COMMUNITY ART – A LOOK AT PUBLIC ART IN AMERICA
Making Connections…
The Process of Creating
Public Art in
Martin County, Florida
Excerpts from NEA Arts, Number 2, 2018
“Community Art – A Look at Public Art in America”
By Don Ball and Angela Koerner
When a decision is made to create new
public art in a community, it doesn’t happen
overnight. The process from the beginning of
the idea to the final mounting of the work often
takes years, involving fundraising, community
interaction, and working with various contractors
and government agencies and officials. It requires
serious time commitments for everyone involved:
the artists, the government, private organizations,
and community members.
Take the example of the Old Palm City
neighborhood of Palm City, Florida, located on
the banks of the St. Lucie River in Martin County.
In the county’s Community Redevelopment Area
Plan for Old Palm City, inadequate stormwater
management was a key issue, impacting the
quality of the water supply. The community’s
location near the Florida Everglades provided an
opportunity to not only address the stormwater
management problem, but also to tie the project
to the community’s relationship with the St.
Lucie River and surrounding environs. Four
neighborhood sites were cited as primary spots
to treat the stormwater drainage. This was the
beginning of the project known as Ripple.
“The location of the project is right next
to an estuary, which has much biodiversity but
also is prone to flooding,” noted Susan Kores,
manager of Martin County’s office of community
development, which oversees Ripple. By adding an
artistic element to specific engineering necessities,
the project has engaged the community as part of
the solution, soliciting input on how the project
is done and how it looks. The idea is to use
attractive landscaping and green infrastructure, as
well as public art such as sculptures and murals
that reflect the community and environment.
Eventually, the project will transform the
stormwater treatment area into an aesthetically
pleasing public space, one that is poised to become
an integral part of community life.
18 MartinArts | Summer | Fall 2018
Elise Raffa
In a workshop on the Old Palm City project, Keshavarz used a
“community tree” to gather information from residents on the history
of their community and what they would like the artwork to look like.