5 Comments on We deserve a treat

Lance on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 10:47 am


Sure, I know where that sculpture is. It’s on that road between Starbucks and my wife’s work, near that one place with the ricotta pancakes.

I think I would like that sculpture more if I visited it on foot. From the car, I was only able to determine that it was (intentional) art after deciding that it made no sense as an abandoned construction project. That’s kind of interesting from a postmodern perspective, but who looks at their neighborhood and thinks “you know what we need around here? Stuff that most people will assume to be failed development, but really it isn’t”?

The blue I-beams across from the Edgewood shopping development occupy a similar conceptual space, but casual observers wouldn’t miss the fact that it is art. I guess what I’m saying is that (for me) part of the value of public space art — and this is completely aside from the quality of the art — is that it declares that a community feels like art is worth making room for. I suspect that (for more people than just me) the Sol Le Witt sculpture turns this positive (space for art) into a negative (apparently derelict development).

I only came to write the first jokey sentence of this post, but now that I’ve gotten into public art criticism (I so not qualified to hold forth on that), I might as well also take the opportunity to say: long-time reader, first-time commenter; love the site. Thanks!

Ben K on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 2:21 pm


Can’t say I agree with the first two items… I simply don’t get that sculpture. Someone told me it is supposed to represent the skyline or something? I dunno, but it does nothing for me.

And don’t get me started on Freedom Park (too late). I think it is exhibit A in how to mis-use park space. Compare Freedom Park with Grant Park or Piedmont Park. It is basically a glorified running trail. It doesn’t have any of the other cultural benefits that parks are supposed to have. I know lots of people that love it, but I don’t.

The “idea” behind Freedom Park was initially to bulldoze Virginia Highlands, Morningside, and Druid Hills to build Stone Mountain Freeway and I-485. The neighborhood fought (successfully) against the plan. The park was the compromise – Andy Young and Jimmy Carter insisted that the Carter Center should have direct highway access, so they built the stub. John Howell Park and the Candler Park portion of Freedom Park were both areas they bulldozed houses for the highway.

So I kind of hate what Freedom Park represents.

sorry to poop on your post…

Jeanne Bonner on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 3:21 pm


Thanks for your comments, guys. This is a discussion here so call it just like you see it! No apologies necessary.

I would say perspective is key. So the three photos posted today beat that stretch of Ponce I wrote about yesterday. Your reminder, Ben, on the backstory of Freedom Parkway is a good one, and as much as I am a fan of Jimmy Carter, I wonder how necessary highway access truly is for the CC.

Also, I should note, as a newcomer, I don’t think of it as a park. I think of it just as a trail so I guess my expectations are lower.

And I guess unfortunately, that’s the whole underlying approach when dealing with Atlanta as a city: lower expectations. So when I look at the sculpture on Highland, I just think: it could have been a parking lot. I don’t know much about modern art — I just know, to repeat, it could have been a parking lot, this being Atlanta, and what I see, even given its cinder block composition, is better than a parking lot.

Is there somewhere I can see what they tore down to build Freedom Parkway? It would probably make me cry, but I am curious.

Ken Edelstein on Sat, 4th Jul 2009 11:49 am


Great discussion, y’all. I hope I’m not so late that nobody’s listening.

I pretty much agree with Ben K. on the Sol LeWitt sculpture. He’s supposed to be a great New York artist (LeWitt … I dunno about Ben K.), but I can’t believe this is his best work.

On the other hand, it’s not so much the work itself (I get how it plays off the Atlanta skyline), but how it disregards the neighborhood. That’s part of the reason that (props to Lance) it’s intent is unclear. I don’t think LeWitt or the property owner took the neighborhood’s context into account, which is why they ended up having to put a metal fence along one edge of it and trees around it — which don’t really fit with the work of art.

How about these alternatives for that spot, Jeanne: a) a playground; b) a three-story mixed-use bldg (a shop or two on the bottom, six or eight apartments on the top); c) a four-unit apartment building?

On the other hand, Ben, I still see Freedom Park as a victory for neighborhood activism and a wonderful amenity for intown. With the 1991 (or so) agreement, the Inman Park, Candler Park and Druid Hills neighborhoods managed to change what was supposed to be a freeway that would have harmed their neighborhoods into a park and greenway that enhances them.

Yeah, they had to compromise by allowing an amended version of Freedom Parkway to be built, but the stub already had been built to Boulevard and the homes along the route all the way past Candler Park had been razed by DOT years before the compromise was reached.

I also think Freedom Park will get better over time, because the trees planted both on the parkway stretch and in Candler Park will fill in. Also, amenities are gradually being installed (e.g. the new playground at the corner of North Ave.). If the city’s fiscal situation improves or if the big biz is willing to spread some money to someone other than the Piedmont Park Conservancy, maybe it’ll improve quicker.

Thanks for the great discussion, Jeanne.

Jeanne Bonner on Sun, 5th Jul 2009 2:07 pm


Definitely not too late, Ken!

I still like the fact that it’s outdoor art but it’s funny you mention apartments/mixed use for that space because I was in that area the other night and I was thinking about how there’s great momentum — P’Cheen is one of the few places in Atlanta where there’s actually a crowd outside late into the night and you never know who may walk by, and there are three other restaurants right there that also draw people, and taxis pull up all the time — but then that momentum just stops at the bridge where the sculpture is.

Now perhaps that’s the nature of things with Highland, where there are deliberate and discrete business districts separated by residential stretches. But I just wonder if there’s some way to capture that momentum and extend it. Another evening I was at the back patio of Across the Street (across from P’Cheen) and people were cruising by along the Freedom Parkway trail on bikes and there was just such an urban vibe of people intersecting while they pursue different activities.

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