Commentary : Art, Cities and the Urban Canvas

Orange County has just completed its first countywide children’s art experience: “The Imagination Celebration.� The program originated at the Kennedy Center in Washington; Orange County was selected as a satellite project. Throughout the month of March, the event showcased the work of thousands of young artisans and performers coming together in our shopping malls and libraries.

Imagination Celebration was to be more than just an opportunity for the public to see what our county’s young artists have been up to. It was intended to spark new countywide enthusiasm toward the arts.

Orange County has reacted to the need for culture and art by building new arts facilities, like the Center for Performing Arts in Costa Mesa; new theaters in Irvine, Buena Park and Fullerton; a new museum in Anaheim, and renovations for the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Bowers Museum, Muckenthaler Cultural Center and the Fullerton Museum.

This new-found interest in expanding community arts in Orange County is, to say the least, commendable. We must, however, not overlook the exciting possibilities that could more permanently enhance our concept of the arts in the places we Californians spend most of our time--the outdoors.

In Orange County we have become increasingly more mobile with less free time and more time spent in travel. We seem less inclined to make special trips to theaters and museums. I think this trend will have an enormous impact on where we see the future of community-based art.

A basic goal for providing community-based art is to ensure its maximum accessibility. For some cities this may mean bringing the arts to the community rather than always thinking about ways to bring the community to the arts.

A city can be approached as a kind of “urban canvas,� with each community creating its own unique painting or personality.

When you think of New Orleans, don’t you picture the ornate wrought-iron building and jazz bands on every street corner? Even closer to home are Laguna Beach and its outdoor summer arts festivals, San Juan Capistrano and its “mission� theme and Anaheim with Disneyland and all of its symbols. But what about the rest of us? What uniqueness can we magnify in our own communities?

Certainly the creation of a community image is much more ambitious than special events, which only draw attention to artistic endeavors for a limited period of time. But we should be utilizing all of our art and cultural opportunities and integrating them into our public environment.

Imagine street signs, bridges, buses, buildings and parks, assisted by an artist’s imagination, that reflect a community’s unique character. Picture a brightly colored park bench shaped like people, playground equipment shaped like musical instruments or buses covered with artwork

Or visualize sculptures and fountains along our highly traveled roadways, street signs in any color other than drab “freeway green,� walls and fences constructed in ornate patterning, and business districts and parks with areas for street performers.

The “urban canvas� concept brings into focus the serious, yet dwindling role of the arts in today’s plain-wrap society. A community’s aesthetic appeal must be addressed with the same sense of urgency that other major issues such as public safety and transportation receive.

City representatives are open and receptive to ideas that promote public creativity, humanness and individuality. They like to hear how local, state and federal agencies can bring the arts into more projects and programs.

When city officials fully realize how much the arts mean to residents and community life, art in public places will start getting the governmental priority it deserves, which will ensure the continual support of the arts.

I applaud Imagination Celebration for equipping Orange County citizens with a renewed creative spirit. And I urge everyone to evaluate their own community’s cultural expression and ask themselves what would make their city come to life and bring a new sense of pride toward their surroundings. Why should we travel to San Francisco, New Orleans or Boston to experience “community personality� when we could be creating our own right here in Orange County?