PUBLIC ART ADDS URBAN FLAVOR TO A RURAL COMMUNITY
Pop-up events, street furniture, a thriving teen maker program, and functional art installations engage a rural community in Wyoming, and improve its public spaces. A small but energetic non-profit organization, Jackson Hole Public Art, is bringing change through art to daily life in Jackson Hole.
Jackson Hole Public Art is using lessons from cities to update its public spaces. From temporary placemaking events that pop-up seasonally to functional installations that reflect community input, public art is making an impression in a place known for iconic scenic vistas and western culture.
Carrie Geraci, who founded Jackson Hole Public Art seven years ago, leads an efficient team of public spacemakers. “I wanted to add art to the housing, public space, and infrastructure conversations that were heating up over consistent growth in our community,” says Geraci. “When art comes to the planning table, we make a safe and fun space for people to have a say, and we consider human desires in design.”
The first public art landings included temporary and permanent art installations that were evaluated by a new Public Art Task Force and community members. Soon, Community Street Furniture, created by local designers, was approved. Themed to reflect Jackson Hole’s wildlife culture, tree grates, trash receptacles, and benches have appeared around town, to be followed by bicycle racks.
Creative placemaking events are finding a following in Jackson Hole. POP (Place of Possibility) included a Winter POP in 2016, with a busy street closed to all but snow, sledding, music, oversized outdoor bowling, video street projections by Brazilian brothers, and a block party. Jackson Hole hosted its first PARK(ing) Day and the local community converted parking spaces to human places for one day. One space became a giant zen garden with sand, rocks, and rakes
When the local high school built a fabrication laboratory (FabLab maker space), Jackson Hole Public Art partnered with the high school FabLab teacher to create curriculum that takes students deep into a design thinking process, from conception to prototype and installation, using functional public art as the outcome. The program is called Building STEAM and this year, Jackson Hole Public Art is teaming with Grand Teton National Park and Subaru’s Zero Landfill Initiative to help students innovate new recycle containers and education for use in the park. Building STEAM students are also working on a public park pavilion and a climbable children’s sculpture.
Public art relies on partnerships with federal and state agencies in Jackson Hole – a place where public land makes up 97% of the community’s neighboring open space. Jackson Hole Public Art is creating an experiential space in an underutilized park with the help of US Fish & Wildlife Service, Town of Jackson, and the National Elk Refuge. Designed by Buster Simpson, a renowned environmental artist, a Wildlife Viewing Platform will rise above a muddy park, carrying visitors on a nature journey from roadside level to elk refuge vista, 12 feet above.
Every project that Jackson Hole Public Art has taken on in the last seven years has involved community partnerships and input, following a practice of making Jackson Hole a people place, envisioned by its locals and enjoyed by its visitors.
For more information about Jackson Hole Public Art and their projects and programs that use art to make change, please contact Kathryn Jeffords, Marketing for Jackson Hole Public Art, at kjeffords6@gmail.com.
