Another 'fast food' restaurant and store for Village Pointe

[eomaha]

Village Pointe getting artwork

With its brick buildings, outdoor fireplaces and foliage-lined walkways, Village Pointe already has a unique ambiance.

But starting this summer, it will have another distinguishing characteristic: public art.

Officials have commissioned Crescent, Iowa-based sculptor Peggy Ritschel to create an abstract steel sculpture, titled "Reaching," for $25,000. The large-scale sculpture is scheduled to be installed by June at the center's roundabout area south of Scheels All Sports.

"We wanted to have some connection with the local community," said Paul Brown, manager of Quantum Quality Real Estate, a partner with RED Development at Village Pointe. "We knew we had great (artistic) talent in Omaha. It seemed like an opportunity for us to bring that local artistic talent into Village Pointe."

Ritschel's sculpture, "Reaching," will be 17 feet tall and 5 feet wide. The sculpture, which will resemble flowing prairie grass, has been designed to convey an "organic, moving upward motion," Ritschel said.

"I wanted it to have an organic feel, of something growing," Ritschel said. Village Pointe's "architecture is wonderful, and I thought it just called for something more organic."

Though Ritschel, 59, has created works for temporary public art projects at the Gene Leahy Mall, Fontenelle Forest and the Joslyn Art Museum, "Reaching" is her first permanent public artwork. Her sculpture was selected from 12 ideas submitted by area artists.

Brown said Village Pointe officials would like to commission at least one piece of artwork a year for placement around the center.

"This is something I know the city is promoting," Brown said. "We're just out on the edge, and it will hopefully be something other developers will follow and do the same thing."

[Finn]

"This is something I know the city is promoting," Brown said. "We're just out on the edge, and it will hopefully be something other developers will follow and do the same thing."

Nice to see developers joining in!

[nativeomahan]

Public art? I thought that was illegal in Omaha.

Seriously, this is a great idea. I only hope that it catches on sooner rather than later. Perhaps it could be required as a part of future developments, as well as hiking/biking trails leading up to the properties.

[Coyote]

Public art? I thought that was illegal in Omaha.

I think Omaha has a good beginning in the public arts displays:

[nativeomahan]

I think you about got them all, Coyote. Thanks for the compendium. In a city of this size there should be hundreds if not thousands of such examples. Building projects including highways, should set aside at least 1% of there general budgets for art work or landscaping.

[Finn]

Actually that was just a sampling. The rest can be found on the Omaha By Design site:

http://www.livelyomaha.org/art/art_index.htm

http://www.livelyomaha.org/whatsnew/Pub ... c-art.html

[Coyote]

Actually there are plenty more that I didn't include - but the legal idea of a sculpture in new developments would be great. For instance at the Valmont plant on W Dodge they did this:



At the Northern Natural Gas in Regency:



In an Old Mill Office:



At Omaha-Douglas Civic Center Plaza



And oh yeah at Rosenblatt:

[DTO Luv]

1969? Obviously. Where is that at?


I've always liked the statue of the Black Angel.

[Swift]

Yeah I don't know what you're talking about, Omaha has more public art than most places. San Francisco, for example.

[DMRyan]

That's one of the first things I noticed about Omaha before I even knew much about the place. I think the city has some great public art and look how many additions have been over the past couple of years.

Those random metal hunks on Abbott Drive don't count. It's time to get the blow torch and send those in for scrap.

[Finn]

A model of the Village Point "Reaching" sculpture from OWH:

[projectman]

I do like the new Village Pointe proposal. Very interesting!

[Finn]

Seriously, this is a great idea. I only hope that it catches on sooner rather than later. Perhaps it could be required as a part of future developments, as well as hiking/biking trails leading up to the properties.

That is what could happen. This was printed in the OWH last March:

Proposal would set aside money in public art projects

BY ASHLEY HASSEBROEK
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

First National Bank wanted to enliven its park at 16th and Dodge Streets, so it commissioned a sculpture that included 58 bronze and stainless steel Canada geese.

The City of Omaha wanted to personalize the new Hilton Omaha across from the convention center, so more than 100 original pieces by Nebraska artists were installed in the hotel's lobby and other public areas.

The Omaha Federation of Labor wanted to commemorate the legacy of the manual worker, so the union commissioned a monument to labor for Lewis & Clark Landing, a new park on the Missouri River's west bank.

Over the past few years, more of Omaha's business leaders, city officials and community leaders have come to view public art as more than just decoration.

A local effort, Omaha By Design, wants to build on that sentiment. Among the initiatives it advocates is a requirement that all public projects in Omaha set aside 1 percent of their project costs for artwork, a mandate that has existed on the state level for more than 25 years.

While the private sector has sponsored many art projects, such a measure would require local government to incorporate art into all its buildings. The proposal is popular with the artistic community but is likely to be met with criticism by taxpayers and some city officials.

Larry Ferguson, chairman of the Omaha Public Art Commission, estimates that about 100 artworks are on public display in the Omaha area.

Plans are in place for a number of additional pieces, including a sculpture in front of the W. Dale Clark Library downtown and a sculpture in Turner Park, west of Turner Boulevard between Dodge and Farnam Streets. A statue of Martin Luther King Jr. by Littleton Alston is also planned for between the City-County Building and the Douglas County Courthouse.

"We're starting to emerge as a city that appreciates public art," said Mark Kraft, a city councilman and member of the Omaha Public Art Commission.

With that in mind, Omaha By Design wants to encourage local officials to adopt explicit rules on where to place public art and what constitutes appropriate public art.

The 1 percent law at the state level has led to such public artworks as Alice Aycock's $170,000 "Waterworks" sculpture on the University of Nebraska at Omaha's campus and Dale Chihuly's $105,000 "Toreador Red" chandelier at UNO's Peter Kiewit Information Science, Technology and Engineering Institute.

The state law was enacted in 1978. Since then, more than $1.2 million has been spent on art for state buildings and colleges.

"Truly, the only way for Omaha to achieve the first rank in public art acknowledgment, similar to other cites, is for it to adopt the 1 percent for art legislation," said Suzanne Wise, executive director of the Nebraska Arts Council, who administrated the state's 1 percent program for 15 years.

The Omaha mandate, if approved, would apply to new projects in excess of $500,000 and redevelopment projects of more than $250,000, Ferguson said.

"With this law, art would no longer be thought of as an afterthought, but one of those things that is thought of right from the start," Ferguson said.

Such a law would ensure that major public spaces, such as the Omaha Convention Center and Arena, weren't built without money or plans for artwork, he said.

Comparable laws have been adopted by many other cities, including Kansas City, Seattle, Phoenix and Philadelphia.

Ferguson and Councilman Kraft acknowledge that the idea may meet opposition from those who don't want to spend more money for "fancy" buildings.

Councilman Chuck Sigerson said he'd be wary of such a proposal. "There is a bottom line to every single project," he said.

Citing the new convention center as an example, Sigerson said 1 percent can be a significant amount for a large project, noting that of the $290 million that was set aside for the convention center, that would have amounted to $2.9 million for artwork. He said adding those dollars onto the project's cost would have increased the overall bill for taxpayers.

But some organizations, such as the Omaha Public Library, already allocate 1 percent of their budgets to artwork when they undertake renovation and building projects.

In 1988, the Joslyn Art Museum loaned Harry Bertoia's "Sunburst" sculpture to the Abrahams branch library. Since then, the library system has set aside the 1 percent on each project, said library director Rivkah Sass.

The Benson branch in 1999 installed a sculpture by local artist Leslie Bruning as part of a renovation. That same year, the Millard branch installed a sculpture by local artist Catherine Ferguson in an outside plaza as part of that library's renovation.

"(Artwork) makes the library a comfortable place to come as opposed to an uncomfortable, warehouse space," said Janet Davenport, the Omaha Public Library's deputy director for technology and facilities.

A new south Omaha branch will have $67,000 in its public art budget, and a renovation of the Washington branch in north Omaha will set aside $20,000, Sass said.

"Too often people think of art as something you have to go to a museum to see. When it is in a public space, art is coming to the people," Sass said.