New committee looks for public art options

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By FRED COUZENS

VIEW STAFF WRITER

The city's newly created public art committee is expected to meet for the third time this week in an effort to further identify the parameters for creating and installing statutes in the downtown area that depict Boulder City's history.

City Manager Vicki Mayes handpicked the six-member committee this summer after getting approval from the City Council in January to move forward with the project.

The committee has met twice since coming together two months ago.

The six members are Rose Woodbury, Jill Lagan, Dennis McBride, Donna Draney, Lynne Jordan and Darlene Burk.

"We're looking at various locations and how many we can do on Nevada Way and Arizona Street on the bulb-outs," Mayes said following a recent Old Town Merchants meeting. "They'd be something like the ones in Green Valley, either life-sized or larger. They would tell a story, tell a history of Boulder City when people would see them."

At its Jan. 10 meeting, the council authorized $60,000 in Redevelopment Agency funding for public art.

The authorization was part of a $183,000 package of four city project improvements that included $50,000 for restroom engineering and architectural design work at the L.A. Water & Power Building; $58,000 for downtown kiosks, banners, parking and directional signage; and $15,000 for landscape improvements at the corner of Nevada Way and Arizona Street on city property next to Frank's Barber Shop.

According to the official minutes of that meeting, Mayes said the project would begin in the downtown area and expand to other areas if desired by the council and community and the initial request would provide two sculptures.

She also said, according to the minutes, the commission for sculptures would vary, and one could cost less than another and that "prices also varied depending on stock sculptures or commissioned projects."

Following the Sept. 8 Old Town Merchant's meeting, Mayes said the artists could be a combination of people and that she "wouldn't be surprised if Steve Liguori did some of them."

Liguori, a former jewelry maker turned sculptor, is best known for the bronze likeness of high-scaler Joe Kine, which stands as a testament to the men who built Hoover Dam outside the High Scaler Café at the entrance to the dam's parking garage.

He also was commissioned to produce a bronze bust of former mayor Bob Broadbent for the dedication and renaming of Central Park to Broadbent Park on July 4.

Councilman Mike Pacini suggested at the January meeting that the sculptures would enhance the city walking tours and suggested that since City Hall was a former school that maybe a sculpture of a teacher and student should be considered.

Mayes also said she sees the public art project as lasting anywhere from three to five years and that additional redevelopment agency funding could be used to produce more sculptures.

In the Jan. 10 minutes, Mayes indicated that if the program is successful that perhaps there may be "...a total of between six and eight sculptures eventually."

The city manager also envisions outside help to make the public art project work.

"We could use private funding too," she said. "That could be done through a private foundation maybe."

The city manager said the committee's artwork suggestions and recommendations would come back to the council before any funds were committed toward producing a sculpture.

To go along with the committee's original thoughts, former city landscape supervisor and current Parks and Recreation Commission member Tom Casey offered a proposal to the committee after its first meeting.

His three-point beautification plan mentions sculptures depicting people in 1930s-style clothing engaged in activities such as shopping or giving flowers.

"Using bronze statues of people in 1930s clothing honors and defines the historic character of the (Oldtown Business) District," he wrote in his two-page plan. "The statues would subtly locate businesses, define the activities that take place in the area, give an historical perspective of the area and provide an upscale, art-oriented atmosphere."