Stung by public criticism of a $250,000 sculpture project, the St. Augustine City Commission addressed the backlash at their November meeting and later voted in favor of the installation.
The panel unanimously selected a modernist mound-like design by Harvard-educated artist Ivan DePena back in August after a yearlong search, and cast votes on a finalized contract last month to seal the deal.
The Miami-based artist’s vision will take shape at a busy road connecting St. Augustine to Vilano Beach, an area that includes a heavily trafficked roundabout.
But as renderings of the sculpture started circulating on social media, criticisms began to mount.
Some questioned why a local artist wasn’t selected for the project, while others derided the design’s appearance.
Commissioner Cynthia Garris voted against the contract at the most recent meeting, telling her colleagues that she couldn’t reconcile the expenditure.
“I personally can’t justify in my mind how we are worried about something that’s on an intersection when we have people struggling to stay in their homes because of water damage,” she said.
Garris said a resident told her it looked like an “igloo” that would end ups erving as a de facto homeless — and that she agreed.
Commissioner Barbara Blonder respectfully pushed back, arguing that public art bolsters communal pride and serves as a long term investment.
“I’m hoping it can help change the entire entryway from the north,” she said of the project, asserting that it will brighten an otherwise blighted area. “And make it way better than it is right now.”
Commissioner Jim Springfield said he was ambivalent, but ultimately voted to approve the contract with DePena.
“In my heart for this piece of art I want to vote no,” he said.
But he ultimately declined to do so, saying he did not want to reverse course at this late stage of the process.
Commissioner Roxanne Horvath defended DePena’s selection, saying she was misquoted in the local press and was forced to explain herself to local artists who objected to bringing in an outsider.
She also contended that the effort was publicized sufficiently and that feedback was collected at every step of the process.
“We had very qualified artists in our city,” she said. “We had almost 100 people submit. That’s quite a lot of people to go through. I know not every will love this piece. But I’m confident that it will be unique and there will be controversy no matter what you do.”
