By Crystal Thurston
For the past decade, arts commissions in Ketchum and Hailey have revitalized the Wood River Valley with art. Now, there is also a new art commission in Bellevue, with a vision to increase cultural tourism.
The chair of the Ketchum Arts Commission is Courtney Gilbert, curator of visual arts at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts.
“The idea was to bring public art into the city infrastructure to energize the city visually,” Gilbert said. “The arts can have a real economic impact on a community added. Money spent on the arts returns itself with interest.”
The Hailey Arts Commission was created in 2006 in order to enhance the culture of the Hailey community. Its inaugural event was the Hailey Night of Music, involving more than 20 venues and bands performing live on one night in the summer.
In 2007, the Ketchum City Council and former Mayor Randy Hall formed the Ketchum Arts Commission at the request of local arts advocate and actor Claudia McCain. McCain, along with gallery owners Gail Severn and Minette Broschofsky, the late architect Steve Pruitt and arts advocates Kristin Poole and Nicole Brown, were among the founding members of the commission.
Ketchum’s first public art project was Cover Art, which are vinyl wraps of art images that appear on utility boxes. One example is “Dogs Dogs Dogs” by Boise-based artist Annie Murphy. The images are big, colorful, close-up graphics of dogs’ faces that appear on utility boxes.
Other examples of the commission’s work are the 40 manhole covers distributed throughout Ketchum with images of coins designed by local artists. The late Rod Kagan’s sculptures “Columns” are installed in a small park adjacent to the Wood River Community YMCA. Sculptures are also installed along the Fourth Street Heritage Corridor each summer.
The largest art project in Ketchum is “Spur”––a 75-foot-long sculpture inspired by the lava tubes at Craters of the Moon National Monument that was installed as a collaboration between the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and the Ketchum Arts Commission. It appeared originally at Craters of the Moon National Monument and now enhances the Ketchum bike path south of River Run.
The commission also presented a free public dance performance and has an ongoing art exhibit at Ketchum City Hall.
Future arts projects will include a call to artists in January to respond to a particular theme, which is still to be determined.
The Hailey Arts Commission’s first visual Percent for Public Art project sits at the entrance to Hailey at Roberta McKercher Gateway Park. The sculpture “Timeless Portal,” by Bellevue metal artist Mark Stasz, was dedicated in November 2010.
For its next project, the commission held a design competition for local artists for a “Welcome to Hailey” sign at the south entrance to the city. Andrew Hawley, of Hawley Graphics, was chosen to be the designer of the sign, which was completed in 2015.
Recently, Hailey-based graphic designer Daniel Hansen created a unique new art sign project for Werthheimer Park in Hailey. The 8-foot-tall images on large metal signs were culled partially from the Hailey Public Library’s Mallory photo collection, The Community Library and the Blaine County Museum. Contemporary images were contributed by community members, including Hansen, Jim Keating, Dev Khalsa, Greg Martin, Stellar Media, Casey McGehee and Carol Waller, chair of the Hailey Arts Commission. Each of the 14 signs depicts a unique facet of Hailey life.
“It’s a great enhancement to the City of Hailey, especially at this key location,” said Hailey Mayor Fritz Haemmerle.
The 2017 future arts projects may include historic plaques, historic designation of the Fox barn located near the Community Campus, artful crosswalks, and more pop-up “parklets” similar to the one in front of the Liberty Theater.
Meanwhile, in Bellevue, artist Suzanne Hazlett, the president and co-founder of the Wood River Valley Studio Tour, started the town’s new arts commission earlier this year. She said that the organization is still in its initiation phase. She and photographer Anne Jeffrey are co-chairs of the commission and currently work with consultants to determine how best to utilize the numerous assets that exist in talent and creativity in the town.
Many of the art projects are created and funded by local donations, including in-kind contributions by some of the artists and other local businesses, with a small percentage funded by each local government. Appointed by the mayor, commission members are volunteers with a passion for the arts. Each town’s commission tries to appoint local artists as much as possible to their board.
Hazlett believes that all the towns in the Wood River Valley should work together on these artistic goals.
“We’re stronger together than when divided by city boundaries,” she said.