Fort Worth public art, paid for via a 2% fee charged to a Fort Worth public works project, is a bit controversial of late, due to a visually distracting traffic eyesore that cost nearly a million dollars and sits in the middle of one of America's Biggest Boondoggle's traffic roundabouts, installed well before the construction of the roundabout was completed.
Some have questioned whether America's Biggest Boondoggle qualifies for the 2% public arts deal, due to the fact that the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision is a quasi-public works project that is the feeble brainchild of a quasi-public agency known as the Tarrant Regional Water District.
Another reason for the validity of the 2% public arts deal being in question, regarding The Boondoggle getting funds for such, is the fact that the public has never voted on any aspect of this imaginary public works project, nor has the public been allowed to participate in any sort of public hearings regarding same, in any meaningful way.
The new works of public art which Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to is detailed in the following three paragraphs....
COMING SOON: Fort Worth Public Art is also looking for local artists to create 14 artwork images for traffic control cabinets on East Lancaster Avenue. Houston already has these fancy boxes around the city.
The idea is to make art out of drab, ugly boxes that house traffic signal controls.
“These structures provide an opportunity for the city of Fort Worth to poetically invest in its utility infrastructure,” FWPA explains on its website. “The artist designed wraps will contribute to a growing collection of public art blossoming along the corridor that connect different neighborhoods along the way.”
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I have never noticed ugly traffic control boxes in need of an aesthetic covering. Have you?
However, in many of Fort Worth's public parks I have noticed an ugly item which might benefit from an artistic cover.
Outhouses.
Fort Worth has more outhouses in more public parks than any other major city in America.
America's Biggest Boondoggle sort of pretties up the outhouses located at its imaginary world class music venue called Panther Island Pavilion, where there is no island or pavilion, but there are outhouses shrouded in concrete enclosures, slightly mitigating the eyesore aspect.
Wouldn't covering Fort Worth's army of outhouses in colorful wraps be a good use of public art funds? And a lot more people would see this "art" than those who might notice artfully disguised traffic control boxes.....
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