Pittsfield Group Looks To Increase Public ArtBy Joe Durwin, Pittsfield Correspondent
02:43AM / Tuesday, October 14, 2014 | |
 Egyptian artist Alaa Awad works on a 60-foot-long mural in North Adams earlier this summer. Pittsfield is looking to catch up to North Adams in the development of public mural art. |
 One of the first projects being considered in Pittsfield is a spiffing up of the 30-year-old mural on the Shipton building. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The significant expansion of mural art in North Adams has gotten Pittsfield artists and cultural leaders thinking its own surfaces could use some sprucing up.
Following a flurry of activity pioneered by the Downstreet Art program, the Northern Berkshire city now has the second-highest rate of public art in the United States (after Pittsburgh), and neighbors to the south say it has inspired them to step up their own game.
"Downstreet Art is really what prompted the conversation to get the murals going again in Pittsfield," Director of Cultural Development Jennifer Glockner told the city's Cultural Development Board last week.
"We can't lose to North Adams," joked board member Michael Vincent Bushey.
To this end, the department has helped organize a new mural committee, chaired by local artist and teacher Stephanie Quetti, which has thus far met twice to look at ways to paint the town.
Rather than a competitive effort, though, Pittsfield mural enthusiast are actively engaging with the successful Northern Berkshire program for support.
"There's been talk of partnering with the Downstreet Art project, to combine efforts and collaborate in different ways, so we hope that happens," according to Glockner. A representative of Downstreet Art's parent, Berkshire Cultural Resources Center, has been in attendance at both of meetings of the new Pittsfield committee.
A variety of surfaces have already been brought up in initial discussions, including talks with the Community Development Office on ways that artistry can be brought to bear on some of the fixtures emerging out of the city's ongoing streetscape modifications.
One of its first projects out of the gate will be the recreation and restoration of a fading 1980s mural on the Shipton building facing the Lichtenstein Center of the Arts on Renne Avenue.
Owners of the building have engaged with the mural planning group to commission a restoration of that mural, but approval for the project has hinged on permission of its principal artist, Daniel Galvez, an Oakland, Calif.-based artist responsible for many of Pittsfield's existing murals.
Former Lichtenstein cultural director Daniel O'Connell, who was also an artist on the project, has helped the committee reach out to Galvez.
"I think we've gotten the permission," Glockner told the Tourism Commission on Thursday. "Now it's just a matter of whether they can actually paint it this season."
Whether this year or in the fall, Quetti will coordinate local artists in a mural recreating the piece, which is called "Illusions of Grandeur."
The Beacon Cinema has also expressed interest in having mural work along the side of its building, and Pittsfield Police Officer Darren Derby, who handles graffiti enforcement, has suggested that the committee try to identify a location in downtown where one or more walls could be designated for graffiti art curated in some appropriate manner.
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