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Chapel Hill in talks to develop public artwork

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Once Upon a Time, sculpted by Betty Branch and commissioned by Roanoke City Library Foundation, outside the Chapel Hill Public Library.

With more than 150 artworks around town, Chapel Hill’s public arts program has grown in recent years — and town officials hope to soon add two more artworks to the total.

A project planned for Chapel Hill’s most heavily traveled entrance has prompted a change in public art policy at a state level.

If funding is secured, the proposed sculpture by Raleigh-based artist Thomas Sayre will greet travelers at the Erwin Road and U.S. 15-501 median.

UNC

Before he could begin, the town needed permission from the N.C. Department of Transportation, which oversees the roadway. But no policy for public art on roadways existed.

“There wasn’t anything for them to do except for say, ‘We don’t really know anything about this, so we’re just going to have to say no,’” said Jeffrey York, public art administrator for Chapel Hill.

Sayre and York, along with public art proponents from across the state, helped draft a measure that would allow such a project to exist. The Department of Transportation adopted the measure — the Public Art on the Right of Way Policy — in December 2010.

The legislation will increase the number of public art projects on roadways statewide, said Brendan Greaves, North Carolina Arts Council’s public art and community design director, who also worked on the policy.

A systematic way to approve the installation of public art on roadways has been a long-standing hope across the state, he said.
“There will be more and more thoughtfully integrated art into transportation systems, like sound barriers on highways,” Greaves said.

The Chapel Hill proposal came at the perfect time, he added.
But because the policy requires local governments to pay for the art, Sayre cannot begin his work until the town finds funding.

However, Sayre’s proposal was greeted enthusiastically at two meetings early last month, and town officials are optimistic about its completion.

Sayre’s plan for the entryway sculpture is a double archway that he says is reminiscent of the structures Chapel Hill grew up around — rural churches, one-room school houses and barns.

“This piece is two big open doors that you see from a long distance away, saying ‘Welcome to Chapel Hill. Here’s the door, and it’s open,’” he said.

The 30-foot structure will be constructed through a technique called “earth-casting,” in which the mold for the sculpture is cut directly into the earth and concrete is poured into the mold.

York said public art is often bureaucracy-intensive.

“Every public art project, unless it’s just a piece of sculpture we can place on a pad, is quite involved,” he said.

The town has looked for alternate ways to fund public art and has started one project that collaborates with the private sector.

The 140 West development will include sculptures designed by Boston-based artist Mikyoung Kim. Kim’s sculptures will be incorporated into the plaza and courtyard of the development.

“The plaza illustrates the whole concept of using public art to create a place for people to gather,” York said.

The town made an agreement with the developer, Ram Development Company, that will require it to include a public-use space and dedicate one percent of the project’s total budget to public art.

That policy is consistent with Chapel Hill’s Percent for Art ordinance passed in 2002, which applies only to town projects.

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The ordinance requires that one percent of a town development’s costs be devoted to a piece of public art. Chapel Hill was one of the first communities in the state to implement such a policy.

But York said he hopes it’s not the last, and the public arts commission is in talks with other private developers.

Contact the City editor
at city@dailytarheel.com.

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