The front page of the Providence Journal had a story with a headline asking:Can R.I. still afford to pay for public art?  This question is easy to answer: No.  Public are is great, but in times like these, that 's one of the first cuts that should be made.  Rhode Island now spends 1% of the cost of state construction or remodeling projects on public art.  Besides the costs, there are some issues with the projects.

     Many of the projects seem to be done by out of state artists, and are highly over-priced.  Take a look at some of these projects:

•$420,000: R.I. Convention Center; urban park and garden by Mikyoung Kim*

•$381,000: R.I. Convention Center; chandelier by James Carpenter

•$300,000: T.F. Green Airport; ceiling installation by James Carpenter

•$266,377: Kent County Court House; glass structure by Paul Housberg*

•$240,000: T.F. Green Airport; wall installations by Barbra Cooper*

•$240,000: T.F. Green Airport; wall installations by Susan Dory*

*In design or in progress  


$381,000 for a chandelier?  $240,000 for wall installations?  Couldn't we get beautiful art work by offering Rhode Islanders an opportunity to provide it free of charge?  There are probably artists all over the state who would love to have the opportunity to design a large scale display in an impressive setting.  Of course, the state has decided to overpay for art work designed by out of state artists.  Then, we seem to have some strange things that are supposed to be "art."  The best example is the display at the new Kent County Courthouse which pipes in the sounds of birds.  I think it's a waste of money, but Senator Leo Blais disagrees:

Sen. Leo R. Blais, R-Coventry, who sits on the Senate panel, defended the courthouse installation as an example of how the Rhode Island arts program has stretched public perception of creativity, while adorning the state with unique artistic images.

“Just because people don’t understand a piece of artwork doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be funding it,” Blais said. “If we just funded what we knew people would understand and like, all we’d see are bronze busts of famous people.” 


     The Senator doesn't understand.  I'm not criticizing the funding of projects like this, I'm criticizing spending tens of thousands of dollars on projects like this.  If it was decided that bird noises would be the best artistic expression for that space, then why spend thousands of dollars, when Leo could have just taken a quick drive to Wal-Mart and picked up a CD full of bird sounds for $5?  I hate to say it, but Leo and the state were taken, and the "artist "must be grinning from ear to ear.