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Public artist hears suggestions for 'Theater Corridor' Two people walk up the "Theater Corridor" towards the Thomas Theatre. The building housing Starbucks is at right. [Photo by John Darling] Sunday Feb 26, 2017 at 12:35 PM Feb 26, 2017 at 12:35 PM By John Darling For the Tidings The long, featureless corridor leading from Starbucks on East Main Street to the Thomas Theatre is about to get some public art, at a cost of $110,000, but the selected artist Gordon Huether of Napa, California, faces a big challenge making it somehow represent this multi-faceted town and overcoming the “dark, spooky place” the alley is. The narrow space, called the “Theater Corridor,” is now painted with blah beige colors and studded with utility boxes and wires and two short flights of stairs — but the owners of the rough-looking walls have nixed any change to their walls, leaving Huether to engage the challenge of creating something up the middle (or somewhere on the walkway), so people can still walk up and down it without being impeded by the project. “The owners (of the adjacent walls) are not open to art,” he said. “There’s a lot of visual crud in there, but I’m a quick study … It’s a big, gigantic, ugly wall and we can’t touch it. We can’t even paint it.” The artist, at the library Friday evening, showed an impressive array of previous projects on a much bigger scale, including a yucca plant made of old war plane fuel pods at the entry to Albuquerque; a timber array at White Rock near Vancouver, B.C.; the “River of Light” at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek; and “The Canyon” at Salt Lake City International Airport, using wind-sculpted images from Utah’s canyons. Most incorporate LED lighting. The Ashland project has been narrowed down to four options in his mind, he said, likely including LED lights and at least one of them elevated above eye level, so as not to impede pedestrians in the alley between Earthly Goods and Starbucks (the latter recently bought by Oregon Shakespeare Festival). The short “pony wall” on the left, going upward, is his to play with, and could be used for things going up in the air — but that’s it for walls. It is expected to be in place by September, he said to a crowd of about 35. While several suggested themes based on theater or historical items such as pioneers, drama and the community of artists, Huether demurred on tipping his cards about the thrust of the centrally located work. He will offer two to four project ideas to the City Council in coming months and was eager to collect ideas from the crowd. One resident insisted Huether see a play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as possible inspiration. Residents were clearly hoping to avoid the controversy surrounding the last public art proposal, an abstract, welcoming entry to the town at East Main and Siskiyou Boulevard slated for installation later this year. His goal, he noted, is to enhance the experience of pedestrians, create a sense of place, establish a distinctive landmark compatible with the downtown, "activate" the site, create a visual connection with the theater campus and downtown and encourage community pride and engagement. Huether, with entertaining wit, said he aims “to inspire humanity by bringing beauty” and touted his credentials, noting he has a staff of 13 in a 20,000-square-foot studio and a portfolio of 175 earlier commissions and 75 awards over 30 years. His creative philosophy, he said, is “to tell a story and create a sense of place, that is site-specific … and finely crafted, meaningful and relevant.” Also important, he noted, was to create with quality materials, something that will look great in 40 years  — with no maintenance. — John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].