Do you know what an impact your creativity could have on your community? Most of you heard the story last week of how my car was broken into. I planned to blog this week about what seems to be a rise in crime in Indianapolis. As I was doing my research, I found one crime prevention method that seems to be working in several cities around the country: public art.
My first thought was of the electronic dancing people I’ve seen downtown. My second thought was, “How does public art relate to crime prevention”? Further research revealed what I should’ve already known. Public art gives young people something to do other than hang out in the streets. It can make neighborhoods nicer, increase property values, and attract new business, which brings new jobs. People that live in nice neighborhoods, are employed, and have enough money to raise a family are far less likely to commit crimes.
According to the Arts Council of Indianapolis, public art can take a variety of forms. Historically, art that is accessible to the public has been in the form of freestanding pieces of work or objects that occupy a public space, such as sculptures and memorials. Now, in a growing number of cities functional objects such as benches, trails, bridges and manhole covers can become commissioned works by artists.
Now those of you who know me, know that I am a big believer in giving back. Whether it’s volunteering someplace, helping someone in need, or contributing something to the community, my motto has always been to try and leave the world better than I found it. So in that same spirit, my question to you this week is “What kind of public art would you create in Indianapolis if money was no object? Where would it be located and what would its message be?" Think about it! Answers are due no later than Tuesday, August 17th, 2010.
If i could create artwork for the Indianapolis area it would be Benches. Now i know that this has been done before in other cities but I would allow families, couples, or individuals to come down for ONE day only and help paint the benches with FUN and BRIGHT paint to help liven the streets of downtown Indy.
ReplyDeleteThis would not only create artwork for everyone to take part in but also artwork that the city of Indianapolis could keep and display! Bringing people together like this helps to create friendships and build relationships in the community.
If money was no object, I'd probably want to do something to raise awareness for the dying arts in school. With teachers being forced to over test their students, they have no time to put art or music into their day, which is a vital part of growing up. So I think I would try to have some kind of event where all local people can come down and create something to try to remind people of the need of arts. It could be as simple as having families decorate a large banner, or even painting on the side of a building. I think that would be a great way to raise community awareness of a problem that's nationwide as well as bring people together.
ReplyDeleteI would paint the starry night by van gough by the military museum not only because its' my favorite painting but because it be nice to have a painting painted on the concrete in like a 15ft by 24ft sq foot radius. For it's meaning it would be nice to show the world what future generations are made of and it would be nice to be in the middle of the van gough as if your a part of the painting.
ReplyDeleteI'm from fort wayne, and IPFW's mascot is the mastadon and in a way they have done the public art. all over town there are statues of mastadons painted and dressed in a variety of colrs and costumes. there is one dressed up like a dentist outside of a denstis's office, one that is painted with abstract colors, and many more. Maybe if we had something like that in Indy it would help. its fun to drive around town and see the different mastadons and you can do it with frienda and family, making the community come together
ReplyDeleteObviously being in culinary art to me can also come on the plate...with that being said I think it would be great for chefs as a community to get together and give homeless shelters and Battered Women's homes to volunteer their time and give people who could use a meal that they might not normally be able to afford. In my opinion sometimes it is nice to give back to those a little less off. I belonged to a car club back in Illinois and we volunteered our time to a local shelter cooking food, and making things run a little smoother. I am not a person who can draw or take really good photos, so I think it would be nice to present my art to in more of a way that it can be appreciated both visually and tastefully.
ReplyDeletei feel that if i were to create something to do with art for the public to see would have to be murals on the side of buildings. i love graffiti walls even though its considered a crime, thats one reason why i love Broad Ripple because the alleys on the strip are covered in Graffiti, and i think that its amazing to look at, most of its art and doesn't have anything to do with gangs. i feel that its takes a talented person to create something so amazing with a can of spray paint. so to make plain boring buildings look awesome and more enjoyable to look at i would paint murals on buildings. ( this of course would exclude historical buildings they are beautiful on their own.)
ReplyDeleteI would do it in around the hospitals there are so many people that are in and out or not out of there and all you feel when your there is the drab ness of it all. and the message would be what my dad always taught me that there is more to this world then sadness and you can make it a happier place only if you stand up and fight for it!
ReplyDeleteIf I could create artwork anywhere in downtown Indianapolis and money was no object, I would paint families together during the holidays on the sidewalks. Soldiers coming home to their family, just happy memories that most people had and will have once again.
ReplyDeleteIf I could bring my artwork to Indianapolis it would have to be something that would connect with a lot of people. Murals and stationary sculptures are always my favorites to see, so it would probably be something along those lines. I few people mentioned murals in the sense of graffiti, I've heard that in some areas of cities such as Cincinnati, that they when graffiti gets too far out of hand, they'll make a public graffiti wall where it's legal to tag and paint. I have an appreciation for graffiti and all, but how cool would it be to see a classical-style painting on the side of a building? ♥ As for statues, I particularly like the ones that are depictions of a person that might actually be where the statue is. Someone that fits into the environment.
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ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure what I would do....i'm not really that artsy. If money was no object I guess I would just try and get the kids to paint the side walks or make big banners to hang around the cities. You could fill balloons and have the older kids throw darts at them so the paint would pop on paper and make painted things that way. Or like other people said...have people paint benches and trash cans...that sort of thing. I would probably have them do it around the downtown areas or in areas where it is drabby and needs fixing up.
ReplyDeleteIf I could create artwork anywhere I would want it to be in public park areas. Paintings could be benches and bridges, and sculptures along walking trails would be pretty neat. As far as the subject matter, I don’t really know what the theme would be. I think people exercising and families would take the time to appreciate whatever artwork was there.
ReplyDeleteThe kind of public art I would create would be a giant wall/mural in neighborhoods who are at risk for higher crime and neighborhoods who aren't. I'd have this wall be in a local neighborhood parks and allow the neighbors to come and decorate the wall how they want their neighborhood to be perceived. It could be an artistic outlet for kids. I know there is a risk for profaned graffiti but the purpose of the wall is to voice your concerns or highlight your neighborhood. Also, I'd have a scheduled wall cleaning every month to make room for new art and messages.
ReplyDeleteI would have more art around the business areas, especially around our school. It would be cool for us art students to show our talent around here. We really cant express ourselves here at school, with our plain walls and everything. Somewhere needs to be a wall for Art students to do whatever.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the Baking & Pastry program and often thought about having a culinary camp for kids to come and be able to create desserts - another form of art. This would be a camp that would run year round and provide a place for kids to prepare desserts for special occasions for family and friends. All ingredients and supplies would be provided free of charge and would hopefully instill a sense of accomplishment and reward from their creation. A "Wall of Fame" would hang in the facility displaying pictures of each campers work of art.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very nice to create any art or crafts that that the materials are made from natural envirnoment.
ReplyDeleteIt gives some feels and bonding to country.
If I could create any piece of art for Indianapolis, I would create a fashion and music museum. The museum would include all kinds of facts about all music around the world such as where it is orginated from, and past to present. I would want the information to be interactive and have pieces of art that represent music or some type of movement. The museum would also be a learn environment because you would be able to take music classes. The fashion part of the museum would be recycled. All the pieces of clothing or acessories will be made of recycled materials from your everyday use. The fashion exhbit would be amazing cause I have so many ideas for it. There will be a exhbit for all fashion student of Indiana to can get some exposer. The fashion students can be fashion designers, grapics, photograpy, stylist, any marketing, I would include all. This museum would be very live with creativity all around. It will be a safe happy place.
ReplyDeleteIf I could create any art, I would choose to have communities decorate their sidewalks with murals, messages, whatever they wanted to write. I also think having specific locations for graffiti would be neat because I think it's pretty interesting to see what some people can do with a spray can.
ReplyDeleteIf I could creat art in Indy, I would create it all over. not just downtown or not just on the north side. Indy is pretty big and it seems to be divided into "sides". I would create something and mimick it all over to unite the city. Like a statue, that you could put in parks, or sidewalks. I would decorate the overpasses and cement fences around the street with art work and lights.
ReplyDeleteI agree, people who are stimulated with something constructive to do will ultimately be less proned to criminal mischief. After all, this is the reason the Roman empire built the gladiator colloseum, to keep their citizens busy. I grew up playing music with the piano at 9 and began drums and percussion through middle school through college. I fully believe that creative arts is not just an excellent way to keep people constructively entertained but to help them build skills and knowledge and abilities outside of school work. Talents are different from skills. Skills can be taught and practiced while talents are the ways our brains are wired to react to certain sitations. Whether it is playing a sport or writing music or drawing/painting a picture, children NEED to be exposed and try new things, and before the highschool level. If it were up to me and money was no object, I would put an end to budget cuts towards creative arts. I would start an endowment that would be focused solely on ensuring not that every child will succeed at something specific but that they will at least have the opportunity. You can't force these types of talents but you can find out early what they are good at and nurture what you can. If you wait too long than the opportunity is lost. That to me is the saddest thing about our school systems.
ReplyDeleteif i could have any art in any public area, i would have giant murals painted under a overpass because who has seen giant murals under a overpass. i think it would be pretty cool when driving down the highway and then driving under a bridge and then be surrounded by a work of art especially when you mainly see graffiti and gang signs.
ReplyDeleteI would have blank walls constructed just so people could come paint on them. They wouldn't have to be boring rectangular walls, they could have different shapes to them so that it looked basically like a blank monument. I'm thinking it could even be designed like a maze with bigger walls built around interior walls and they would keep getting smaller towards the center.
ReplyDeleteI would make it open for anyone to come paint on the walls. This monument could be a designated spot for graffiti or any type of murals that people wanted to paint. I think this would also help keep graffiti off other walls in the city where it is not wanted. I love the look of graffiti on walls, but I know that a lot of city officials and business owners hate it, so allowing a nice public place for people to paint could be a good way to keep everyone happy.
What kind of public art would you create in Indianapolis if money was no object? Where would it be located and what would its message be?"
ReplyDeleteI would love to paint a mural possibly downtown or on another side of town. I think I would like to paint something related to the idea that art is everything or do something cultural. I am unsure at the moment, but if given the opportunity, I would so help paint one.
I would hope that everything else in indianapolis would be solved by the time this undisclosed sum of money is put at my disposal. I would simple redesign parking tickets or something of that sort to be something more pleasing to the eye. Something you might WANT to be stuck to your window/ crammed under your windshield wiper.
ReplyDeleteIf not that then I purpose that we involve trampolines and rip cord lines in our daily mode of transportation.
Tristan
ReplyDeleteI would make the worlds biggest comic book page using the side of any building they provide. It would illustrate our states history, Hoosier celebrities and honor the native peoples who inspired our name. Granted its a bit excessive but if its for the community go big or go home.
My newphew and I are big fans of urban graffiti art. He is really talented in the art. I propose that we create spaces for these individuals that draw this beautiful and sometimes inspiring images thoughout the city. I think that those noise blockers on 465 loop would be a great place to have some of that art (on the residential side, of course. I think that this would help with crime because some of these artists are living some kind of bad life, and maybe this will help them figure out their passion in like or at least take their time away so they can't commit crimes.
ReplyDeleteI live in an area where there are huge mansion like houses on the right, and boarded up crack houses on the left.
ReplyDeleteThis is an area between Broadripple and Mass Avenue. There is a pretty small ghetto like area that I believe could possibly be wiped out and cleaned up fairly quickly.
To give you my honest two cents on this situation is...
Yes. I understand that new businesses, public art, and cleaner neighborhoods raise the property value. Due to the rise of property value, low-income families are forced to relocate. This is a process that is referred to as gentrification.
In conclusion, I don't believe that it is the public art that decreases the crime rate. It just possibly contributes to the rise of property value.
Regardless! To answer your question on what I would do for public art, without a restriction on money but needing an on the spot answer...
It would be great to create different areas of downtown. Like how they have a "china-town" in some cities. So we could have a china town, and a robot-town, and a fantasy town, and a underwater town.
Just different themed areas of a city... Middle Ages town.
-Craig Smith
My favorite type of public art has always been commissioned graffiti work like you see in Broad Ripple. The other thing I wish we had more of are a place were kids can learn about nature and learn to appreciate it, you hear all this stuff about being "green" but I don't think kids even know what they are missing out on and what they could end up missing. The biggest ideas that I like to see are about the empowerment of the people in the community to make there community better.
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows the graffiti buildings up on Pennsylvania. For anyone who's actually gone up there and looked at the artwork up close: Awesome right? There are some amazing artists out there! And I love the level of respect held for them. I love the ettiquite (if someone else already made something that is completely amazing, don't cover it up with your lame tags)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I adore sidewalk chalk drawings. If everyone just went out and drew their hearts out onto the sidewalks of Indianapolis...I think it would be a happier place. Also, it teaches us that nothing lasts forever. Because when it rains...
Personally I would have to do the two types of art I'm very passionate about right now. First I would want to do some of my welded sculptures for downtown broad ripple, Carmel, and Greenfield. I love broad ripple and I grew up in Carmel. I just moved to Greenfield and they could really use more art and design. I would do some abstract forms with different metals and textures around the towns. Then I would also want to do murals. I already have a mural business right now and I love painting. I would want to do murals to cover up open walls and bad graffiti. There is some graffiti that is actually very pretty, so some of my murals would just frame them. The message for all of them would be creativity and getting out in the community to see the beauty we have around us and to help make it even better.
ReplyDeleteI would want to create a new modern fitness park for anybody to come to. Then inside the park would be any other art that people can create, so it creates more jobs.
ReplyDeleteIf money was no object I would buy a building near downtown Indianapolis and build an indoor skate park. I would dedicate the walls of the building to urban artwork and allow for people to send their own messages through their work as long as it was appropriate for most ages.
ReplyDeleteI love art in all forms, this is one reason why i came to this school. Art has been in my family for years, my cousin who resently passesd painted the mural on the US embassy in Portugal and also the backdrops and set for Julie Taymor's the Lion King on Broadway. She wasnt a big time famous painter but she was well known. in Florida where she lived she did a free camp to the kids in boys schools and juviniles down there. she would teach them how to do all kinds of things that people would see as art. If i were to be able to do that here, i would open up a small art school for kids, teens, and even adults that need a influence thats for the better. there isnt a certain age for people to start producing art and there shouldnt ever be. it would be completely voulinteer work, non-profit, and always open to all people of all ages. everyone can be creative in their own way weather they see it as art or not, someone out there will see it.
ReplyDeleteTom Whitesell
ReplyDeleteI would create something that could be interacted with, almost like a playground of sorts, but not to that extent. Just something in the city where people could go just relax or let loose for a little bit. The message would be to just get out and do things. Life is no fun when you just sit around all day and do nothing, so maybe having this in a public place would inspire people to go out and check it out, then after that doing something else. Just having a positive vibe about the place that would get most peoples spirits up would be something that would make me happy.