NewsFood & Entertainment

Actions

Norfolk Public Art Program celebrates 10th anniversary

Posted at 5:41 PM, Oct 07, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-07 17:41:09-04

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk Public Art Program is celebrating 10 years of creating works in parks, parking garages, community centers and schools throughout the city.

On October 10 at 10:10 a.m., the public is invited to celebrate Norfolk public art at a reception in the Slover Library.

In the last 10 years, the Public Art Commission has dedicated 67 new works of public art and employed 79 artists.

Jonathan Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation said, “There is no better indicator of the spiritual health of a city and its neighborhoods than the state of the arts. Art deepens our understanding of the human spirit, extends our capacity to comprehend the lives of others and allows us to imagine a more just and humane world.”

You can find the art works all over the city, including art trees at the Northside Skate Park, a life-size elephant made of thousands of aluminum butterflies at the Virginia Zoo and recycled art signs from old Norfolk businesses in the Main Street Parking Garage.

“Based on estimated traffic counts, Norfolk citizens have 300,000 opportunities to experience public art firsthand every day for free — approximately 1,000 times the audience visiting art galleries, museums and theaters combined,” the manager of Norfolk Arts said.