A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2016
COMMUNITY
City seeking input on public art
By JADE MCDOWELL
Staff Writer
The city of Hermiston is
jumping into the art world.
Consultant Rebecca Couch
of Moscow, Idaho, is writing
a public art plan overseen by
the city’s Community En-
hancement Committee. The
public will have opportunities
to comment on elements of the
plan in May, and a inalized
plan is slated to come before
the city council for approval
in July.
Couch said her visits to
Hermiston have revealed plen-
tiful opportunities for adding
more art to the public square.
“They don’t have a lot of
art currently, and they have
a lot of public buildings that
I would describe as blank
slates,” she said.
Hermiston does have some
public art pieces, such as the
clock tower and water foun-
tain installation at McKenzie
Park, but it lacks Main Street
murals and other displays typ-
ical of a city its size.
While many people think
of public art as statues and
murals, Couch said a public
art plan can help a city think
outside the box with things
like decorative trash cans and
benches, metal etchings at-
tached to buildings, colorful
vinyl wraps around the utility
boxes on street corners, dec-
orative signage or artistically
sculpted bicycle racks.
Couch said she has also
spoken with the Communi-
ty Enhancement Committee
about an “outdoor rotating
gallery” that would install per-
manent plinths that could then
host local artists’ sculptures
temporarily.
Whatever does make it into
the inal plan approved by the
city council, Couch said the
plan will be general sugges-
tions about locations in town
ripe for public art and the me-
diums that will best it there.
Art would be installed
as funding came available
through grants and other
means.
Because tastes in art tend to
vary so widely (one person’s
“modern” is another person’s
“tacky”), public art projects
can draw controversy.
Pendleton learned that
when disagreement erupted
over the proper location for a
bronze statue of former Pend-
leton High School football
coach Don Requa, and citi-
zens in Hermiston complained
so much over the design paint-
ed on the side of the water
tower that it sparked an entire
rebranding process for the city.
Citizens who want to
comment on possible loca-
tions for public art can come
to the Eastern Oregon Arts
Festival reception from 6-8
p.m. on May 6 on Northeast
Second Street in front of city
hall, the festival from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m. May 7 in front of
city hall and during the Sat-
urday Market at McKenzie
Park in mid-May.
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