Public Art Surveys Need Your Input But Local Artists May Be Overlooked

No one loves good public art more than I do.  I am all about the value that art in everyone brings to the human experience.  Hillsboro, Oregon, is known for some great pieces, and the investment in visual art is expanding quickly.  This week, our City has pushed out two requests for input on some significant upcoming installments, and they want your input.

NUMBER ONE:   Public Art At Shute Library –

The Library has posted this message on its social media. Now, it is your turn to take the survey and help guide the next artistic installment.

From The City Staff:  Hillsboro responded to the Herald in regards to the costs and process of the art going on the building, as follows:

The project budget for Shute Park Library will be finalized after input from the community is reviewed. Currently, the estimate is for a $30,000-$50,000 budget for artwork display system infrastructure and $10,000 – $15,000 for an artist budget. The artwork display system infrastructure contract will go to a local vendor, and the artist opportunity will be targeted to local artists.

Click this link to take the survey.

NUMBER TWO:  NEW SHUTE PARK INTERACTIVE SCULPTURE  –  Three Out Of State Artists Vie for Big Work-

The artists:

James Peterson is an artist based in Los Angeles, CA  – ECHOES OF OREGON – https://www.hillsboro-oregon.gov/home/showdocument?id=30916&t=638549923186406778

Becky Borlan is based in Baltimore, MD-  Cloud Nest – Click Here to review

Matthew Mazzotta is based in upstate New York – The Sweetness Of Life – 

NOW- TAKE THE SURVEY HERE

Also, the Herald was able to get information about this Art project, the budget, and artist selection as follows:

The project budget for Shute Park public art is $245,000. That includes design, engineering, fabrication, site improvements, and installation, which will be managed by the selected artist. A significant amount of those funds will come back to the community through local contractors. No Hillsboro-based artists applied for this project in round 1 or 2 of the Call to Artists, though there were a handful of Oregon-based artists who applied in the second round. Committee members, along with the Hillsboro Arts & Culture Council, have the authority to select artists and approve project designs. City staff do not make these decisions, but support and facilitate decision-making through project committees and HACC.

My Take: 

The Parks Department is the best!  Truly.  These are all beautiful submissions, indeed. But they are all artists from so very far away. In recent years, the City of Hillsboro commissioned and paid for the beautiful Bridge Of Land And Sky, a metal sculpture that spans the Helvetia/Brookwood overpass. It lights up at night in glowing colors and emulates the horizon and mountains in the West Valley. Okay—that was $1.5 million  ($200,000 of which went to artist Cliff Garten of Venice, California.)    This was a correction after Hillsboro notified the Herald that most of the budget was for construction.

Before you all tear my head off, please understand that I support all arts—financially, personally, and through my media efforts. Ciff did a bang-up job (although it malfunctioned this year and stopped working for a while) and is to be lauded. BUT I AM NOT CONVINCED HIS TALENT EXCEEDS OUR LOCAL ARTISTS! How is it helpful to the Hillsboro Arts scene to have that money leave our City and enrich the work of out-of-area artists? We need to stay local and support local artists- bottom line.  They collectively are as good as anyone anywhere on any day!

I must share my thoughts about the new art installment in Shute Park.

I don’t understand how these proposed works celebrate Hillsboro’s diversity and the Natural Environment in Shute Park. How can someone not from here come for a day or two and understand the real Hillsboro? It is possible to appreciate someone’s interpretation of a place in the form of art. An outsider’s perspective is often needed. However, in my humble opinion, these three beautiful pieces did not capture the people of Hillsboro, the essence of Shute Park, or our surrounding natural areas.

A lost opportunity-and Broken Promise:  The much beloved 28-foot-tall wood carving known as Chief Kno-Tah, by world-renowned artist Peter Wolf Toth, was removed from Shute Park in 2017.  The massive sculpture paid homage to the native people of our Region and was installed in front of a huge crowd in 1985. Millions of photos were taken of the famous roadside attraction before it fell and it was beloved by most.   When the Chief was removed, there was much controversy.  In 2017, Hillsboro Parks and Recreation Director Dave Miletich (RIP) went on the record with the News-Times to counter criticism of the Chief’s removal.

City officials have said a plaque describing the statue’s history will be installed in the park and Miletich said the city will decide on a new piece of public art to bring more “culturally relevant art” to Hillsboro, but no details have been worked out about what that might look like, when it will be installed or whether it will stand on the same space at Shute Park.

“We’ll be starting that process very soon,” Miletich said.  Source: https://www.forestgrovenewstimes.com/news/no-more-kno-tah-after-32-years-on-tv-highway/article_6007315f-1f61-5557-babd-570df28f282f.html

As far as I know, a plaque has not been installed. In a follow-up story, Director Miletich committed the City of Hillsboro to replace Chief Knoh-Tah with a piece of art properly honoring the native people of Hillsboro.

The statue, built in 1986 in Shute Park, was damaged during a storm earlier this year, exposing widespread rot and decay in the massive Douglas fir log. On June 7, the city announced it would remove the statue due to safety concerns.

Has the promise made to the people of Hillsboro been fulfilled?  Not at Shute Park.  Seven years after these commitments were made, the City worked with the Grand Ronde Tribe to install Wapato Woman at Rood Bridge Park.  That is a wonderful piece of work in a good place, and it meets the goals set back in 2017 to a certain extent.  Having said that, the goals of this recent effort lean towards something that would have honored the native people as a part of the 2017 commitment.  Not only is Shute Park a super high-traffic location and the site of the former Chief, it is a place of natural beauty. It is an upland forest sitting directly above the Jackson Bottom Wetlands and Tualatin River.  Therefore, the art being considered surely could have or should have reflected the plants, animals, water, and native people of the Shute Park location.  How will future generations who may experience these artworks ever know about these important ancestral aspects?

Consider this an opportunity missed. This is what happens when we have leadership changes and less collective memory of what has been promised in the past.

Hillsboro, it is up to you to decide what you want and how it will be executed. Are you okay with hundreds of thousands of our taxpayer dollars leaving our community funds to employ out-of-state or area artists? What does it say about our commitment to our artists here in Hillsboro and the Tualatin Valley if we won’t stand committed to them?  For me, it comes off as an insult.  We say we are all about local support and investment, but time and again, our City does not show that commitment.

Please take the surveys linked above and the Hillsboro Herald Survey below, which asks if you have a preference for this matter.