City’s Public Heart Installation versus Salida Artists with Heart

Salida, long time back, was coined “Heart of the Rockies”.  Many Salida businesses and organizations have taken up that theme in their name and logo.

But when the City spent over $10,000 to purchase four hearts as Christmas decorations, local artist activist Jimmy Descant was not happy.  He asked the City council why local artists had not been informed that the City had $10,000 to spend on Christmas decorations, and why local artists were not given the opportunity to participate in the project.

Instead, that $10,000 went to an Oregon company.

Here is one of the four hearts, standing in front of the Touber Building which houses City Hall.

The other three $2500 hearts are affixed to the Rotary amphitheater, the SteamPlant facing the river, and the Aquatic Center facing Highway 50.

I use present tense in talking about the hearts, because these “Christmas decorations” are still displayed, well into February.

Which begs the question, are these hearts actually a public art installation that circumvented the public art process?

Let’s assume the City’s four hearts do indeed meet the definition of a public art, or heart, installation.  Is this the sort of public art we want for Salida?

The hearts are big.  They appear to be made of rows of red plastic garlands with red lights, formed into a heart shape, and attached to a metal frame.

We all know that art is subjective.  So here’s my subjective take on Salida’s public heart installation:  The hearts are gaudy.  They overwhelm some of their installation sights, particularly the amphitheater.  Salida has enough red hearts already.  These are excessive.  They are manufactured and unoriginal.  They are paid for with our tax dollars.

The Public Art Task Force never had a say.  The newly formed Public Art Commission has been formed to avoid these types of public art blunders.

Back to artist Jimmy Descant.  Quite the opposite of the City’s public heart installation, Descant creates unique art with a message.  Art that starts a conversation.

Such is the case with Descant and The Rogue Lot’s recent unveiling of their heart installation at Moonlight Pizza, titled, “Salida Artists’ Heart: Unlock Yours, and Lock In”.  Those who attended the installation were asked to bring a lock to attach to the heart.  This is the beginning, but I imagine that it won’t be long before the heart is full of locks, locking into the unique heart and soul of Salida artists.

Thank you, Jimmy Descant and the Rogue Lot, for your unique and thoughtful response to the City’s public heart installation.