“I love the image of Cary’s downtown as the “Front Porch” of the community. A front porch is an important social space for a group of friends who gather to chat, as well as for passers-by who may wave and offer a greeting. It is an intimate space that also reaches into the public realm, and a significant architectural response to the North Carolina climate. I think the goals of your streetscape project, including a welcoming sense of place, gathering spaces, interactivity, sensitivity and heritage, are easily gathered into the lovely “organizing image” of a front porch.” (Project Artist Elizabeth Conner)

Public art can:

– Express the Town’s unique identity and geographic location
– Cultivate community pride
– Support community process, image, and identity
– Foster a spirit of collaboration
– Celebrate the Town’s urban context
– Honor historic roots and traditions
– Make a lasting impression on visitors
– Strengthen Downtown’s core identity and nurture its surrounding neighborhoods
– Promote economic development
– Build connectivity between diverse neighborhoods
– Reveal functional infrastructure
– Encourage local, regional, and national project and program partnerships

Public Art and the Downtown Cary Streetscape Project

Downtown Cary has been identified as a focal area for public art. Art will be integrated into project elements such as street furniture, gateways, signage, gathering areas, water features, landscape, and sidewalks.

Priority areas for public art include:

– Street furniture: benches, tree guards and grates, lighting, bus shelters
– Traffic management: paving (crosswalks), sidewalks
– Signage, gateways, and wayfinding elements
– Gathering areas, roundabouts, and plazas
– And other opportunities identified through the design process

The Town of Cary’s Public Art Advisory Board and a Citizen Advisory Artist Selection Panel identified the artist, Elizabeth Conner, from 60 qualified applicants from across the United States and Canada. Conner will work with the Town and ARCADIS to develop designs that will integrate public art throughout the streetscape on selected major streets in downtown Cary.

About the Artist

Elizabeth Conner grew up in upstate New York, climbing trees, swimming in creeks, and competing with three brothers. Her father and both grandfathers managed lumber yards and, at an early age, she was able to wander freely through the world of construction. Conner’s “past lives” include a degree in French and Russian literature, six years as a program manager for an international high school international exchange program (American Field Service), and intermittent work as a purser and bartender on small cruise ships. Conner has a B.F.A. from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and an M.F.A. from Vermont College. She has worked in the field of public art for 20 years, with architects, engineers, landscape architects, urban and transportation planners, artists, and craftspeople.

Collaborative projects throughout the United States include a variety of open space projects, a police precinct, a regional transit system, a stormwater treatment facility, and a branch library. She is fascinated by the natural and working histories of public places and seeks to make art that reveals what she learns about a place through stories, conversations, and explorations.

What is your vision for the art aspect of the design?
To build upon what is unique about Cary, to reveal infrastructure in intriguing ways, to celebrate how the street works, to explore the “dance” of pedestrians and transit, and to support the social and civic functions of public space through artwork integrated into the streetscape. (Project Artist Elizabeth Conner)

We Need Your Input

To gather initial input from the public, the Public Art Advisory Board collected citizens’ comments about specific public art streetscape opportunities during the Lazy Daze Festival. This was followed by a public meeting that was held on Tuesday, March 2, 2007, at the Page-Walker Museum. In the coming months, Elizabeth will begin developing designs that reflect the dynamics of the Cary community.

There will be two additional public meetings focused on the overall streetscape design and public art components. These meetings will provide additional opportunities for you to receive updates and provide feedback on the public art aspect of the design.

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback on the public art aspect of the project, visit our Contact Us section.