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Panel commissioned to use Medford as canvas Public art displays would become part of the city's landscape by using grant By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune A bronze statue of chess players decorating downtown's Vogel Plaza, an oil painting of lupine fields hanging on a library wall and a marble sculpture brightening the concrete halls of City Hall. Such art projects may show up around town after the Medford City Council voted unanimously Thursday to turn an art committee into a commission with the power to spend $75,000 purchasing and placing public art throughout the city. "This puts Medford in the forefront of the Rogue Valley in having a policy about public art and encouraging art," said art Commissioner Judy Barnes, owner of the Rogue Gallery. Created by the council in October 2000, the art committee so far spent $1,800 for an oil painting by Medford artist Richard McKinley hanging in the mayor's office but scheduled for a move to the library, said art Commissioner Lesley Klecan, an art history teacher at St. Mary's School. But now that the art committee has become a commission, the eight members won't need permission from the City Council to spend a one-time $50,000 grant, plus $25,000 that the city budgets annually for art. "The people who participated in the vision process felt arts and culture were an integral part of making Medford a livable city," said Tom Hilton, recreation specialist for Medford Parks and Recreation. "The City Council approved aggressive goals to make art a major focal point in Medford." Councilman Skip Knight said he liked the idea of giving art commissioners more power to purchase and place art around town. "It takes the political aspect out of it so we don't get into a position of saying, 'I like the art, I don't like the art,' " Knight said. Councilman John Michaels suggested the City Council remain the fiscal authority on art purchases, but no one else would second his motion to add that requirement to the ordinance during the noon council meeting Thursday. "We are ultimately answerable to how money is spent," Michaels said. "I think the council should give approval before the artwork is purchased." Buying power will be up to the commissioners. Besides Barnes and Klecan, members include Curt Bennett, a former councilman and a stockbroker with PaineWebber; Russell Levin, development director for Goodwill, formerly with Britt Music Festivals; Joel Marks, a member of Medford's budget committee and French horn player; Stephen McCandless, director of the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater; Betsy Moore, an art teacher at St. Mary's School; and Corinne Stubson, co-founder of the 22-year-old Rogue Valley Symphony Guild. Julie Petretto, executive director of the Visitors and Convention Bureau, recently resigned from the committee, leaving an opening. Commissioners will make their next purchase soon. Pleasant Hill sculptor Peter Helzer will bring proposals for a bronze figurine for Vogel Plaza to the next meeting at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 4 in the City Council chambers. "One of the proposals is called 'Waiting for Godot' and it depicts two people playing chess,' " said Klecan, who also serves on the art selection committee for the Jackson County Library. "It's designed in such a way that two people can sit next to the sculpture and play chess on the board." Some of the art that commissioners purchase may be functional - bronzes on park benches or designer bike racks, for example, and may be placed along bike paths, traffic islands or gateways to the city, Hilton said. But Vogel Plaza on the corner of Central and Main will be an early target for art. "People drive by there everyday and they'd like to see something of beauty," Hilton said. Commissioners also plan to incorporate art into the remodeling of the Santo Community Center on the corner of Jackson and McAndrews, spending about $3,000 of a $200,000 state grant for art, Hilton said. Every city project must set aside 1.5 percent of construction costs for art as part of the art committee master plan adopted last year by the City Council. Another upcoming Medford Art Commission project is a proposal by Medford sculptor Michael Isaacson to create a marble or soapstone design in the City Council chambers. He will donate labor if the city purchases materials. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.