The four stainless steel wildflowers seem well “integrated” with their background on Wednesday, April 5, 2023.
The four-piece sculpture off Lyon Street near Eighth Avenue in Albany has been up for more than two years. Until now, I didn’t know it had a name.
In a memo to the city council, Parks and Recreation Director Kim Lyddane refers to the work’s placement by the Albany Arts Commission. She says the commission installed “Intregrated Narrative” there.
Sure enough, that’s what the artist, Deedee Morrison, calls her creation. While the name doesn’t exactly spring to mind or roll off the tongue, Ms. Morrison does provide some text to go with it.
The four 15-foot-high stainless steel creations are meant to resemble wildflowers native to the Albany area. They are decorated, in the leaves, with machine-cut outlines of various kinds of pollinators such as bees, butterflies, ladybugs and others.
On her website, the artist provides the context:
“Wildflowers support entire ecosystems for pollinators, birds, and small animals on a micro-scale. Butterflies and other insects, small birds, and animals depend on seeds, nectar, and pollen for their food supply and life support system. Native plants have adapted to an amazing array of habitats and microclimates in the region, achieving a balance with other living things and forming the foundation for our lives. Many of our native pollinators and wildflowers are under threat because of the loss of habitat and the use of pesticides. We can all make a difference by exploring and understanding our link with our regional biodiversity — and by planting native species in our backyard and urban areas, we can bring back the pollinators.”
If you’d like to read the whole thing, you can look here.
To refresh your memory, the arts commission and the city council commissioned this work in 2018, for $80,000, to meet part of the city’s obligation under the city code to spend 1 percent of certain projects — the new police headquarters in this case — on art.
“Integrated Narrative” was installed off the Lyon Street off-ramp from the Pacific Boulevard viaduct in December 2020.
Next week, the council will hear a proposal to amend the city code to allow the arts commission to seek and receive grants for more art projects around town. (hh)
Nice picture, Hasso.
For more art projects, I hope the arts commission seeks local artists. NOT out of state.
I’d call it a total waste of public funds! Difficult to get to. A distraction when coming down the street…drivers gawking instead of driving. Another thing that needs maintenance by P/R staff. Belonged in Montieth Park.
Art is best appreciated when one gets out of one’s car and takes the time to look at and appreciate what the artist accomplished. Rushing by in a car, racing downhill into a curve with a stoplight at the bottom hardly qualifies one as a Critic
I agree…waste of our dollars.
I laughed out loud when I read “Integrative Narrative.”
Forcing property taxpayers to pay for this kind of schlock, regardless of whether the art is needed or wanted, is an act of arrogance.
There are a thousand other spending priorities that are needed more than an “Integrative Narrative.”
Hopefully the new council will repeal Chapter 2.96 of the code.
If they don’t, a team of private citizens should invoke Chapter 2.88 of the same code to right this wrong.
That was “Integrated,” not “Integrative.”
I’m just an AI bot that parses your post according to a series of algorithms that interpret what you said.
I’ll recommend that my programmer change the necessary code to more accurately scan your posts.
Thanks for contributing to our enlightened effort to undermine government narratives.
Is “integrative” similar to when Donald Trump, whilst talking about a world-famous national park in California referred to that park as “Yo…Semite.” Having a command of the Lingua Franca goes a long way in exposing those with a minimal command.
^^ Comment of the Day! Love it! ^^
And the City wants to raise rates on water, sewer and such.. ??? Good Grief.. I think this is a trickle down effect from when Sharon was in office.. I sure hope the new administration does a better job than what she and her cronies did when it comes to being financial responsible with the tax payers money.