Still standing

The art in the Freeman Justice Center

2008

Five commissioned works went into a new Key West courthouse, and the release walked every one of them with the artist quoted on their own piece. It is the best-written thing in the archive, and all of it is still there.

Monroe County has an ordinance that sets aside one percent of the cost of a major public building for art in it. The Freeman Justice Center in Key West was the first major building in the county where that program was part of the project from the beginning rather than added at the end, and the difference shows: the work is built into the floor, the doors and the walls rather than hung on them.

I’m delighted that the Freeman Justice Center is the first major building in the County to have the Art in Public Places program as part of the project from the very beginning.
Shirley Freeman, former Monroe County Mayor, 2008

The building honors the Freeman family for one hundred and six years of public service. Five commissions went into it.

Images in Concrete

A circular design being etched into a red concrete entrance walkway, with stencils and tools still in place — The sidewalk mural during installation in August 2008. Steven Ochs and Gerald Taylor traveled from Magnolia, Arkansas to put it in.

Before you reach the doors you are standing on the first work. Steven Ochs and Gerald Taylor etched an eight foot circle into the entrance walkway using metallic and iron oxide pigments in water-based stains, showing five historic Freeman family buildings drawn in perspective. They wanted, they said, to capture the rich history of the family as well as leave an accurate rendition of these beautiful and historically significant structures.

The elevator doors

Etched stainless steel elevator doors showing island plants around a central circular mandala — The etched stainless steel doors. Terry Thommes’s mangrove mandala sits at the center of each one.

The doors were begun by two metalsmiths and finished by one. Terry Thommes, an internationally recognized sculptor and teacher, had the original concept. He died before the work was made. Reen Stanhouse, a long-time Keys resident and architectural metalsmith, completed the island collage etched into the steel and set her friend’s mangrove mandala in the middle of each door.

The images on the doors beckon and enchant you.
Reen Stanhouse, architectural metalsmith, 2008

Epic Duet

Two tall polished stainless steel curved forms standing together indoors, with two people beside them — Epic Duet, by James T. Russell, with former Mayor Shirley Freeman and the artist.

The California sculptor James T. Russell made the largest piece, a highly polished stainless steel work he proposed would reflect energy and natural beauty, and show the Freeman family’s mission of the administration of justice rising upward in a positive direction.

Star Witness

A mosaic starfish wall sculpture in blues, greens and orange on a yellow wall — Star Witness, by Keith Oliver, in the child’s witness waiting room.

The smallest and the most carefully placed work is a mosaic wall sculpture in the room where children wait to give evidence. Keith Oliver, a public art and urban design artist from Virginia, was direct about what he was trying to do with it: get his clients’ minds off their circumstances and into their own imaginations. Key West, he added, gave him a chance to use a vibrant color palette that he loves but that does not play in every community.

Four murals

Oil painting of the old Key West courthouse with its clock tower, palms and figures on the lawn — One of four oil on canvas murals by the Key Largo artist Daniel Lawler.

Oil painting of the red brick Custom House in Key West with a horse-drawn carriage and an early motor car — The Custom House, from the same set of four.

Daniel Lawler, a Key Largo artist, painted four oil on canvas murals of historical and symbolic scenes of the Keys. In his proposal he wrote that he had seen many changes in the area and had tried to capture the romance, spirit and history in his paintings.

Why it was done

The release closes on a statement of purpose that the Council reused for years afterward, and which is as good an argument for the whole program as anyone has made since.

At their most successful, these public art installations can transform public spaces from ordinary civic areas to sites that can lift the spirit and connect with the community.
Monroe County Art in Public Places, 2008

Source News release, Monroe County Art in Public Places Committee, 2008. The document is undated; it announces a Grand Opening Celebration on Friday, November 14, and November 14 fell on a Friday in 2008.