As Manhattan makes its way through Christo-ized Central Park—just add dog-walkers and baby-joggers—Las Vegas finds itself unfurling another sort of public art. The Las Vegas Centennial Celebration Committee's "City of 100 Murals" project promises to transform walls (and in one case already, windows) throughout the Valley.
"Each of them tells their own story, in a way," says Richard Hooker, senior cultural specialist with the city and chair of the centennial committee's eight-member mural task force.
Among the four already dedicated is "Big V," a translucent vector-rainbow in the vestibule windows of UNLV's Flora Dungan Humanities Building. Dedicated last week by Mayor Oscar Goodman and UNLV President Carol Harter, "Big V" was made by public-art students. UNLV is one of five organizations making centennial murals, along with the Cultural Affairs department, Clark County Cultural Outreach, Clark County School District School-Community Partnership Program and Las Vegas Springs Preserve.
The school district alone has more than 100 murals planned, with help from Home Depot, which is donating materials, so Hooker harbors little doubt that his program will live up to its title. "If anyone could produce 100 murals in a year, it would be Las Vegas," he says.
But the March 1 deadline for applications is fast-approaching, and it might be a little late if you're just having a brainstorm. Hooker points out that only sites can apply, which means an artist with a concept has to get a location onboard first. Although mostly Southern Nevada artists will be involved, a few sites have applied for projects to be done by out-of-state artists. The House of Blues, for instance, is working with its self-taught "house artist," Mr. Imagination, a Chicago native. The Las Vegas Arts Commission has a project planned with California artist Alexis Smith.
Hooker and fellow task-force member Markus Tracy, the mural project's art director, have a $100,000 budget, but Hooker says they hope to leverage twice that much in donations and in-kind support. For instance, each approved mural project gets a $1,000 design fee, which the proposing site is expected to match.
Other projects in the pipeline include a 10-mural suite at the Springs Preserve and a Clark County Cultural Outreach plan to paint utility boxes in the Winchester neighborhood. Hooker expects to welcome another UNLV mural in the Lied Library vestibule in April. This, too, will be the work of the public art class taught by Professor Pasha Rafat.
All of this could help lift the public-art profile of a city commonly considered a public-art project in itself. Some previous efforts at public art have foundered. William Maxwell's "Ground Zero" was removed from City Hall in 2001, and who can forget the art-cow project of the following year? Elsewhere, public art proposals have stumbled into controversies.
"Projects get into trouble, I think, when there is a lack of communication between the artist, the commissioning entity and the site," says Hooker, adding that the 100 murals project seeks to avoid that pitfall. Rafat's class, which is supported by the Las Vegas Arts Commission, acclimates students from a variety of disciplines to the collaborative nature of creating public art. "The important thing is, we actually put ourselves through the process," says Rafat. He says he knows of only one other school, the University of Southern California, that offers such a class.
Hooker says each site in the 100 Murals program is asked to maintain its work for at least five years. Some plan temporary pieces, such as "Big V," but Hooker expects most will be permanent. "In the end, we've kind of thought of it as a legacy."
For more information, contact Markus Tracy at 229-4613.