By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — A vision to amp up the arts in public parks was floated Wednesday night.

The Westport Arts Advisory Committee gave a presentation to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

“Thank you for allowing us to present an exciting idea for Westport,” WAAC member Dina Upton said.

WAAC is a public committee with 15 members, appointed by and funded through the First Selectwoman’s Office. It is entrusted with the town’s extensive art collection and one of its roles is to increase visibility of arts in the community.

“Westport has a longstanding reputation as an arts town,” Upton said. “It’s true that we are home to many writers, artists, musicians and more. And our superlative public arts collection, primarily works hanging in our town buildings and schools, are the envy of towns around us.”

“Yet we lack a serious collection of public sculpture,” Upton said. “WAAC would like to change that. We are proposing to you tonight the concept of the number of installed outdoor sculptures in town, specifically in some of our public parks.”

Upton said Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Fava and First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker have expressed support.

She said her committee wants the Parks and Recreation Commission to consider the idea.

 Fellow committee member Kathleen Bennewitz, also the town curator, said WAAC was founded with the belief that “Art is an essential enrichment for our community and our audiences.”

“People come here because of the artistic bent and support in our town,” she said.

“Having outdoor public art is a way to really connect the dots between what’s inside the buildings and people’s offices, and what’s in our town viewscape,” Bennewitz said.

“Outdoor public art is no stranger to Westport,” she said. “For more than a hundred years now, almost 110, public art, and spaces, has been a critical component of Westport’s culture and landscape.”

“The Minuteman was the first,” she said of the town’s iconic statue on Compo Road South, which has stood watch since 1910. “Followed by the Doughboy, and later, we can fast-forward to the early 1990s with the Charles Ginnever work ‘Charities,’ which is on Jesup Green.”

“All three of these are on public park property,” Bennewitz said.

She said smaller pieces have been donated and placed around town, including “The Seagull” at Canal Park honoring James Izzo; the Eugene Pasacreta Memorial at Pasecreta Park, honoring a policeman who died of cancer; and the “A Bridge in Time” and “Onyx Perpetual” on the Riverwalk.

“Public art can educate, it can inform, it can delight,” Bennewitz said. “It can also surprise the viewer.”

“Norwalk and Stamford have emerged as two of Fairfield County’s municipalities with rich public art programs,” she said, “designed to place works on public land.”

Parks and Rec Commission members had questions, many regarding nut-and-bolts, procedural issues.

Member Elaine Whitney asked about potential transportation and installation costs. Bennewitz said that, and any upkeep, would be WAAC’s responsibility.

Fava asked about insurance, and Bennewitz said that would be covered through the town, as it is now.

Who would pay for what, and what might be placed where were also concerns.

“We would certainly come to present to you what we propose to be in which park,” Upton said. “And then we could have a discussion of what you think.”

“We were hoping to start with one or two parks initially, see how the process is going and then we can always expand from there,” she said.

Not every park would be suitable for sculptures, the committee stressed.

Member Alec Stevens said he remembered when “Charities” was installed (first at Winslow Park, then moved to Jesup Green).

“Everybody had an opinion on it,” he said. “And now it’s like a fixture. I imagine the Minuteman might have sparked the same controversy at the time. And we just had this whole thing about the library wall panel …”

“It’s just hard to do anything that isn’t controversial, and especially with art,” he said.

Stevens said he shouldn’t say it loud, “but I can’t help but thinking there’s an opportunity for a mini Storm King or a PepsiCo art sculpture garden.”

There were just a few members of public joining the online meeting, and Jay Walsham was one.

“Is the Parks and Rec going to be the gatekeeper for artwork being proposed for the parks?” he asked.

Commission Chair David Floyd said the evening’s discussion was preliminary, and what the process might be had not been worked out.

Walsham then asked if opening the door to WAAC meant anyone might be able to ask artwork be installed in parks, schools, etc.

“Why would they have an exclusive on this?” he asked.

Bennewitz responded that any such request would go through the First Selectwoman’s Office, and be referred to her group.

“We have a process of how things are recommended … ” she said. “Nothing just comes in willy-nilly.”

“As you know, art is in the eye of the beholder,” Walsham said. “And it’s difficult to have something that’s not going to be controversial, especially in Westport. Prepare, there will be controversy.”

Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 35 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.