More About PAC

The Public Art Committee enhances and enriches Emory University by coordinating the selection, acquisition, and promotion of public works of art on campus.

MISSION

Public Art at Emory

An encounter with art in a public place stimulates the senses, engages the intellect, and awakens the imagination. Public art enriches the community and contributes to creating and maintaining a place that surprises, pleases or even provokes a place that invites return and reflection, a place with enduring value.

The experience of works of fine art is an essential part of the educational experience. The intellectual life can be shaped by the visual and the sculptural, in an ongoing dialogue about the role of art and the artist in society. Emory University’s public artwork reflects our institutional culture, and embodies and expresses our academic values for students, faculty and staff, and for the visiting public and the larger community.

The cultural contribution of public art is woven into the fabric of life at Emory in a way that reflects our sense of community, celebrates our diversity, exemplifies our purpose, and embraces our common humanity.

The Public Art Committee enhances and enriches Emory University by coordinating the selection, acquisition, and promotion of public works of art on campus.

The Public Art Committee 

The selection, installation and management of public art work require the knowledge and commitment of many individuals and multiple groups across the university. The Public Art Committee provides a mechanism for coordinating the process of identifying, acquiring and installing public artwork at Emory, and a focus for exercising the ongoing curatorial responsibility for guiding, developing and interpreting Emory’s growing public art collection. The purview of the Public Art Committee is to propose and review the possible acquisition and installation of works of art, typically in exterior spaces, with the Committee available for consultation involving interior spaces.

Charge – The Public Art Committee is a subcommittee of the Emory University Campus Development Committee. The charge to the Public Art Committee is to:

  • Consider all gifts, donations and funded art projects under the purview of the committee;
  • Review temporary exhibits for exterior locations that will be in place for more than two weeks;
  • Exercise a curatorial role in consultation with the appropriate expertise from committee members in guiding, developing and interpreting Emory’s public art collection;
  • Play an educational role for the wider Emory community; and
  • Serve as an advocate for public art on campus including ensuring adequate funding.

Membership – Committee size should be limited to not more than fifteen (15) members, plus a student representative. The Committee membership (with current members indicated below) will include (but not be limited to):

Chair of Committee David Schuster

Members

  • Kim Collins, Emory University Libraries
  • Dana Haugaard, Faculty  from Art history/Visual Arts
  • James Johnson, Campus Services
  • Kevin Karnes, Vice Provost for the Arts
  • Jennifer Gunter King, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Director
  • Lisa Lee, Faculty from Art history/Visual Arts
  • Jennifer Long, Carlos Museum Development
  • Keiko Price, Assistant Vice President of Campus Life
  • Renee Stein, Carlos Museum, Conservator – PAC Committee Conservator
  • R Candy Tate, Emory Arts 
  • Leslie Taylor, Faculty from Theatre
  • Oxford College representative (currently vacant)
  • Rosemary Magee, consulting 
  • Ann Morris 
  • Student member, Daniella Futoran 

Meetings – The Public Art Committee will typically meet once a semester during the academic year to consider any new offers of public art, review the status of existing projects, propose acquisitions for consideration and conduct other business as necessary.

Review and approval process – The Public Art Committee will establish and administer a review and approval process for all proposed gifts, donations and opportunities for the addition of art under their purview on the campus of Emory University. The review process will be based on the application of the following general criteria:

  • Aesthetic quality, Artist recognition, Pedagogical value, Emory culture, and tradition (among other criteria)
  • Site availability and appropriateness

Selection of the artwork for donation, gift, purchase or other means of acquisition shall be part of a discussion between the donor, a representative from Development, and the Public Art Committee. Artwork will be accepted and installed only upon successful completion of the review and approval process

Recognition and maintenance – Donor recognition plaques shall be designed, drawn and approved by the Public Art Committee, with assistance by Campus Services and consistent with Campus Plan Design Guidelines. Coordination of maintenance and conservation shall be the responsibility of the Public Art Committee as coordinated by the Conservator of the Carlos Museum and assistance by Campus Services with University understanding and support of the unique care and cost requirements of public art.