Councillor wonders if public art might be getting little too much

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OTTAWA — The time has come to re-evaluate the city’s public-art program, says Barrhaven councillor Jan Harder, who’s searching for $1.4 million to pay for a new sports field at a recreation centre that’ll include half a million dollars in public art. Under a long-standing policy, the city devotes one per cent of the construction costs on major projects to art. Those funds have paid for new installations along the many downtown streets the city has reconstructed in the past few years, including, for instance, from Bank Street to Preston to Wellington. In the case of the $51-million Barrhaven South Recreation Complex, two artists were recently commissioned to create a $300,000 sculpture (the price includes everything from planning to fabrication to installation) to hang in a central atrium, and presumably there’s more to come.

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