September 2, 2004

Contention clouds airport public art meeting

By Lorraine Gabbert
Staff Writer

Twenty-five members of the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport Public Art Steering Committee spent hours at City Hall at a recent public meeting painstakingly reviewing, clarifying and modifying the draft Airport Master Plan before voting to approve it. Although the vote carried 24-1 in favor of the plan, the evening was not without its points of contention.

Steering Committee members deliberate. Pictured in foreground are Sweeney, Brady, and Slayton.

“It was a major accomplishment getting consensus on the art and technology direction,” noted Public Art Project Manager Mary Rubin.

One issue raised was whether the steering committee should have met more than twice to refine the draft master plan. “I would have felt more comfortable delaying the process until we had a clean copy of the draft master plan, rather than being forced to pass something with a lot of changes and a lot of chicken scratch in the margin,” related committee member Kymberli Brady. “The only reason I felt comfortable voting for it was because if any of the changes we discussed were not included in the draft master plan as presented, we would have an opportunity to bring it to their attention at future public art meetings.”

“If the steering committee felt it needed more time because it needed more information or they felt they didn’t have significant opportunity for input, they could have scheduled another meeting,” stated Deputy City Manager Kay Winer. “I said to them that both of the meetings were extremely well attended with lots and lots of community input, and so consequently, if they felt that they didn’t need additional meetings in order to make that decision, they ought to go ahead and vote tonight…and they chose unanimously except for Sharon Sweeney’s dissenting vote to approve the plan.”

Sweeney had her reasons for voting against the draft. Among her concerns was the exclusion of questionable steering committee commentary from the minutes. For example, according to Sweeney’s notes, in the meeting of April 21, steering committee member Joel Slayton, a new media instructor at San Jose State University, stated, “When I came to SJSU in 1984, I believed something had to happen, and now SJSU has a substantial international reputation. We want to be involved in the art culture, and one is the airport. A major component is how to engage with the airport and the Museum of Art, and to use SJSU artists. When this project at the airport is underway, we’ll have a program set up for our students to be in a sophisticated part of the airport program.”

Slayton’s comments did not appear in the minutes, and when Sweeney brought this up at the subsequent Aug. 23 meeting, Slayton became upset. “I would hate to be misinterpreted in terms of comments that are reiterated for inclusion in the minutes to have an indication that there was a vested specific program interest that I was advocating for my particular students. That is both insulting and incorrect,” he said. No one on the committee was willing to second Sweeney’s motion to reintroduce these comments into the minutes. However, following the meeting, Marici Reid, owner of Amelia Reid Aviation, and Jerry Bennet, retired director of operations for San Jose International Airport, signed affidavits attesting to the accuracy of Sweeney’s notes.

The meeting continued with an eye to the overall vision and scope of the project.

“If San Jose is to realize its destiny as one of America’s major cities, cultural development needs to be taken as seriously as economic development,” said Gordon Knox, quoting NEA Chair Dana Gioia. “The project that’s in front of you for this airport is an extraordinarily wonderful, rich combination of innovation, capacity and forward-looking vision,” continued Knox. “This is going to change the nature of the way the city is recognized on a global basis.

Every single member of the city of San Jose, whether they fly in an airplane, or just walk down the street, will benefit. It’s going to be a huge engine of advancement for the entire city.”

“All the money that’s spent on art is well spent because it creates an atmosphere,” stated resident Deborah Mills Thackery. “You have cities like Paris that are all atmosphere and art, and thus become meccas. That’s something that San Jose really needs to take seriously. It pays off in the long run with the atmosphere, the type of people you bring in, and our reputation as a city.”

Muralist Macario Rotiz was concerned that multi-ethnic artists would be left out of the equation. “There are a lot of people in the community that have historically been omitted from expressing their art,” he noted. “There are multi-ethnic artists in the community right now just waiting for a chance to express their art; it can be graffiti or monumental murals. I’ve seen the kind of work that’s been done in New York City, and I think San Jose can lead another art movement.”

Artist Dawn Nakanishi was equally concerned that local artists would be represented in the airport’s public art. “If you’re looking to design an airport that reflects the richness of the community—something very unique and very empowering for the community—then you need to look to the artists,” she said. “If you really want something that reflects the spirit of San Jose, you really need to look to the people that are visual poets.”

At this point, 54.5 percent of regional artists are represented in San Jose’s entire public art program. When artists are considered for the airport public art project, regional artists will receive a 5 percent local preference advantage, consistent with the city of San Jose policy. In addition, some steering committee members considered adding an additional advantage for local artists using local technology.

However, other committee members had a different perspective. “We know that it’s important to develop local artistic resources but the primary purpose of this program is to create works of art of enduring value,” contended Gerry Allen.

Knox wondered if the technology incorporated in the airport’s public art should be limited to Silicon Valley. Joel Slayton disagreed. “It should be global innovation. International diversity should be considered,” he said. “Look outward as well as inward.”

“We can look outward, but it should still originate from inward, because San Jose is the very description of the word globally diverse,” refuted Brady. “I mean look at the people who live here. Look at the companies that are here. We are the Silicon Valley. We already have that global representation.”

“San Jose has really created an amazing form of dialogue through its innovations so it doesn’t need to be nervous about being the only one allowed to speak,” replied Knox. “We are really the leaders in this…global dialogue and it’s wonderful to welcome many other voices in our forum, but it is in San Jose…and it really reflects the diversity of this community.”

Although by voting to approve the draft master plan, the steering committee’s job is now over, community meetings on the airport’s public art will continue.

“I want to address the issue of public participation in the airport art scene,” stated resident Kate Mulligan. “There is a place for us to take a stand and project our own issue of what we want our art to be. That is built into the design. If you want your art or someone’s art that you believe in [included], it is your responsibility to get up and put it together.”

According to Rubin, now that the steering committee has approved the draft Airport Master Plan, the next step is to revise and further develop it based upon the committee’s comments. Following this, it will be presented to the Public Art Committee on Sept. 28 for their recommendation to the Arts Commission. Then it will go to the Airport Commission on Oct. 4 for their comments, and to the Public Art Committee and Arts Commission on Oct. 13 for their final approval and recommendation to the city council. Finally, in mid November, the draft Airport Master Plan will go before the San Jose City Council for its approval.

Following the city council’s approval, from November through January, an activation team will be commissioned to look at pubic art site selection opportunities at the airport. Commissioning artists and selecting content is planned for June 2005.

Although after having approved the draft of the Airport Master Plan the airport public art steering committee’s job is done, it is evident from the passion this project evoked that the discussion has just begun.

The next Airport Public Art meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 at the Health Building, 151 W. Mission Street, Room 202B, San Jose.