USC to Launch Public Art Program

“All it takes to be an art consultant is a business card,” complained Jay S. Willis, artist and art instructor at USC’s School of Fine Arts.

In fact, very few consultants, city officials, developers or artists are prepared to establish successful public art programs, Willis said. That’s why he and a group of others at USC are organizing an international conference on art in public places for next spring and a full-fledged master’s degree program also set to begin next year.

“There’s been a lack of leadership,” Willis said. He aims to start changing that with a curriculum that will include studies in art history, administration, marketing, architecture, urban affairs and, of course, fine art. The National Endowment for the Arts has already committed itself to between $25,000 and $35,000 for a conference. Meanwhile, Willis and others at USC are exploring ways to get their concept going.

There’s lots to be learned both from cities that have succeeded and ones that have failed in their public art programs, Willis said. And, he added, by opening up the lines of communication between artists and others involved in public art, perhaps a vision for a better Los Angeles will emerge.

“Currently, artists and architects are at an unspoken war with each other. They need to establish a dialogue,” Willis said, adding that consultants who sell their work must also be educated about public art.

To that end, USC hopes to formulate a field of study that graduates students who can problem-solve, advise and create from an informed and enlightened perspective.

“Most pieces were designed without any concern for the environment,” Willis lamented. “A lot of city administrators don’t know what they’re doing. . . . The public has to be educated.”

People in the art world are also afraid to make judgments about what is and is not appropriate for public art, Willis charged.

“No one is making critical decisions,” he said. “Everyone wants to be a liberal. . . . They don’t want to stop and make a value judgment.” But, “if a building has to be built, why not strive to make it more than just a box?”

At the same time, artists and architects need to accept certain limitations and work creatively with them, Willis said.

Most public art projects, for example, must be designed to avoid personal injury lawsuits, vandals and natural elements. Some artists consider such limits an affront to their sensibilities, Willis noted, rather than merely a challenge that has to be met.

“Nobody is teaching artists and architects to sit together and speak a common language,” added Ann Swartzberg, development director at USC School of Fine Arts. The results, she said, have been a “real hodgepodge.”

“There’s a niche out there that nobody’s really filling,” she said. “There’s an enormous gap, . . . and the university is the place to fill it.”

Just what practical results USC’s foray into public art studies will yield has yet to be nailed down. At least, “the program will prepare people to talk to each other,” Willis said.

As for further advice on how to implement a citywide program in Los Angeles, he replied: “Ask me in five years.”