Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Sculptures could be removed as early as next month

Lack of public support could mean seven sculptures around Wilsonville are removed

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 4/17/2010 1:48:56 PM

Photo By: Patrick JohnsonPublic art
Lack of community support could mean that seven locations around the city that had public art, will go vacant.

The lack of community support have Wilsonville Community Services officials recommending that seven public sculptures on loan to the city be taken down and the program discontinued.
Peggy Watters, community services director, is recommending that The Public Sculpture Program, started in 2003 by Steve Spicer and artist Jesse Swickard, be discontinued due to lack of community involvement.
The program was funded and operated by the Wilsonville Citizens for Public Art, but after Spicer's death in 2008 the group has dwindled and lost its non-profit status. In the past, corporate and private donations helped the group pay stipends for the sculptures and to install and remove the seven rotating pieces. With the loss of its main advocate, and the downturn in the economy, the program hasn't been able to fundraise like it did in the past.
For the past year Watters, with the help of Cheryl Snow, director off the Clackamas County Arts Alliance, have looked for someone to take over the program, after members of the WCPA approached the city council about not having the funds to continue it.
"As staff liaison to the WCPA since its inception in 2003, and with only one active member of the former WCPA organization, it is my staff recommendation that the current seven sculptures fo the rotational program be removed in May of 2010 as per the extended contract with the artists on file with the city's legal department," Watters wrote in her staff report.
The WCPA has the $1,400 needed to take down the seven sculptures, she said.
Snow and Watters are currently working on a new group that would support local arts, culture and heritage organizations, but that group isn't ready to take on the public sculpture program, Watters reported.
The council is expected to discuss the issue at 5 p.m. Monday night during the city council work session in the Willamette Room on the second floor of City Hall.
For more information contact City Hall at 503-682-1011.

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