Downtown art master plan is focus of session
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 12, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/ETHAN SMITH
Walter Hood details his vision for the downtown Goldsboro public art master plan to roughly 20 people who attended a public input meeting Monday night. The city hired Hood to develop the master plan after being named a smART community by the state.
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News-Argus/ETHAN SMITH
Walter Hood discusses his vision for public art Monday night. Hood was hired by the city to assist in developing an art master plan.
Downtown Goldsboro could become an area filled with vibrant works of art rooted in its railroad history if a concept for a downtown public art master plan that was presented by artist Walter Hood Monday night comes to fruition.
Hood, the artist hired by the city to develop the master plan, gave the audience a presentation on the work he has done so far and listened to feedback from several attendees afterward.
Goldsboro was recently selected by the North Carolina Arts Council as a smART community, receiving a grant that provides $30,000 each year for the next two to four years that can be used for the implementation of public art and arts-based economic development.
This grant money was used to hire Hood to develop and implement the master plan in the coming years.
After coming to Goldsboro several times, Hood said one element of the city that stuck out to him that could be used as a theme for public art and inspire a sense of belonging for citizens in Goldsboro is the circle where the train tracks historically ran throughout the downtown area before being ripped up on April 2, 1926.
"We started just looking at these different areas, and one of the things that we found was when you look at the old train tracks, they came down Center (Street), but they looped down and came back around by the train station, and we actually have a perfect circle right there," Hood said.
Along this loop that runs roughly along Carolina Street, Elm Street, Center Street and Vine Street -- which extends into the Little Washington neighborhood and up toward the north end of town -- Hood said art that uses a theme of planes, trains and trails would provide a sense of place and belonging through art that meshes that theme with several other elements.
Hood said he believed lots of investment had been made in the areas of Center Street and Carolina Street, so getting public art and investment into the loop that connects the two together is an important priority.
In addition to the theme of planes, trains and trails, Hood said there are four other categories that he has come up with that can be used to create public art -- walls, walks and windows; alleys, lots and yards; parks, plazas and patches; and highways, byways and gateways.
Hood said the category of planes, trains and trails would be weighted most heavily during the development of public art, as Goldsboro is rich in its train history, deeply connected to its military base and has multiple greenways and trails throughout the city limits.
In addition to these categories, Hood has developed several driving motifs that he believes the Goldsboro community thrives on that can be used to mesh with the five main categories to create the public art for the city.
These motifs are food, music, sports, faith, theater and the military. By blending motifs with the main categories, a sense of place and belonging can be created.
Roughly 20 people attended the session Monday night that allowed the public to provide feedback on the current development of the downtown Goldsboro public art master plan.
Hood rooted his idea for the loop in the historical route for train tracks of Goldsboro, but there was discussion after the presentation about why the loop had to go in those areas, and whether or not it couldn't be pulled toward John Street and William Street.
"I would like you to rethink one thing, and that is the location of the trail," said local attorney Philip Baddour. "I understand what you're saying about how it feeds into it, but I just think if you want to really have a trail that -- look, this area over here from John Street to Ash Street is where the people are downtown. You've got the courthouse, you've got three banks -- the idea I think hopefully would be perhaps at lunch time or other times would be to bring those people downtown, and I just hate to see you put all your emphasis on where you've got this trail."
But not everyone agreed with Baddour's sentiments.
"I think we need to consider having some art in those areas," said District 5 council member David Ham. "We shouldn't leave those areas out by concentrating all of our efforts right here (in the downtown core)."
Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Director Julie Metz echoed Ham's concern for possibly excluding areas of the city if the trail that follows the historical train tracks is moved to include areas such as John Street and William Street.
During the meeting, Hood also said those areas of downtown -- John Street and William Street -- could still have more public art installed on them that would fall under the other four out of five categories he presented Monday night.
"I think one of the challenges for downtown moving forward is downtown was neglected for decades, we've made great strides in the last couple years, and now there's this push or interest that downtown has enough of the pie recently and we need to focus outside of downtown in our future investments," Ms. Metz said. "And it's not us versus them, or at least I don't want it to be an us or them thing. And if we can expand our scope to include more areas, I think that would be good for downtown moving forward. I like the idea of this scope."