Sculpture Valley intends to move 'The Collective' big head artwork onto private property

A pedestrian looks at "The Collective," a sculpture by Paul Bobrowitz, while walking along East College Avenue in Appleton. (Photo: Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

APPLETON — Sculpture Valley is waving the white flag over "The Collective" and  acknowledging the community wasn't ready for the controversial artwork, at least not on public property.

Alex Schultz, executive director of the nonprofit arts advocacy group, said he intends to voluntarily remove the sculpture from public right of way along East College Avenue due to the strong opposition from the neighborhood and beyond.

"With the amount of animosity that's been built up over the last month and a half, even if I took the time to convince council to leave it where it is, I would end up losing," Schultz told The Post-Crescent. "I think it would just lead to more demonstrations and probably a neighborhood petition to move it. It would just get uglier than it already has been."

Appleton, though, likely hasn't seen the last of "The Collective."

"It's not going to disappear from our community," Schultz said. "In fact, it may be pretty close to where it is now. We're exploring a private option."

Artist Paul Bobrowitz's sculpture is made from salvaged propane tanks that have been turned into faces and assembled to make a large head.

The Municipal Services Committee and Common Council unanimously endorsed the location of the sculpture as part of Sculpture Valley's third season of ACREofART, but after the piece was installed, critics asked the city to rescind its approval.

Detractors said the artwork is ugly, scary, creepy and incompatible with the surrounding historic homes. Proponents countered that it is delightful, interesting and thought-provoking.

"It's all in how you look at it," said Renee Ulman, chairwoman of the Appleton Public Arts Committee. "For every person who doesn't like it, we could find someone who does."

The Municipal Services Committee reversed course two weeks ago and recommended the sculpture be removed from the right of way, in part because Sculpture Valley didn't provide a courtesy notification to the neighborhood before the artwork was installed.

Appleton has no notification requirement for the placement of public art, and neither the committee nor the council verified that the neighborhood was notified before they approved the placement.

Alex Schultz, executive director of Sculpture Valley (Photo: Courtesy of Alex Schultz)

"There are other sculptures that are in residential areas with homes nearby, and we have never been asked or entertained the notion of notifying neighbors," Schultz said. "We sort of went down this policy of: It's on public property and this is a public artwork and we're going through a public approval process. So it feels a little disingenuous to weigh the decision by the Municipal Services (Committee) that we should remove this because I didn't follow though on what was a nicety."

Appleton officials have promised to add a notification requirement for future installations of public art.

Schultz hasn't disclosed what private sites he's considering for "The Collective," but he hopes the new location will provide "as much or more" visibility than the current site.

Before pursing the private option, Schultz proposed swapping "The Collective" with two other sculptures — "Stairway to the Stars" in Pierce Park or "Gesture of Consciousness" in Jones Park — but was informed that any city park with a playground would be unsuitable.

"When they told me it wasn't going to work in any of the parks, I said, 'Fine. I won't put it on city property. I will find someone else to host it,'" he said.

It's not been decided who will pay to move "The Collective." Schultz proposed that Sculpture Valley and the city split the cost evenly, with the city's share coming from its monument restoration fund.

Schultz said even though "The Collective" didn't gain widespread acceptance, it nonetheless was a success in generating a robust conversation about public art in Appleton.

"It's done more than any other piece I've installed in three years," he said. "To me, it's done what it was supposed to do and probably done it tenfold."

Sculptures chosen for ACREofART are funded by sponsors and typically tax dollars are not involved. The pieces normally stay in place for two years and are made available for purchase after that. The asking price for "The Collective" is $20,000.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.