Clock Tower, Gates To Dot New Marana 'Town Core'

By Scott Simonson
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
July 17, 2003

Marana's arts groups are pondering their biggest question yet: What art should grace the new Marana Town Hall? 

The Marana Public Arts Committee and Marana Arts Council have not selected a project for the new town offices, which are under construction. The town has allotted $174,429 for public art at the new Town Hall. The Public Arts Committee is composed of residents and appointed by the Town Council. The Marana Arts Council is a citizens group, with two representatives on the Public Arts Committee.

The Marana Arts Council will help the Public Arts Committee select an artist for the Town Hall project, said Sandy Groseclose, managing director for the council. Councilman Ed Honea said the art should draw from the area's history - American Indian settlements, Spanish exploration or more recent ranching and cotton farming. "We've kicked around a dozen ideas. I'm very supportive of our local arts council," said Honea, whose family has lived in Marana for more than 60 years. "I think we want something that represents our culture."

Design guidelines for the Marana "town core" - a plan to create a downtown around the new Town Hall - call for several public art projects. Besides one or more statues, fountains or sculptures at Town Hall, guidelines call for a clock tower to be built at a major intersection nearby.

Guidelines also suggest building a set of "village gates" at the corner of Barnett Road and the new Marana Main Street to help signal to people that they've arrived downtown.

Marana Arts Council and the Public Arts Committee might work together on another project: painting the town's water storage tanks and towers.

The Marana Arts Council is studying the cost for the project, Groseclose said.

"We want to get the citizens who live in the vicinity of those water towers involved with selecting the artwork," she said. The water tower art project ideally would incorporate town history as one theme, she said. A Marana ordinance allows budgets for public works projects costing at least $500,000 to allot up to 1 percent of construction costs for public art.

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