Neighborhood Watch: Mural Objections in Walter Pierce Park
The Issue: First picnic tables, now a spray-painted mural of a giant dog and children blowin’ bubbles is causin' a ruckus in Walter Pierce Park. Not so much the mural, per se, but the process it took to get there. Ward 1 residents were given a 10-day notice, posted on a neighborhood Listserv, that a mural would be painted along both sides of a wall in Walter Pierce Park last October. Don’t know what a Listserv is? Too bad.
As discussions took place between Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham's office, which commissioned the artwork through his MuralsDC initiative, and the D.C. Department of Public Works (DPW), residents and the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) were seemingly left out of the decision process. “It was only after the site was selected and announced that the ANC met with members of MuralsDC,” says local ANC commissioner Bryan Weaver (who, perhaps not incidentally, is opposing Graham in the upcoming council election). Only after that process were residents informed, says Weaver.
The Clock Was Tickin’: “Weather was an issue,” says DPW spokesperson Nancee Lyons. Instead of starting in the summer, the program didn’t get rollin’ until last fall, so certain aspects were rushed in order for the art to be completed by winter, Lyons says. “Should there have been some signage posted at the park? Probably,” says Mindy Moretti, the local ANC commissioner and president on the board of Friends of Walter Pierce Park. But MuralsDC was heading the project, so that would’ve been their responsibility, Moretti says. “The process was obviously flawed…but this project was dealing with a short budget and timeline, and a push was made to make the project happen,” Weaver says. In the month between the Listserv announcement, and the start of the artwork, residents were mum with their opinions, he adds.
Sketches of the mural were presented at a local ANC meeting, counters Dominic Painter, executive director of the Midnight Forum, a managing agent for MuralsDC. “No one had concerns, so we went with the positive feedback. It’s a ridiculous notion to think we’re going to reach every single person that lives in the neighborhood,” he says.
Adds Graham, writing on the Listserv, “I have every reason to believe that the process was followed in this case."
What’s in a Listserv?: A single message on an email discussion group is appalling, says resident Gretchen Cook. “It assumes everyone worth consulting has a computer, knows about the Listserv and has the time to check it regularly,” she says. There should have been a sign at the park and an open forum, she adds. Says neighbor Glenn Hennessey, “I consider the park a place to escape the city, not a place to be reminded of it….any type of artwork is wrong.” Hennessy adds that the Listserv failed to mention exactly which wall the mural would be painted upon.
What’s Next: There are no plans to do away with the mural. Instead, local artist and mural creator Aniekan Udofia is currently working on renewing one of the other three murals in the park that is deteriorating.
Photo by Glenn Hennessey.
6:12 pm
Public Art programs have a generally recognized set of Best Practices regarding Calls for Artists, site-specific nature of work, and community involvement. Does Murals DC adhere to any of these?
8:56 pm
Let's just put a moratorium on murals in our parks for now. Art is something ANCs can't seem to handle at all.
9:57 pm
Blue Pen: ANCs can't even handle live music in restaurants, but neighborhood residents deserve to be involved in the development of public art they will have to live with.
7:15 am
Yes, I agree. The problem is, they weren't.
11:02 am
ANCs can get blamed for a lot, but as I read this, the blame on the process falls squarely on the Councilmember and MuralsDC.
1:21 pm
First, I love the mural. Second, why are you bitchin at the ANC? It is Graham who didn't tell the community.
2:41 pm
Your DC TAX dollars at work and being shoved down your throats for bullshit like this, even with a budget deficit!
REMEMBER PEOPLE IT'S AN ELECTION, THROW THE ARROGANT BASTARDS OUT!!!!!!
2:49 pm
ADDITION: If 'Murals DC' and all the liberal patrons of this so-called art want it so bad then let them pay for it out of their pockets and then watch this crap STOP!
4:10 pm
FYI: "Program Consultant for MuralsDC 2007-2009: The Midnight Forum, Inc."
http://www.midnightforum.org/
6:58 pm
Yea, 'Mike Licht' how much of the hard working tax payers money did you suck-off in those years for that BULLSHIT you call art?, PEACE!
7:19 pm
Why does anyone think putting a man-made mural in the middle of the only open green space many city folks have? The mural grabs all the attention (visually) and leaves the trees and open spaces mere background.Put a mural where it can improve a wall but leave the parks alone.
6:30 am
Mural update: it's already falling off the wall. Further evidence that the entire process was rushed and unprofessionally handled. The paint is already falling onto the ground (how safe is that?) from this mural painted less than six months ago. Every mortar line in the wall has rejected the paint, and the smoother brick surfaces have multiple cracks in the surface of the paint. I thought the artist they chose had sufficient experience in this genre? How much was he paid by the city for this 2 day paint job, now falling down?
This is landscaping brick, with a smoother surface than what you'd find on an ordinary alley wall...and it won't hold the paint. Graham's office should apologize for the whole fiasco, and have the paint safely removed from both sides of the wall, before children or dogs in the park start ingesting it.
8:31 pm
If people get distracted by a wall when looking at nature, then you should move to the country. I'm confused as to why people are complaining about ART...you forget that its close to Adams Morgan-where I believe many people who live in the area walk by the park and do appreciate art. Perhaps the dog is a symbol to remind people to clean up after their dogs en route to the doggy park. I think its great that DC is being beautified with murals around the city; it gives a sense to tourists that the artwork doesn't exist just downtown on the mall....