PAD is expanding in many exciting ways. Our co-chair, Sarah Schrank, Professor of History, California State University, Long Beach provides new connections to American Studies and American History organizations, as well as the West Coast.
A Note from Sarah Schrank:
It is very exciting to join PAD in a leadership role! In a very short time, Harriet Senie, Cher Krause Knight, Juliee Decker, Mary Tinti, and other members of PAD have built a strong and innovative organization that is uniquely placed to further national and international conversations about public art. When I entered the field eighteen years ago, public art was a highly politicized topic but not one that garnered a tremendous amount of attention in academia. Because of the original and generative work of Harriet and many members of our editorial board, public art is now a major field of inquiry and an academic discipline of its own. Despite shifts away from public spending and the traditional public sphere, public art continues to be produced, supported and almost always controversial. I am thrilled to enter PAD’s conversation from the perspective of the West Coast—where public art lives a somewhat renegade life—and look ahead to new projects. PAD’s membership keeps growing and new people keep stepping up to keep the conversation alive. It’s great to join you!
In addition to Sarah, we are delighted to recognize Betsy Fahlman, Professor of Art History, ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University, as our new liaison to CAA. If you have any documents or reminiscences of early PAD history, please forward them directly to her. We are also pleased to name Natasha Khandekar our web director, in addition to her role as newsletter editor. All officer contact information is available on our website: publicartdialogue.org
We are in conversation with Liesel Fenner, Public Art Program Manager for Americans for the Arts, on different ways PAD and Public Art Network (PAN) might collaborate. The PAN Council will be meeting in New York at the same time as CAA and we look forward to discussing possible opportunities in person. Please think about your other organizational memberships and ways you would like to see PAD connect with them and share your thoughts for future collaborations with us.
The new edition of PAD Journal will be released soon. In the meantime, see our Publications section featuring top picks from the Journal, recommended by Patricia Phillips, PAD Journal Reviews Editor and Interim Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Rhode Island School of Design.
We look forward to continuing the dialogue,
Harriet and Sarah
