Creating Public Art

Article by: Alexenberg and Benjamin

It is really important for people to stand together as a community, not only to find develop a bond but also to express themselves and their cultures in order to become unified. Both young people and elders have a huge impact on the community.

            The thrones are a great example of how public art can bring the community together. The elder population of the community created the thrones’ details and tiles, and high school students assembled them. It is interesting how so many people can get involved and create such beautiful public art. The thrones will be around for years to come for people of the community to enjoy. The art demonstrates cultures and feelings that elders in the community share and now are community’s future generations are able to enjoy the art and have an understanding for the elder populations culture.

            I found it really interesting how each of the people working beside each other were so different, but they could collaborate and create something awesome together as a whole. The thrones were created by people of different races, ethnicity’s, religions, and generations; I found this really interesting because even though the thrones have many different elements created by the people to demonstrate the cultures they still come together and look unique as a whole.

            Community art can help bring an attachment to ones community.“In a complex society such as ours which wishes to allow group differences to emerge, not submerge, we need to find ways for these groups to express themselves and be heard and valued. One of the major purposes of participation is to allow diversity to be expressed.” (Halprin&Burns,1974,p.11) Art is a vital part of community learning. It can teach the community members not only about art itself but also about the artist.

            The process of making this art is very important to the community. The students were able to teach the elderly people how to develop the mosaic tiles even though they have never done anything like that in their life. It gave the people a chance to encounter the cultures between generations.  The artwork itself creates a community. The process of creating the artwork brought interaction between the different cultures. The people were able to find a bond over doing something they have never done before.

Learning with others allows artists to learn about others

                To me, the best part of art is perception and perspective.  When creating art, after a piece is finished and presented, it no longer belongs to the artist. The control part of the piece is no longer in the artist’s hands; it is whatever the viewer believes it to be.  The artist gets the recognition but more importantly the experience of creating the piece.  This is more intense when working with a group or other cultures because you’re creating something bigger and they have even less control. 

                When working in a group to have better control of a piece, an artist has to gain understanding of the views and perspectives of the other artists.  What a beautiful learning opportunity.  In the article Creating Public Art Through Intergenerational Collaboration by Mel Alexenberg and Miriam Benjamin, they spoke of a collaborated art project with artists of varying cultures.  The Legacy Thrones art project was created by the hands of elders of different cultures.  They discovered that they shared values and beliefs as well as a better understanding of each other’s cultures. 

                The Legacy Thrones in Miami are three separate thrones each very different.  An unknowing passerby may walk by these pieces each resembling a different cultural. However, to these elder’s they will see three different thrones that represent three different cultures but all share similar values and stories of hardships and triumphs.  

These pieces were created through collaboration and collaboration leads to an expansion of knowledge and understanding.  It creates a lack of control to an artist which creates an element of surprise when viewing the finished piece.  Each group learned about each other’s cultures as well as they all shared the experience of learning to work with clay together. Learning with others allows artists to learn about others.  It also creates something that the community is proud of as a whole and leads to a more cultural aware group of people.

Alexenberg M. & Benjamin M. (2004). Creating Public Art Through Intergenerational Collaboration. Art Education. 13- 18.