 Public Art Comes
into its Own
By LEIGH BALDWIN
Artist Lorna Jordan’s proposal for the new Museum and Mission reaches of the San Antonio River Walk include extensive use of public art, both through sculpture and landscaping.
Happily, a strong foundation for using public art has already been laid. In contrast to cities of similar growth, San Antonio enjoys a wealth of contemporary sculpture created and displayed for the good of our community. In honor of July’s Contemporary Art Month, here are a few of our favorites, old and new.
The grounds of the McNay Art Museum have long been a playground for brides and graduates taking advantage of the natural backdrop for photographs, and young lovers picnicking beneath overhangs of both steel and foliage. Ascent, by Alexander Liberman, is one of the museum’s most dramatic outdoor sculptures. Liberman, by turns an art director, photographer, welder and eventually editorial director of Conde Nast publications, came into prominence in the late ‘60s with his monumental Abstract Expressionist style. Ascent, with its breathtaking red color, is a wonderful contrast to the Museum’s Spanish colonial style.
Big Shoot, by American artist Bret Price, is one of many approachable pieces surrounding the San Antonio Museum of Art. Scaled to (more or less) human size, Big Shoot’s 15 feet of galvanized steel sits at the entrance to the Stables building and West Courtyard, welcoming visitors and guests with its curving, organic shape. Pulled like a piece of taffy, the piece belies the weight and momentum of the metal.
One of San Antonio’s largest and most controversial public pieces has always been Sebastian’s Torch of Friendship (La Antorcha de la Amistad), located in a traffic roundabout in the center of downtown. Donated to the City of San Antonio by the Asociacion de Empresarios Mexicanos en San Antonio, La Antorcha is meant to signify the ties of commerce and friendship between our two countries. The boldly colored twist of steel weighs 45 tons and stands more than six stories high.
 Sebastian himself (the artist) admitted the work was controversial and had mixed reviews, saying to Latino Leaders magazine, “When something new emerges in a place that was stable and unchanged for a long period of time, it is a tremendous shock to the spectator, especially for conservative spectators. For those with vision, it is an acceptable change and another step forward in the contemporary art process.”
Also enjoying much debate is the recently inaugurated Light Channels by local artist and Blue Star Contemporary Art Center executive director Bill Fitzgibbons. Near St. Paul’s Square at Sunset Station, Light Channels uses LED lighting underneath the bridges at both Houston and Commerce Street exits to reflect slowly-changing patterns of color onto columns, sidewalks and walls. While invisible by day, at night the installation illuminates a dark corner of the struggling downtown development in a friendlier and more profound way than overhead spotlights ever could.
Fitzgibbons is no stranger to contributing to San Antonio’s contemporary public art scene. At San Antonio International Airport, a crucial location for creating first impressions of our city for visitors, Fitzgibbons used salvaged wings from a Dee Howard B.A.C. 1-11 to mark the center of Day Star Plaza, which leads to Terminal 2’s major parking garage – but not for long. According to the city, as part of the airport’s current reconstruction, Day Star Plaza will be moved nearby to what will be the center of the existing short- and long-term garages and a future five-story garage. Fitzgibbons has been invited to assist in the relocation and will soon retrofit the wings with state-of-the-art illumination and provide repolishing and surface restoration.
In another example of industrial inspiration for our public art pieces, Riley Robinson’s Tool Yard at the North East Service Center replicates the tools used at the facility in 12-foot steel. Almost a dozen tools make up the “yard.” Robinson’s work not only connects with the facility’s purpose, it honors the work of the Center’s employees.
The wittiest take on repurposing relevant work materials is the Pandelier over the front door at the new Center for Foods of the Americas at the Pearl Brewery. Originally conceived by CFA architects Lake/Flato, the piece itself was designed, fabricated and installed by Robert Diaz De Leon of Flux Metal Shop. The Pandelier is made of about 150 Crestware aluminum pans anywhere from 6” to 14” in diameter. Ironically, this “chandelier” only has one light!
Lest you think our public art too centered on downtown, one of the original showstoppers has always been the colossal Colonnade by Richard Harrell Rogers. Installed in 1985 during the Northside boom, just outside the Omni San Antonio Hotel, Colonnade consists of four 45-foot aluminum columns that form a diamond shape when viewed from afar.
The final three of our featured pieces are Dale Chihuly’s Fiesta Tower at the San Antonio Downtown Public Library, Dos Mundos in the lobby of Bromley Communications on Houston Street and the Missing Man Monument at Randolph Air Force Base by the Taj Majal.
 Installed in 2003, Chihuly’s spectacular assemblage of 917 hand-blown, multicolored glass forms stands 26 feet tall and weighs 4500 pounds. Dos Mundos, a 14-foot tall stainless steel and aluminum sculpture by Joseph Wesner, symbolizes the creative power and energy drawn from Latino and American cultures. The Missing Man Monument, designed by Mark Pritchett and erected in early 1977, is made of plate aluminum with a brushed finish on a steel framework. Although originally designed as a memorial to those who did not return from Southeast Asia, today it is a permanent memorial to all those who did not return from any of America's armed conflicts.
At its heart, public art is as much about a community’s values as the artist’s vision. While Dave Barry once jokingly defined public art as “art purchased by experts not spending their own personal money,” any piece of art commissioned and displayed for the enjoyment of all citizens must resonate in some way with its community. San Antonio, on the brink of a golden revitalization in our thriving city center and our downtown arts scene, is filled with public art touches of which we can all be proud.
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