CARLSBAD TO DIP FEET AGAIN INTO PUBLIC ARTWORKS

If at first you don’t succeed with public art, try another tack.

That’s the approach of the Carlsbad Arts Commission, whose initial proposal for a public artwork was scotched last summer by the City Council.

The council members deemed James Hubbell’s 6-foot-tall, bright red and rust-colored, wave-like steel sculpture too abstract for its site in front of the new headquarters of the Carlsbad Fire and Police departments. It was too much of a “statement,” some said.

It’s clear this time that the Arts Commission, rather than attempting an artistic home run, is just trying to put a runner on first base.

Tempered by last year’s experience, the commission has adopted a more circumspect approach. The plan now is to integrate artworks into the overall scheme of a downtown beautification project.

“I think it is very difficult when you’re starting up a public art project,” Carlsbad redevelopment director Chris Salomone said. “If you have a public art collection, then you can add to it. But when you’re starting, that first piece has got to have a lot of popular appeal. When you get some more out there, then you can add some more avant-garde pieces, things that don’t appeal to everybody . . . because they become part of a collection.”

Hubbell, whose work--along with that of environmental artist Andrea Blum--has been selected for the project, agrees.

“When a city is starting an arts project like this, you need to educate the public (rather than) making some spectacular statement,” Hubbell said. “I think maybe it’s better to do five or six small pieces quickly, make some mistakes, but get people used to it.”

Indeed, many people, including those who administer public art programs around San Diego County, do not seem to fully understand them. In 1984, an artist whose 30-foot-high sculpture for the East County Regional Center in El Cajon had been approved by the county Board of Supervisors sued the supervisors for breach of contract when they voted not to fund the project. The supervisors then went ahead and put up the sculpture.

On the other hand, a lot of citizens are concerned about having to live with art they don’t like. In 1985, after months of public furor surrounding a proposal by famed minimalist artist Ellsworth Kelly, the San Diego Unified Port District’s commissioners approved a modified version of the original sculpture, only to have Kelly withdraw from the project.

In the face of another public outcry, the commissioners have again asked an acclaimed artist to modify his design. An expert panel, composed of members of the port’s Arts Advisory Board as well as the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, chose Vito Acconci to design a sculpture for a Spanish Landing site near Lindbergh Field.

Acconci’s design includes boat and airplane shapes, but some people have objected to the sculpture, saying it depicts sinking boats and crashing airplanes. The Port District has asked Acconci to alter his planned sculpture so that the airplanes do not appear to be crashing, but no decision has been made.

The latest effort to select and install public art in Carlsbad seeks to avoid such an outcry by providing for public input and by matching the artists selected to the city.

“There’s an attempt to make sure the artist’s persona as well as the objects themselves fit within the personality of the community,” said Pat O’Connor of the Austin-Hansen-Fehlman Group, the design team for the beautification project.

Most of the art will serve a dual function as street signs, banner holders or gatework.

“It sort of takes the statue-in-the-park element away from decision-making,” development director Salomone said. “That’s a good way to start your public art program. It avoids a guns-and-butter situation.”

But don’t such restrictions put a major limitation on an artist’s creativity? Hubbell doesn’t think so.

“I do so much commission work, I find the limitations often take me places I would not go otherwise,” Hubbell said. “I find that fascinating.”

Hubbell’s art includes two gateway elements to be located at the Elm Street exits to Interstate 5 and wrought-iron fence markers that will indicate special locations such as parks.

The beautification project will extend from Elm Avenue west to Carlsbad Boulevard, then both ways on Carlsbad Boulevard for a few blocks, ending at the Buena Vista Lagoon. The project consists of landscaping, new sidewalks, a new style of street paving, and special street signs and lighting “bollards.”

Hubbell’s wrought-iron pieces will be placed along the length of the project, about one mile.

A key part of Carlsbad’s public arts process has been the search for public input. Besides the Arts Commission, a selection committee and a Village Merchants Street Task Force also had to approve Hubbell’s design proposals.

Additionally, two public workshops were held at meetings of the Village Merchant’s Assn. Hubbell presented sketches of his proposals and explained the choices. It turned out that the merchants’ major concerns were not about art but about traffic and parking.

Since those meetings, the City Council has approved Hubbell’s designs. The designs must still pass a final review by the city’s housing committee July 27.

The designs also must be put out for bid to be built along with the rest of the project. That contract must be ratified by the City Council.

Blum’s work will consist of designing a quarter-acre park near the intersection of Elm Avenue and Carlsbad Boulevard. She is still designing the work, which will then go through the same process as Hubbell’s.

“We’ve tried very hard to integrate (Hubbell’s designs) with the overall streetscape,” O’Connor said. “Not all art objects have to be monumental in scale.”

Salomone is elated at the prospect of combining the designs of respected artists with the beautification process.

“We’re going to put in landscaping and trees and pavers and benches,” Salomone said. “We’re doing them in a very creative way. Instead of ordering them out of a catalogue, we’ll have something uniquely Carlsbad and for the same price.”

The design fees for Hubbell ($7,500) and Blum ($20,000) are being paid for out of the public arts budget. The construction costs will be paid out of the redevelopment budget.