For All to See

"Public art can express civic values, enhance the environment, transform a landscape, heighten our awareness, or question our assumptions. Placed in a public site, this art is therefore for everyone, a form of collective community expression from the once celebrated but now unrecognized general on a horse to the abstract sculpture that may baffle the passer-by on first glance." Penny Balkin Balch

Public art is as old as prehistoric cave paintings and as new as post modern murals on contemporary structures. Typically when we think of public art, we consider such things as location, purpose, media, artist, and size. Specifically, murals are included in public art because they meet many of these criteria. Murals tend to evoke images of large paintings on walls and ceilings, but they can be much more far-reaching forms of public art.

Murals span the timelines of history,traverse cultural boundaries, and have been created from a variety of media on many kinds of surfaces. Yet the intent of murals is as diverse as the artists who made them.

Some of the earliest murals we know of are probably the cave paintings at Lascaux in Southern France. During the 20th century, artists such as Diego Rivera and Thomas Hast Benton used the art form as a type of social and political commentary, thereby educating the viewing public about their ideas.

Today artist Richard Haas paints historic and trompe l'oeil facades on buildings, prompting the public viewer to contemplate historic events and architectural heritage. (If you are coming to NAEA in Fort Worth in March, you'll see a number of his murals in that city, including one right downtown in Sundance Square.)

At the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts (NTIEVA), we are currently working on curriculum materials based on public art that we plan to provide online very soon. Be watching this space for their unveiling! In the meantime, reflect on the public art in your vicinity. How can you use it with your students?