Uptown Public Art Master Plan presented in Mt. Lebanon

As Mt. Lebanon’s multimillion-dollar Vibrant Uptown project progresses, a major consideration is creativity.
Artwork in various forms is to be featured as part of a series of improvements to the main business district along Washington Road and some nearby areas.
During Mt. Lebanon Commission’s March 10 discussion session, the consultant hired to help develop an Uptown Public Art Master Plan presented details about what the document entails.
“It’s really meant to aid the municipality in determining what kind of art you want to make, where that art should go and how you’re going to go about making it, just so that you have a consistent strategy and approach,” Carin Mincemoyer said.
A sculptor and installation artist who has organized and managed numerous public art projects, Mincemoyer has worked with members of the growth-promoting Mt. Lebanon Partnership and Vibrant Uptown’s design committee to develop various guidelines, objectives and principles.
“When you say, ‘public art,’ a lot of people imagine things like murals or permanent sculptures,” she said. “Not everyone thinks of something like a custom-designed crosswalk as public art, or things like architectural lighting or creative way-finding systems.”
She provided some innovative examples, such as a massive “Magic Carpet” undertaking by artist Candy Coated in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, incorporating the likes of three-dimensional illusion art, brilliantly colored sandboxes, oversized game boards and decorative motifs rendered in vinyl.
“It really activated that whole space and transformed it into this sort of community party kind of atmosphere,” Mincemoyer said.
In Oklahoma City, a project involved installing “rain poems” at 27 locations.
“You don’t real notice it when the sidewalk is dry,” Mincemoyer said, “but when it rains and the sidewalk gets wet and darkens, the text becomes more visible.”
She suggested shorter-term public art projects as a good way for Mt. Lebanon to get started.
“That gives you an excuse to reach out to residents and say, ‘Hey, there’s a new thing to see in Uptown.’ It’s a reason to reach out to artists in the neighborhood and say, ‘Hey, we have a call for artists. We’re looking for designs for the windows of the parking garage,'” Mincemoyer said, referring to what could be a viable endeavor for the municipality.
“If they’re temporary projects that change every three months, then local artists can start getting excited. It’s a way for them to get involved,” she continued. “And then you’re also not getting into a bunch of maintenance commitments right away. Yes, you’re spending money on something that’s not going to be in here in 10 years, but that can be good in some ways.”
Craig Grella, commission president, expressed his support for the public art component.
“I think the partnership has done an amazing job in putting this plan together,” he said. “The Uptown project without this, in our minds, would be not be right.”