IS IT ART OR IS IT A STRUCTURE?

The Mendocino Art Center recently ran afoul of the Mendocino Historical Review Board over the issue of a ceramic mosaic sculpture installed on the Art Center grounds as a portal, inviting visitors to come onto the grounds.  The sculpture includes the words “Mendocino Art Center” in the arched part of the portal.

The sculpture was created by Art Center students under the supervision of world renowned sculptor Donna Billick, whose special field is large, public artwork. Ms. Billick and her students set out to create a sculpture, not a sign or a structure.  Once the sculpture was installed, it was red tagged because it lacked the proper permits required for a structure or a sign.

A handful of very vocal opponents of the portal accused the Art Center of being elitist – of not “playing by the rules” that everyone else in the village is required to play by.  This is unfair. There was never any attempt on the part of the Art Center to circumvent or ignore existing laws. We found nothing in the Mendocino town plan, or in the county or MHRB guidelines, which addressed the issue of artwork, which seems a serious oversight in a community whose very existence today is based on art.  Lacking any such terminology, the MHRB was forced to make the portal sculpture fit a category which WAS identified in their guidelines:  i.e., it had to be either a sign or a structure, since the category “artwork” did not exist.  Our view is that the lack of specific guidelines for artwork could be construed to mean that the government has no jurisdiction over art.  Certainly this is a conclusion that has been reached in other communities, in which the display of artwork on private property is not regulated by local ordinances.

By the time this editorial is in print, the issue of the Art Center portal will probably have been determined.  But the bigger issues remain:  how much jurisdiction should local government have over the creation, display and installation of artwork on private property?  In particular, how much, if any, jurisdiction should a local agency such as the historical review board have over the creation and display of artwork on the grounds of an institution which was formed for that sole purpose?  These are questions which the Art Center has the right to ask.  A non-profit Art Center is not a shoe store or a real estate office – it IS something very different, and questions regarding how local ordinances apply are relevant.

—Peggy Templer