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Program Struggles To Develop Tampa Art Culture

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By DAVID HARRIS and ERIKA FLORES

Published: March 27, 2008

Mike Brown and Allison Kendel are neighbors in Tampa's affluent Ballast Point neighborhood, and both agree they have the city's best view of downtown.

Standing under old oaks looking across the bay on a cool, clear evening, they offer proof, pointing to the crisp blue waters of Tampa Bay, the distant skyline and the stream of pedestrians traveling along the longest continuous sidewalk in the world.

They don't mention the 10-foot-tall, polished metal monolith in the foreground.

"Equinimity," created by artist Bud Oelson, was installed 10 years ago at Bayshore and Gandy boulevards.

"I really didn't notice it," said Kendel, 30, who has lived up the street from the sculpture for almost a year. "I drive by it all the time but never noticed it."

"I notice the art, and I like it," said Brown, 53. "But if I had a choice between funding art and funding speed limits along Bayshore, I'd choose enforcing the speed limits."

Tampa residents like to tag the city's public art projects with nicknames. There's the "exploding chicken," a piece by George Sugarman at Ashley Place on Kennedy Boulevard. And "Wave," a sculpture by Mary Ann Unger that's located at Bayshore and Bay to Bay boulevards, is better known as "the slinky." But adopting weird nicknames isn't exactly what the Tampa Public Art program is aiming for.

Robin Nigh, manager of art programs for the city of Tampa, feels public art is as important as architecture and design to Tampa's culture and environment. "It gives you a sense of place, of history and background," said.

Darryl Thompson, 42, of Tampa agrees. The homeless man said he sleeps on the benches on the wide sidewalk at the Tampa Police Department parking garage downtown next to the mural "Parking at the Courthouse" by Mike Mandel.

"I read the signs explaining the mural on the columns and I get a better sense of Tampa history," Mandel said.

Tampa's Courtney Bouer, 23, jogs along Bayshore frequently with her friend Nicole Gibbs, 24. Bouer said she rarely pays attention to the art, but when she does, it enhances her run.

"The art on Bayshore is not blah, but not overwhelming like that crazy chicken downtown," Biggs said.

Since 1985, Tampa has required that developers spend 0.75 percent of their project cost, up to $200,000, on public art.

The most recent project to come from that ordinance is "One and Many" by Sara Stracey, an LED (light emitting diode) computer-generated light show on the west face of the Skypoint condominiums on Ashley Drive.

The panels are colorful during the day, but they come to life after sunset in a constantly changing dance of light, The result is reminiscent of the popular Lights On Tampa Biennial Project of 2006, when international artists created light projects around the city.

The next Lights on Tampa is scheduled for 2009, three weeks before the Super Bowl.

"At least three of our artists are looking at projects that focus on the NFL or the Super Bowl itself, which is kind of neat, because of how we're expanding to different audiences," Nigh said.

Wendy Babcox, an assistant professor of art at USF Tampa and a member of the selection committee for the public art program, participated in Lights On Tampa in 2006. She projected a video compilation of Florida tourist attractions on the windows of downtown buildings as a commentary on tourism as a Florida cultural identity.

"Lights on Tampa has become an identifier for Tampa in terms of a really significant art project that is recognized not just within the region, but nationally," Babcox said.

Linda Howard is a Tampa Bay artist who created a metal geometric sculpture titled "zig zag" currently installed at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Howard said the piece has been moved many times, and with each move, she has seen Tampa grow artistically.

"They are getting there, but they have a long way to go," Howard said.

Lynn Keck and Arvin Culabutan also contributed to this report.

ABOUT THIS REPORT

This report is part of a multimedia project produced by a University of South Florida journalism class in cooperation with The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8.

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