They're allowed to...
• 13:19:23
  Do what they see. Yes. So
• 13:19:25
  they can do what they please.
• 13:19:27
  Is there a way for someone to know that
• 13:19:29
  they're looking at a privately
• 13:19:31
  commissioned piece of art
• 13:19:32
  rather than something that's public? Is
• 13:19:34
  there a marker or something?
• 13:19:35
  No, usually in the private...
• 13:19:37
  No, because in the private sector, we
• 13:19:39
  don't... They do whatever they want.
• 13:19:40
  Yeah, we don't govern it.
• 13:19:42
  We don't ask them, "Oh." I do ask...
• 13:19:46
  There are a few pieces
• 13:19:48
  that I highlight in our...
• 13:19:51
  In the Bloomberg Connects and it
• 13:19:54
  specifically states it's privately
• 13:19:56
  funded. It's on private
• 13:19:58
  property. I make it very clear that it's
• 13:20:00
  not part of the city, but I'm
• 13:20:02
  trying to highlight everybody
• 13:20:03
  because people do want to know, which is
• 13:20:05
  great and they should. They
• 13:20:07
  should have at least an idea of
• 13:20:08
  who made it, at least the artist's name.
• 13:20:11
  But we don't govern...
• 13:20:13
  Since we don't govern like,
• 13:20:14
  "Oh, you can or can't do this mural," we
• 13:20:17
  can't say, "Oh, we need to pluck."
• 13:20:20
  Somebody can identify it. Which would be
• 13:20:22
  great, right? Yeah. Well, I
• 13:20:25
  spent several years out in
• 13:20:26
  Austin, Texas. Austin, Texas has several
• 13:20:30
  murals as a loose term. They were
• 13:20:32
  actually were most likely
• 13:20:34
  literally began their lives as graffiti.
• 13:20:37
  A little bug-eyed monster
• 13:20:40
  with, "Hi, how are you?" over it.
• 13:20:42
  And it suddenly became... It was so weird
• 13:20:44
  and Austin liked its sort
• 13:20:46
  of vibe as a weird city.
• 13:20:48
  They made it an icon. You would see
• 13:20:50
  people wearing it on... Austin would say
• 13:20:52
  something against that.
• 13:20:55
  Yeah. Back in the 70s, they loved being
• 13:20:57
  weird. Oh, that's true.
• 13:20:58
  Yeah. But the point is that
• 13:21:02
  the smaller pieces became iconic for the
• 13:21:06
  city. Right. Would you
• 13:21:07
  think of... Is there something
• 13:21:09
  that we have currently in West Palm that
• 13:21:11
  people go, "Oh yeah, that's
• 13:21:12
  a West Palm icon." Is there
• 13:21:14
  a little fish over on near Palm Beach
• 13:21:17
  Lakes? No, I think... No, you
• 13:21:20
  know what? From what I gather
• 13:21:22
  from people is that everybody has their
• 13:21:24
  favorite for a different
• 13:21:25
  reason. Sure. So I don't think
• 13:21:27
  there's a thing. I think that the Yinka
• 13:21:30
  Shannibari materials... Oh
• 13:21:32
  yeah, that's amazing. Yeah,
• 13:21:32
  that's a beautiful piece. I think that
• 13:21:35
  one even just as a shadow
• 13:21:38
  icon that's over at the...
• 13:21:40
  The touchscreen. The touchscreen. So the
• 13:21:42
  touchscreen there for public art is just
• 13:21:45
  a line drawing of the
• 13:21:48
  iconic Yinka Shannibari piece. So easily
• 13:21:53
  identifiable. But as
• 13:21:54
  one... I hear from everybody,
• 13:21:57
  everyone has a favorite and you know
• 13:21:59
  what? That's pretty good.
• 13:22:00
  I would say that's a win.
• 13:22:02
  Yeah. When people identify and say, "Oh
• 13:22:04
  yeah, West Palm. Oh, I think
• 13:22:06
  of this or I think of that."
• 13:22:07
  That. Yes. That's awesome. But yeah, and
• 13:22:11
  it's exactly that. Now that
• 13:22:13
  people are using the shape
• 13:22:14
  as an icon, it really is an icon.
• 13:22:17
  Exactly. It's becoming identified as
• 13:22:19
  that. So we're seeing a
• 13:22:23
  full of art and there are many others
• 13:22:27
  coming. But let's talk a
• 13:22:28
  little bit about why public art
• 13:22:31
  isn't just, "Hey, we're putting pretty
• 13:22:33
  stuff up. We're beautifying
• 13:22:35
  the city." It's something much
• 13:22:37
  more than that. It's almost a glue for
• 13:22:40
  the city. Tell us what you think. So I
• 13:22:42
  think as the program
• 13:22:43
  developed more and more and people
• 13:22:45
  started understanding the
• 13:22:47
  wide range of what public art
• 13:22:49
  could be. And then also the different
• 13:22:51
  artists that were coming
• 13:22:52
  through, the materialities that
• 13:22:54
  were being used, is that one of the major
• 13:22:57
  things that have come out
• 13:22:58
  over the last decade is that
• 13:23:01
  the artwork started to become an
• 13:23:03
  identifier for West Palm
• 13:23:05
  Beach. So if you really look at the
• 13:23:09
  artwork that we have across, somehow
• 13:23:12
  artists have used either very
• 13:23:14
  bold color to their palette or
• 13:23:18
  they've used things that are reflective.
• 13:23:21
  So meaning that they
• 13:23:22
  reflect the sun, our sky,
• 13:23:24
  they're always blue, except on summer
• 13:23:26
  cloudy days, but that just drift by.
• 13:23:29
  There's a reflection to
• 13:23:30
  the water. There's a node to the color
• 13:23:34
  palette that exists in our
• 13:23:36
  landscape. So I think that
• 13:23:38
  has just sort of like on its own, which
• 13:23:41
  is what you want things to happen
• 13:23:43
  organically that way.
• 13:23:45
  And even how artists, even for temporary
• 13:23:47
  projects approach artworks,
• 13:23:50
  they really look at the context
• 13:23:53
  of where they are. So they look to the
• 13:23:54
  city and in turn, it furthers the
• 13:23:57
  identity of the city. So
• 13:23:59
  not everything is like, "Oh, I'm just
• 13:24:02
  going to put something
• 13:24:03
  really pretty up." It's more of,
• 13:24:05
  "Okay, how does this space being used,
• 13:24:07
  what do I want the viewer to
• 13:24:10
  experience? How will the viewer
• 13:24:13
  interact with the piece? What is, is
• 13:24:17
  there a restaurant nearby? Is there a
• 13:24:20
  four-way intersection?
• 13:24:22
  Are people only going one way? Is it next
• 13:24:25
  to the water?" There's so
• 13:24:26
  many other elements to it that
• 13:24:29
  I think that's part of the dialogue when
• 13:24:32
  art is being created.
• 13:24:33
  I love the fact that we're seeing art,
• 13:24:35
  which incorporates the
• 13:24:37
  elements of our area,
• 13:24:38
  the water, the sky, the blue, the greens.
• 13:24:44
  Some of the art is absolutely stunning,
• 13:24:46
  but when you stare at it, it feels
• 13:24:48
  familiar somehow
• 13:24:49
  because it's where we live.
• 13:24:50
  It's where we live.
• 13:24:51
  Okay, myth or truth?
• 13:24:54
  Okay, I love these.
• 13:24:56
  The bulk of art downtown and we're
• 13:25:00
  ignoring other parts of the
• 13:25:01
  city. Is that true or false?
• 13:25:03
  No, it's false. If you go right into
• 13:25:06
  Bloomberg Connects, obviously
• 13:25:08
  it's really easy to do a walk,
• 13:25:11
  walkable. You can see nine pieces even
• 13:25:14
  more in an hour because it's downtown,
• 13:25:18
  but there are other pieces in other
• 13:25:20
  places. Now development is
• 13:25:22
  happening more in the north.
• 13:25:25
  You'll see more pieces there. We have our
• 13:25:28
  first major public art piece in the most
• 13:25:32
  point of the city. I mean the most
• 13:25:33
  southern point because it is the entryway
• 13:25:36
  into the southern part.
• 13:25:39
  Literally, you go from Lake Worth into
• 13:25:41
  the city of West Palm Beach
• 13:25:43
  right over that little bridge.
• 13:25:46
  A piece by Sinta Tantra will be there.
• 13:25:50
  Two beautiful sculptures,
• 13:25:52
  one that is a deep blue,
• 13:25:54
  reflective of the water, very organic and
• 13:25:57
  abstract. The other piece is gold and
• 13:26:01
  it's gilded in gold.
• 13:26:02
  And it'll obviously be
• 13:26:04
  the reflection of the sun.
• 13:26:06
  One of my favorite pieces that isn't
• 13:26:08
  downtown because I knew the
• 13:26:10
  answer to the question when
• 13:26:10
  we started. Oh, there it was.
• 13:26:12
  Was a mango moray.
• 13:26:14
  Oh, okay.
• 13:26:15
  Mango morays. This is lovely.
• 13:26:17
  In Northwood Hills.
• 13:26:18
  In Northwood Hills.
• 13:26:19
  And there's a huge story behind why
• 13:26:21
  mangoes were there, the quick version.
• 13:26:24
  Yes, and why it's also the mango morays
• 13:26:27
  are on the castle
• 13:26:28
  plinth because it used to be,
• 13:26:31
  had castles there. I think you still
• 13:26:32
  might have one up in the
• 13:26:34
  hills and the rum runners
• 13:26:36
  would come through and you could see,
• 13:26:38
  people could see that. And
• 13:26:39
  then there were all the mango
• 13:26:41
  orchids that used to exist. That's right.
• 13:26:43
  The double whammy.
• 13:26:44
  I mean, I can't quote it because I don't
• 13:26:45
  have the history in front
• 13:26:46
  of me, but I believe that
• 13:26:47
  West Palm Beach was very much involved
• 13:26:49
  with the establishment of
• 13:26:52
  mango trees in North America.
• 13:26:54
  Oh, I think I've heard that too.
• 13:26:55
  Yeah.
• 13:26:56
  Yes.
• 13:26:56
  Someone will want to read up on that and
• 13:26:58
  get that off the web.
• 13:26:59
  Yes.
• 13:26:59
  But it's really interesting without West
• 13:27:01
  Palm Beach, without the
• 13:27:02
  people who originally started
• 13:27:03
  growing that fruit here in West Palm,
• 13:27:07
  there probably wouldn't be
• 13:27:08
  mangoes in North America.
• 13:27:09
  Yeah.
• 13:27:10
  So it's really cool, but that's just one
• 13:27:12
  spot. And I know that we have all the
• 13:27:14
  gateways at all like 45th and those other
• 13:27:17
  places. So yes, there is a wide range.
• 13:27:20
  It's a wide range. And then we have a new
• 13:27:22
  piece by a local
• 13:27:24
  artist up in Echo Lake Park,
• 13:27:27
  beautiful marble piece. And those three
• 13:27:29
  neighborhoods were very
• 13:27:31
  involved in every aspect of this,
• 13:27:34
  including going to his studio when he was
• 13:27:38
  carving out his 10 ton piece of marble.
• 13:27:41
  Holy cow.
• 13:27:41
  Yes. They were so involved. It was so
• 13:27:43
  great. They were really into it.
• 13:27:44
  Well, you open up another line of
• 13:27:46
  questions. Okay. So we know
• 13:27:47
  we're going to have art in
• 13:27:48
  a certain neighborhood or a certain
• 13:27:49
  location. What involvement
• 13:27:51
  do the people in the area have
• 13:27:53
  as far as their voices?
• 13:27:55
  So I'll do Echo Lake Park and Sunset and
• 13:27:58
  Northwood for each of them.
• 13:28:00
  They came to me and I was like,
• 13:28:03
  "Okay, let's have a discussion." We
• 13:28:05
  opened up the discussion. I
• 13:28:07
  brought it to my committee.
• 13:28:09
  We said, "Okay, let's put out a call or
• 13:28:12
  do a direct invitation of
• 13:28:14
  like three people. I have
• 13:28:15
  them do proposals. I go, I allocate the
• 13:28:18
  funds to city commission." So
• 13:28:21
  I always go to city commission
• 13:28:23
  first. I got to put the funds aside.
• 13:28:25
  Yeah, right. What the project is. And
• 13:28:28
  then we start. And with
• 13:28:31
  all of them, I keep inviting the
• 13:28:33
  neighborhood associations.
• 13:28:36
  We're having a meeting. I'm going
• 13:28:38
  to be here. You're more than welcome to
• 13:28:40
  come. With the Echo Lake
• 13:28:42
  neighborhood associations,
• 13:28:44
  they came to everything,
• 13:28:45
  which is great. Very involved.
• 13:28:47
  Yes. In fact, they even came to where we
• 13:28:50
  were citing the piece and
• 13:28:52
  the contractor was there.
• 13:28:54
  And we were all there. And I looked over
• 13:28:57
  and I'm like, "Oh, here's the
• 13:28:59
  neighborhood." And so I said,
• 13:29:02
  "Okay, these are some of the areas we're
• 13:29:03
  thinking about." And they're
• 13:29:04
  like, "Oh, we'd love to see it
• 13:29:05
  this way because we walk
• 13:29:07
  through here." So it was great.
• 13:29:09
  How often does a community come to you
• 13:29:11
  and say, "We want to have
• 13:29:12
  some art. What can we do?"
• 13:29:14
  Every once in a while
• 13:29:16
  they do. So it does happen.
• 13:29:17
  Yeah, it does happen. I'm working right
• 13:29:18
  now with Gaines Park. That group.
• 13:29:22
  So trying to make something happen there.
• 13:29:25
  Now we were talking earlier, obviously,
• 13:29:26
  there's a lot of art
• 13:29:27
  in many different places
• 13:29:29
  throughout the city. How can I as a
• 13:29:32
  visitor or I have folks
• 13:29:33
  coming in from out of state,
• 13:29:35
  how do I get them? How do I find them?
• 13:29:38
  How do I look at it all?
• 13:29:39
  Glad you asked that because we just
• 13:29:41
  launched, we are part of a
• 13:29:43
  huge global network, Bloomberg
• 13:29:45
  Connects. So if you take your phone, you
• 13:29:47
  look at Bloomberg
• 13:29:48
  Connects, download it. It's free,
• 13:29:51
  it's available for
• 13:29:52
  both Android and for...
• 13:29:53
  Yes.
• 13:29:54
  Okay.
• 13:29:55
  And you get on it, you'll see Art in
• 13:29:58
  Public Places, West Palm
• 13:29:59
  Beach. And right off there,
• 13:30:01
  it'll be about us. Then it'll take you to
• 13:30:04
  our nine essential downtown
• 13:30:06
  stops. It tells you it's an
• 13:30:08
  hour and 10 minutes. It has audio
• 13:30:10
  components to each of the pieces. There's
• 13:30:13
  another one that shows,
• 13:30:15
  because it's a work in progress, we keep
• 13:30:16
  adding things. All the
• 13:30:18
  images, a blurb about the images,
• 13:30:21
  and we're adding audio, but then you get
• 13:30:23
  on a map. And then you
• 13:30:25
  can figure out, "Okay,
• 13:30:27
  I want to do this,
• 13:30:28
  this." And you figure it out.
• 13:30:30
  And there's a way that you can actually
• 13:30:33
  map out a little walk and see stuff.
• 13:30:35
  Yes. The downtown, we mapped out
• 13:30:37
  something, but you can map out, "Okay, I
• 13:30:40
  want to go to the most
• 13:30:41
  southern point and make my way up Flagler
• 13:30:44
  and see..." And you'll
• 13:30:45
  probably see about nine,
• 13:30:47
  nine pieces, just doing that.
• 13:30:50
  Wonderful. So it is Bloomberg Connect.
• 13:30:53
  Connects.
• 13:30:53
  Connects. Okay. You can search on that
• 13:30:55
  and download that app.
• 13:30:56
  And that's available in
• 13:30:57
  our city's website too.
• 13:30:59
  Ah, okay.
• 13:30:59
  So if you go to our city's website, look
• 13:31:01
  under residents, you'll
• 13:31:04
  see Art in Public Places. You
• 13:31:05
  hit that and it's in there.
• 13:31:07
  Yeah. And actually, I can even make it
• 13:31:09
  easier. I think wpb.org,
• 13:31:11
  front slash art, will take you
• 13:31:13
  to that same spot.
• 13:31:14
  Yes.
• 13:31:14
  It's the same spot.
• 13:31:14
  Yes. Even easier.
• 13:31:16
  Remember that from the old days.
• 13:31:19
  Yes.
• 13:31:19
  But yeah, so that's very exciting. So
• 13:31:22
  that's a great way to learn
• 13:31:24
  about it. And also, as you
• 13:31:25
  mentioned, the webpage has basically a
• 13:31:28
  menu and explanations of all
• 13:31:31
  this. I'm sure it'd be very
• 13:31:32
  friendly to have that on your mobile app
• 13:31:34
  as you're cruising along.
• 13:31:35
  The great thing about the Bloomberg
• 13:31:37
  Connect, too, is that you're traveling
• 13:31:40
  anywhere in the world
• 13:31:42
  if there are hundreds and hundreds and
• 13:31:45
  hundreds of
• 13:31:46
  organizations that are part of this.
• 13:31:48
  So it knows you're in France and it'll
• 13:31:53
  show you, oh, these are all
• 13:31:56
  the cultural assets in art
• 13:31:57
  that's in your vicinity.
• 13:31:59
  Wow.
• 13:32:00
  It also has something like 140 languages.
• 13:32:03
  So if you're a visitor and English isn't
• 13:32:06
  your language, we just
• 13:32:08
  figure out, you scroll down,
• 13:32:10
  you find your language, everything
• 13:32:12
  changes to that language.
• 13:32:14
  That is great.
• 13:32:16
  This, you know what I love about it is
• 13:32:17
  that it's the
• 13:32:19
  accessibility which brings back
• 13:32:21
  that art in public places. The main goal,
• 13:32:25
  bring art directly to the public.
• 13:32:29
  There you are.
• 13:32:30
  Yeah.
• 13:32:30
  You are. So what's on the horizon? What
• 13:32:31
  things can we look forward to in the
• 13:32:33
  months and years ahead?
• 13:32:34
  Well, this is Sint-e-tantra. Then you
• 13:32:35
  work down at where the Trader Joe's is.
• 13:32:40
  Another landmark that's coming.
• 13:32:44
  Alexandra Recha for Celeste
• 13:32:47
  Palm Station is coming through.
• 13:32:49
  Nora is, their new pieces that had been
• 13:32:53
  approved by commission are
• 13:32:55
  in production and they'll be
• 13:32:57
  happening by October. All new pieces. So
• 13:32:59
  go visit Nora. Then they're
• 13:33:03
  coming in with their second
• 13:33:05
  iteration of artwork
• 13:33:06
  that's coming through there.
• 13:33:09
  10 and 15, they are working on their next
• 13:33:13
  public art piece,
• 13:33:14
  which is going to be great.
• 13:33:16
  We have the Commons. So in the fall,
• 13:33:20
  you'll have five local
• 13:33:21
  artists who a lot of them will be at
• 13:33:24
  the Mandel Public Library. They're a
• 13:33:26
  great partner with art in public places.
• 13:33:28
  And so we go in there
• 13:33:29
  because that is, talk about public,
• 13:33:32
  right? That is our true public space. We
• 13:33:35
  might have something
• 13:33:36
  new in our city plaza courtyard.
• 13:33:39
  Definitely Jose Marti Park, something new
• 13:33:42
  will be coming through
• 13:33:43
  there and working on Curry Park.
• 13:33:47
  That's going to be huge.
• 13:33:48
  That's going to be huge.
• 13:33:50
  Mr. C's, they have something amazing
• 13:33:53
  coming through. I mean,
• 13:33:54
  there are so many different
• 13:33:56
  developments.
• 13:33:56
  I'm so excited about
• 13:33:57
  it. I know. It's great.
• 13:33:58
  It's coming in my head.
• 13:34:00
  There's just a lot. It's amazing.
• 13:34:02
  You are absolutely energizing the art
• 13:34:04
  community, but also energizing the
• 13:34:07
  community in itself,
• 13:34:09
  just to come and see and talk and to
• 13:34:11
  think about the art. Now, that's a
• 13:34:13
  wonderful place for you
• 13:34:14
  to be.
• 13:34:15
  It is. And I thank you for recognizing
• 13:34:17
  that. I just love, you
• 13:34:19
  know, I just love when people
• 13:34:20
  are looking at something and you can tell
• 13:34:24
  they're excited about
• 13:34:25
  it. The other day I was
• 13:34:28
  driving by the Port
• 13:34:29
  Portals by Fred Eversley.
• 13:34:31
  And I saw this really just lovely older
• 13:34:34
  couple and they were having
• 13:34:36
  a little picnic sandwiches
• 13:34:38
  in front of it. And I had gone down to an
• 13:34:41
  outside meeting. I'd come
• 13:34:43
  back around because I was like,
• 13:34:44
  "Oh, I wonder if they're still there." So
• 13:34:46
  I came back around and they were.
• 13:34:48
  Oh my God, that's so good.
• 13:34:50
  See, that is...
• 13:34:53
  That for me is wonderful because you've
• 13:34:54
  created a spot, a
• 13:34:56
  landmark where people can come,
• 13:34:58
  enjoy the beauty, talk about the art, how
• 13:35:01
  it makes them feel. And
• 13:35:03
  it becomes a contribution
• 13:35:06
  to what the city is all about.
• 13:35:07
  Yes.
• 13:35:09
  It's just spectacular.
• 13:35:09
  And it's great. And that's why, you know,
• 13:35:11
  earlier we were talking
• 13:35:12
  about opinions. That's
• 13:35:13
  when an opinion is wherever range it's
• 13:35:16
  at. To me, it's just
• 13:35:18
  like, "Oh, you've noticed."
• 13:35:21
  This is great.
• 13:35:22
  You saw it. You didn't
• 13:35:23
  strike by at this time, right?
• 13:35:25
  It's okay if you were however you feel
• 13:35:27
  about it. Because I don't know what
• 13:35:29
  you're bringing to it.
• 13:35:31
  Maybe you had a bad day. Maybe you had a
• 13:35:33
  great day. And you're like,
• 13:35:34
  "Hey, this is great." I had
• 13:35:36
  somebody, the Yinka Shanabari, recently I
• 13:35:40
  was walking and this woman said to me,
• 13:35:43
  the first time I saw that, she goes, "Oh
• 13:35:45
  my God, world-class art." And she's like,
• 13:35:51
  "And I knew the piece." And to me, that
• 13:35:55
  was another like, "Oh, wow. Hey, thanks.
• 13:35:57
  Okay, this is great."
• 13:35:59
  It elevates everything. I would imagine
• 13:36:04
  you get a lot of people
• 13:36:05
  coming to you with art like that
• 13:36:07
  and saying, "I feel better about this
• 13:36:09
  town. I feel better. I'm
• 13:36:10
  more excited about being here in
• 13:36:12
  West Palm Beach."
• 13:36:13
  Absolutely. And I think also working with
• 13:36:15
  all the range of artists, but also
• 13:36:17
  working with the local
• 13:36:18
  artists when they do things and watching
• 13:36:24
  them go from the
• 13:36:26
  sketching, the ideas to the actual
• 13:36:29
  realization of a piece that they weren't
• 13:36:31
  sure at the beginning if
• 13:36:33
  they could, it would translate
• 13:36:35
  and then it happens. That's huge.
• 13:36:37
  That's fantastic. So
• 13:36:38
  let's go over it again.
• 13:36:39
  Bloomberg Connects that's available in
• 13:36:42
  your favorite app store.
• 13:36:43
  Go get it, download it.
• 13:36:45
  Free, free, free.
• 13:36:46
  Free, free, free. It is a new resource.
• 13:36:48
  And then when you travel, you can see all
• 13:36:51
  the other art in the world.
• 13:36:55
  Follow us on Instagram.
• 13:37:00
  We also always partner
• 13:37:02
  with the city's Instagram.
• 13:37:03
  Sure.
• 13:37:03
  So do that one too.
• 13:37:05
  Fantastic. And then of course to the West
• 13:37:08
  City website, wpb.org,
• 13:37:11
  front slash art for a shortcut.
• 13:37:13
  Yes.
• 13:37:13
  You can get there and
• 13:37:14
  learn more about it.
• 13:37:15
  Yes.
• 13:37:15
  So Billie, thank you for being here and
• 13:37:17
  thank you for
• 13:37:18
  everything you bring to the city.
• 13:37:19
  You've needed a better place to be.
• 13:37:21
  Thank you. Thank you for having me.
• 13:37:22
  Thanks for letting me talk about art.
• 13:37:25
  I'm glad to have you.
• 13:37:25
  All right. Take care.
• 13:37:27
  And thank you for joining us. Inside West
• 13:37:29
  Palm Beach is a product
• 13:37:30
  of the city's communication
• 13:37:32
  department. I'm Jerry
• 13:37:33
  Marcello. We'll see you soon.