Main Street El Dorado is soliciting ideas for downtown public art projects in order to apply for a first-time grant that is being offered only to Main Street programs around the state.
Those who are interested in submitting ideas are invited to attend a public meeting that is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce, 111 W. Main.
Ideas may also be submitted by calling the Main Street El Dorado office at 870-862-4747 or sending an email to [email protected].
The Arkansas Department of Parks, Tourism and Heritage is introducing the Public Art Grant, which comes with a $40,000 pool of cash that will be divvied up among Main Street programs whose grant applications are approved.
The deadline to apply for the grant is Dec. 6.
MSE board members discussed the matter during a regular, monthly meeting Nov. 12.
“We could qualify for up to $10,000,” said Beth Brumley, executive director of MSE.
“If enough programs apply for the grant, there could be more money next year. If there’s not enough response, there will be no more money next year,” Brumley said. “It doesn’t have to be a $10,000 project. It can be three, $3,000 projects.”
The the terms of the grant call for a project that will be displayed for at least two years, she said.
“It’s an opportunity we certainly don’t want to lose out on,” said Greg Withrow, vice president of the MSE board of directors.
Some ideas MSE has heard or proposed are crosswalk art, murals, or the expansion of an existing downtown public art project in which fiberglass replicas of Les Paul guitars are displayed around the Union County Courthouse square.
The guitars were installed on 2007 and were designed and painted by local artists,
Brumley said a group of Georgia-based journalists — who recently visited El Dorado as part of a familiarization tour of the state that included El Dorado, Little Rock and Benton and was coordinated and partially funded by local communities that were stops on the tour — gravitated toward the guitars and “asked a lot of questions” about them.
For the Public Art Grant application, Brumley said MSE is particularly looking for an interactive project that will engage downtown visitors.
Main Street has been working this year with its Design Committee, the South Arkansas Arts Center and the city of El Dorado on ideas for a crosswalk-art project in the Union Square District.
Such projects are part of a popular trend in urban landscape design and incorporated into traffic/pedestrian safety measures in cities across the country, MSE board members said.
They have also said Main Street will tap local artists to design and create crosswalk art, should the project get off the ground.
With the announcement of the Public Art Grant, MSE board members have inquired about whether crosswalk art would qualify for a grant.
“I think we need something here that people can come and take a selfie with and post on Instagram and we don’t have that here,” Brumley said.
In a coincidental turn of events, the El Dorado Historic District Commission was presented with a Certificate of Appropriateness request for such a project two days later.
“Big Angel Wings”
During the MSE board meeting, Brumley said Elizabeth Eggleston, executive director of the EHDC, was expected to attend the Nov. 20 meeting to answer any questions about the commission’s design guidelines for the city’s commercial historic district, which covers most of downtown El Dorado, as the guidelines pertain the public art.
Commissioners had to answer — and ask — such questions Nov. 14 when Commissioner Teresa Golliher presented an “emergency” Certificate of Appropriateness request for a large wall mural that feature giant angel wings, in front of which visitors may take photos..
COAs are required for most exterior work that is done within the district.
Golliher presented the request on behalf of her employer, Corinne Management, and its co-owner, Richard Mason.
She told fellow commissioners that she had received the proposal the previous day and was asked to request an “emergency” exception to the COA process.
Golliher said Mason got the idea for the mural during a recent trip to Tennessee, where a popular mural featuring giant and small angel wings regularly draws thousands of visitors to the trendy Gulch district in Nashville.
“He liked that the line was wrapped around the building and thought it would be a good idea for downtown,” Golliher explained.
She said the proposed spot for the mural is the north wall of Marilyn’s on the Square.
The wall faces East Elm Street and a large section of the wall was blackened in August when a transformer exploded underneath the sidewalk on the north side of Marlyn’s and sent flames and thick clouds of black smoke skyward.
Golliher said the brick wall has since been repainted, noting that the brick had been painted prior the explosion.
Additionally, she said there have been discussions about the need for an attraction to draw visitors to the north side of the Union Square District, which is anchored on the south by the MAD entertainment complex.
She said Mason requested that the historic district commission suspend the rules of the normal COA process so he can proceed with the project as soon as possible.
“I tried to encourage him to bring it next month, but he didn’t want it to be after the fact,” Golliher said.
She also said Mason was trying to get ahead of the holiday shopping season and other upcoming activities — the Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony, which is set for Thursday, the opening of the MAD on Ice Skating Rink on Nov. 23, the Downtown Holiday Open House on Nov. 24 and the El Dorado Christmas Parade on Dec. 12 — when more visitors are expected downtown.
Golliher also said the artist, Mason’s daughter, would have been prepared to begin work on the mural Nov. 16.
COA requests must be submitted 20 days prior to the EHDC’s regularly scheduled meeting for the month the applicant would like for the commission to review the proposal.
Eggleston said a staff report must be prepared, a legal notice run and certified letters sent to notify adjacent property owners about COA proposals.
“We would also have to notify commissioners who are not here today to allow them time to drive by or take a look at (the proposed project site),” Eggleston explained.
Commissioners Diane Murfee and Larry Combs were not unable to attend the Nov. 14 meeting.
Commissioners enthusiastically favored the idea but said they could not immediately act on the COA on such short notice because questions and concerns about the project.
“There are two issues here. The first is it would be precedent-setting and the second is we have to consider whether it’s an emergency,” said Linda Rathbun, chairman of the EHDC.
“Its an emergency for him but it’s not life-threatening,” Rathbun continued.
While perusing a photograph of the Tennessee mural, commissioners questioned the size of the mural and raised concerns about potential safety issues.
“I’m thinking about that location and about safety because I don’t know how big those wings are going to be and I can see some teenager getting in the street to get it all in (the photo) and getting hit by a car,” Commissioner Ann Trimble said.
Rathbun also asked if an on-the-street parking space will be blocked off to allow full access and visibility for the mural.
“There needs to be a full discussion about setback, size, the ability to take a full picture, the safety of the photographer — all of those things,” Rathbun said.
Added Commissioner Ken Bridges, “Aesthetically, I think it would fall in line with the character of downtown and the brick is already painted.”
Commissioners also questioned the positioning of the mural, asking if the wings would be painted closer to east or west side of the wall.
Like Golliher, Bridges said Mason likely wanted to complete the project in time for the holiday season.
He said the EHDC should be allowed to make exceptions when considering COAs on a case-by-case basis, depending on the timeframe of the project and safety issues.
Eggleston noted that the commission previously granted an emergency COA for a repair to the door of a downtown business.
The door had been damaged in what was believed to be an act of vandalism.
“But that was an actual emergency. She couldn’t close her door,” Rathbun said.
Eggleston also referred to the meeting Main Street is hosting for the public art project Nov. 20.
“This commission will be asked at some point to approve murals,” she said, pointing to ongoing discussions about the possibility of painting a mural on a wall that adjoins Hill’s Recreation Parlor, 205 E. Cedar.
The wall was once the interior east wall of The Mast restaurant, which was destroyed by a fire in 2003.
Commissioners have also expressed been some concern about the condition of the bricks, which have been covered in soot since the fire and were were not meant to be exposed to the elements.
With the development of MAD, there has been a call to spruce up the wall. Some suggestions have included painting the brick and planting creeping ivy, both of which have not been met favorably by local and state historic preservationists.
They have said that painting over brick in historic districts is discouraged and the ivy plant could cause the wall to further deteriorate if it penetrates the brick.
Commissioners said they could schedule a specially called meeting to address Mason’s COA for the angel wings.
“We don’t want to create any angst here but (the project) is really cool,” Rathbun said.