Port Coquitlam unveiled its centennial art project Monday at city hall. It was sculpted from a 100-year-old silver maple tree and sits above the reception desk.
It's public art and, yes, it's paid for by the hardworking taxpayers of Port Coquitlam.
And we need more, not less, in the Tri-Cities. It's worth every penny, Andy, so cast your cold eye of austerity somewhere else.
Surely, we love the eagles that soar above the Golden Ears Bridge, or the house on stilts on the Bayshore seawall, or the Inukshuk at Sunset Beach.
Even though the public paid a pretty penny for them, they are invaluable; landmarks that encourage appreciation of something beyond the nuts and bolts of infrastructure.
City halls, libraries, recreation centres and even hockey rinks are enhanced by public art. The murals at local recreation centres set them apart from the clapboard, boxy arenas of some communities.
Public art can be transformational. At Vancouver International Airport, the works of Bill Reid and others complement the building's functionality and transform it into one of the world's truly beautiful airports.
Sure, it's sometimes tragic. We can all think examples of hideous public art we can't believe we paid for.
In schools, I've seen "artist in residence programs" and murals by art teachers and students that saddle lobby walls with ugly works that we all pretend to love for years so we won't offend the artists. (I'll quickly add that I'm not speaking of any schools I worked at or art teachers or students that I knew.)
Sometimes, we can get so mesmerized by cultural cachet that we commission a project sight unseen. That's when we risk getting stuck with something ugly.
City councils should know, before any work starts, exactly how much it costs and exactly what it will look like. Saying no is easy before work starts but it's impossible to back up the bus once a sensitive artist has almost finished work on something that turns out to be a monstrosity.
So why waste money on non-utilitarian art that some people don't like? Because we can end up with beautiful art that transforms a street or building.
I haven't seen the PoCo city hall piece yet - except for photos in The Tri-City News - but bravo to city council for committing money to public art.
