PAD Welcome

This Welcome is a bittersweet one for me, as this is the last newsletter before my term as Public Art Dialogue co-chair ends. It was my colleague, mentor, and friend, Harriet F. Senie, who had the idea back in 2007 to start a professional organization devoted to public art that would also be an affiliated society of the College Art Association. I remember—fondly—her insistence that we found this organization and do so together. Every moment since has been truly rewarding. It is so gratifying to see how PAD has blossomed in the few passing years since then, with a robust membership, an excellent website and newsletter, a wide variety of conference sessions and roundtables, exciting portfolio reviews for artists, and a successful journal published bi-annually by Routledge/Taylor & Francis. The sustained health and continued achievements of the organization are proof of the need for it.

PAD is very important to all of the officers of the organization, as we know it is to our membership, and securing its future is an essential part of our responsibility. Harriet and I decided, along with our other terrific officers, that the organization would be best served by stepped rotation of the co-chairs, so that we would not have two new chairs beginning at the same time as was necessary during our founding. It was a difficult decision for me to not run for re-election, but Harriet and I agreed it was the best scenario as I wish to spend more time with my young daughter, and Harriet looks forward to an impending sabbatical that will afford her more time to run the organization. Thus I did not seek re-election beyond my current term, which will be completed at the end of February. This is in no way a reflection on my commitment to PAD, but rather a way I believe I can best support the organization as it builds a strong future, benefited by our stepped term planning.

I must thank all of the talented people I have worked with over the years, most especially PAD’s membership director Juilee Decker, and secretary (now journal assistant) Mary Tinti, who have both been absolutely instrumental to every facet of the organization in these early years. I also wish thank every other officer and committee member who has volunteered their service thus far; and Natasha Khandekar, our wonderful newsletter and web content editor, whom I know will continue to provide expert stewardship of these important benefits for our membership. And, of course, I am grateful to all of PAD’s members for your vision and support. Harriet, I do not think I will ever have enough words to thank you.

Though I will miss everyone, I am happy to say that I will remain quite involved in PAD endeavors, as I am staying on as co-editor of the journal with Harriet. I look forward to continuing the dialogue with you, my colleagues and friends!

Thanks for the opportunity to serve you and PAD,

Cher

PAD would not be PAD without the amazing efforts of Cher Krause Knight. I could not and would not have begun it without her. It is we who cannot thank her enough for her outstanding service as PAD’s first co-chair. Yet moving ahead with staggered co-chairs is critical to preserve continuity and institutional memory. Much as I will miss working with Cher (and our ability to finish each other’s thoughts and sentences), I look forward to collaborating with our new co-chair, Sarah Schrank, author of Art and the City: Civic Imagination and Cultural Authority in Los Angeles (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009; paperback 2011). Sarah is professor of history at California State University in Long Beach and also has a background in American studies. It will be exciting to have a West Coast perspective in expanding the organization in new directions.

I am beyond grateful that Juilee Decker will continue as membership director. Her role has been crucial every step of the way. Our new treasurer, Kelly Pajek, brings a wealth of public art experience from the field. And our new secretary, Sierra Rooney, has an academic background in art history with a focus on public art and a commitment to art non-profits. I am delighted that we now have a public relations coordinator, Marisa Lerer, and an archivist/historian, Jennifer Favorite; both are PhD candidates at the CUNY Graduate Center. It is a great measure of the status of public art that it has become an increasingly important academic area of study. But, happily, as we begin 2012, PAD will continue to embrace the wide variety of disciplines upon which the field depends.

Thanks to you all for your participation in the past and in the future!

Harriet

We look forward to seeing you at CAA in Los Angeles and as always, thanks for joining us in the dialogue,