Sedona News – The Art in the Roundabouts Committee (AiR) of the Big Park Council announced that three years of steadfast effort has resulted in five artwork proposals that meet the established criteria for enhancing the four SR-179 roundabouts in the Village.
The community is invited to a grand reveal event on May 1st from 4-7pm at the Village branch of the Sedona Public Library to view for the first time five proposed artwork designs. Attendees will have the opportunity to view exhibits depicting and explaining the artworks, speak with the artists in person, and personally comment on the proposals. AiR committee members will be present to answer questions about the selection process and steps ahead. Tea and cookies will be served, courtesy of a generous donor.
The five artwork proposals were submitted by regionally renowned artists: James Muir, Shirley Wagner/Jason Butler, Reagan Word and two entries by Chris Navarro. Each of the artists has prominent public artworks in the public domain, some in the Sedona area.
The artwork renderings will remain on display in the library through May 8th. Following the public reveal event, the artwork presentations, information about the artists and option to provide comment is online at OurVillageArt.org.
Future Steps
The committee asks that residents submit comments either at the library or online by May 31st, at which time the committee will summarize the findings. The inputs, will inform the committee’s further discussions with the artists.
Plans for acquisition and placement of artworks will be determined after funding is secured, which will be the next hurdle for the committee and community. To date the work of the committee has been funded by the AiR committee members and the Sedona Village Partnership (thesvp.org).
The committee is actively working with the County and ADOT to ensure that all safety and proper installation criteria are met.
The Committee is progressing along the following timeline:
- May 1-31
Community exposure to proposed artwork and collect public comment - June 2024
Further interaction with artists to refine their offers
Report on community comments to the proposed artworks
Fundraising campaign begins
Each month the committee reports their progress at the regular meeting of the Big Park Council, which is then shared via the Council’s highlights report to all email subscribers, and meeting minutes posted on the Council website. You can learn more about the project at OurVillageArt.org. Note that the artwork proposals and artist information will not be featured on OurVillageArt.org until after the May 1st reveal event.
Questions can be submitted to the committee via ourvillageart.org. The Village branch of the Sedona Public Library is located at 25 W. Saddlehorn Rd.
For more information on the project, visit ourvillageart.org.
2 Comments
Oh, wow, we love art, but roundabouts? There are near accidents on roundabouts every time I am at one. All we need is another reason for people to take their eyes off the road! Surely there is a better place for art than in the middle of the road!
Excellent points Sue! Also who is going to foot the bill when a vehicle damages or demolishes said artwork?
I’ve heard suggestions of putting Native American symbols and figures inside the roundabouts. I think that would offend most Indigenous peoples unless done very very tastefully. Can’t have symbols of Tribal members who were forced out of and off of their lands by Anglo Squatters wrongfully laying claim to land that did not belong to them as was done with “Indian Gardens” which belonged to an allegedly militant Native American who likely was just doing what Anglo Americans tend to do now when belligerent authorities come to remove them from their homes/lands. Indian Gardens is an offensive name in and of itself for that matter. The rightful owners were forever forced from it and was part of the Anglo Government’s land grab that forced them onto desolate Reservation lands no Anglo at the time wanted to lay claim too only to later violate signed treaties and agreements to take away their water rights, strip mine for precious metals and uranium which has left much of their lands forever poisoned with heavy metals and forever chemicals without any attempt to mitigate, limit or clean up any of it.
And if they put up symbols or statues of the Sedona Settlers (Squatters) who stole these lands from them that will be as offensive as a statue of Robert E Lee in NYC’s time square.
Hopefully whatever art is put in if any, it will be tasteful and respectful and won’t need to be removed years from now due to being offensive. I’m for figures of of all the wonderful wildlife we have here from mule deer, elk, antelope, bobcat, cougar, coyote, bear, partridge, hawks, eagles etc.