Why I Am Appealing Placing This Statue in the Circle
By Janet
Gervers
Windward Circle is the HEART of
Venice. The Greater Venice Community needs to be included in important decisions
related to our Neighborhood – and part of the overall process.
This is in addition to developing a process
for placing public art in Venice. The voices of Venetians have largely been
ignored and excluded in regard to the Coastal Development Permit granted for a
public project installation of a Robert Graham sculpture, “Torso,”
on the Venice Traffic Circle median referred to as Windward Circle in this
letter.
At the public hearing on March
17, the architect of the project stated that a number of meetings had been held
in the past year regarding this matter. However, these meeting were for groups
with privately-held memberships, not for the Greater Venice Neighborhood, nor
advertised to the greater Venice
neighborhood.
As a resident, business owner,
and active member of the community (President, Venice Art Collective; Member,
Venice Art Council) located directly off of Windward Circle, I never received a
flyer or any other kind of notice for these meetings nor did the majority of our
neighborhood.
Essentially, a small
exclusive group in Venice has been privvy to the information regarding Windward
Circle. It should be noted that our own Venice Chamber of Commerce was not
included in these exclusive
presentations.
Does this adequately
represent the voice of the Venice community? Simply put-
NO!
In addition, the proposed art does
not reflect the Venice Community in any way. Public art in the center of the
community needs to have the visual connection that goes beyond artist name
recognition – plus something that leaves a lasting legacy that the
community is proud of in future
generations.
Leaders of various
community groups must be contacted to spread the word about projects impacting
our community. In light of an art related project, with Venice as a reknowned
art center – and with so many art groups this is the first place to turn
to in establishing an inclusive dialogue within our
community.
These are my recommendations
in regard to the permit for the Graham sculpture and ANY public art to be placed
in the Venice Neighborhood:
DENY the
Permit for reasons stated above. However, a conditional permit could be approved
based on these parameters:
A. Community
Guidelines and Process established for Public Art in Venice by a panel of
representatives from a cross-section of leaders from Venice Art Groups. A group
can easily be formed by the month of May for this purpose- with an Open Call to
Artists to submit works of art. (Guidelines can be based on existing guidelines
such as the cities of West Hollywood and Culver City, respectively - no need to
reinvent the wheel.)
B. Public works of
art, especially in the heart of our community must be visually reflective of the
Venice community and must go beyond an artist living in
Venice.
C. If Graham chooses to create
a new piece that follows the above, then the permit may be granted - conditional
as stated. Note the sculpture is not cast yet. Also note that this closely
resembles his art in Beverly Hills and is very representative of that community.
In no way does it represent the community of Venice and is very derivative of
the said Beverly Hills sculpture. Venice is a unique community and deserves
unique works of art that reflect our
community.
It is critical that the
establishment of Community Guidelines/Process by leaders and members of Venice
art groups takes place for any public art or project in Venice.
In addition, our public tax dollars
need to be effectively appropriated for community projects with objectives
voiced by our community.
The small,
exclusive group that currently sponsors this project is not aligned with the
objectives of the Greater Venice Community. It is inappropriate to allow them to
determine how our tax dollars are spent!
Posted: Fri - April 1, 2005 at 07:34 PM