While it is rare for public art to be universally loved or admired, it is perhaps even more unusual for public work to be thoroughly disliked.

There is no mystery to the “…underlying issues and grievances behind what is an obviously strong emotional response to these items.” When originally installed, the artist remarked about his wish to honor the lumber and  woodworking traditions of Port Townsend. Though he may have been sincere in that intent, he has failed spectacularly.

How do these Art Brut-ish sculptures “honor” the community? They are, especially in a town with a high population of artists and craftspeople, in fact, insulting. It’s galling to think that someone was paid thousands to develop, create, and install these pieces. They are basic, crude, clunky, insensitive, and, importantly, not very interesting. They cry out for comment and amendment. Painting them blue was hardly a fix and has not succeeded as a deterrent to “vandals.”

Their inelegantly blank presence invites critique, response and reaction. So far, almost everything that has been done to them has been an improvement. Perhaps, in that way, their success has been in motivating the community to assert its interactive artistic impulses.

Betty Brown

Port Townsend