Public art makes a difference
Good places don't have to have it,
but great places always do!
by Rebecca Noah Poynter
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, October 28, 2007
Public art expresses civic confidence. With it, we are willing to say who we are and what is great about us. Without it, we choose to say nothing about who we are or even what we like about ourselves.
Public art is not without public controversy. The process of public art in the European tradition usually contained both controversy and its cousin, delay. The Republic of Florence's commission to Michelangelo for completing the David, its symbol of freedom, was actually an unfinished project begun 40 years earlier by another sculptor.
More than 400 years ago, the most famous architect in Western history, Andre Palladio, designed the Olympic Theater for an up-and-coming Venice suburb, Vicenza. The theater, built in an abandoned municipal prison, became famous for its interior. After a grand opening, no performances occurred for several years because no funds were provided for it operation. Even with no performances, the theater design had already put Vincenza on the Renaissance map.
In Collin County, our longstanding piece of public art is the statue of Gov. James Webb Throckmorton outside the Collin County Courthouse, now the McKinney Performing Arts Center. Gov. Throckmorton knew a thing or two about controversy. He took a stand on many issues of his day, even attempting to restrain Texas from secession.
In admiration, the citizens of McKinney honored him with a statue after his death in 1894. Throckmorton was placed not too high on a stone pedestal. A century later, in the 1970s, after a regular Saturday night poker game, McKinney pranksters regularly left Throckmorton holding a Lone Star beer to the dismay of Sunday morning churchgoers.
Now two centuries later, there is new public art that bring us a chance to express our growing confidence. Arts of Collin County is a public-private collaboration co-owned by the cities of Allen, Frisco and Plano that is developing a 124-acre arts park located near the center of Collin County on State Highway 121, just east of Custer Road in Allen (www.artsofcollincounty.org). The site integrates the natural landscape with the center, drawing upon the land, climate, and cultural history of Collin County. As history would dictate, the Arts of Collin County concept is experiencing its share of debate.
And that's just fine with the Arts of Collin County. Says James Baudoin, executive director, "The debate around the arts center is ultimately a very good one. We are a significant part of the growing process in Collin County. Ultimately, the arts center is changing the way we think of ourselves."
Good places certainly don't have to have any public art, but great places always do. As the popular business book From Good to Great concludes, "Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of choice."
In public art, the Collin County Arts Center is moving us from good to great. As longstanding Gov. Throckmorton might attest from his pedestal in McKinney, a little controversy along the way is to be expected.
Maybe one Saturday night, Gov. Throckmorton, hearing the music from of the Collin County Arts Park, will raise his Lone Star in salute and silently whisper "Bravo!"
Rebecca Noah Poynter is a writer and the owner of OnPoynt Communications, a public relations practice. This is the third in her series "Collin County: From Good to Great" which examines quality-oflife in Collin County. She can be reached at rebecca@onpoynt.com.
