A proposed public art concept will extend from a large focal piece at the peak of College Street and have elements that lead down toward the old jail site off Vance Street, in an overall effort to “reclaim” the downtown for the people, the design’s creators said this week.

Artist Heidi Lippman and landscape designer Kofi Boone visited Clinton early this week and met with a variety of people, from local officials and residents, City Council members and the public art committee that brought them here.

Lisa Turlington, director of the Sampson County Arts Council, has said the overall goal of the project was to make the downtown “a gathering place,” with the hope that an art piece would add character to the area and act as a contributing force to attract those people.

The City Council hopped on board last month, approving $9,000 for the conceptual phase.

The first step of that phase was Lippman and Boone’s visit, which culminated with an open house on Tuesday. Lippman said she was immediately taken with Clinton and Sampson County.

“I’ve been impressed by the sense of community,” said Lippman, a resident of Baltimore, Md. “They talk about it, but they live it. It’s been really impressive. I’ve been stunned by how beautiful it is.”

Lippman said she plans to use the theme of synergy in designing an art piece. The piece, was initially planned for the former jail site off Vance Street. However, Lippman said a focal piece would work better near the College Street parking lot, with architectural and landscape elements leading down to Cattail Branch and the old jail site, now referred to as the central park site.

“You get the most bang for your buck (at the top of College Street),” said Lippman. “It really does serve as the highlight. It’s the most natural spot for a piece. You have height, and you can see it from hundreds of yards away. There’s something about the drama in that you can’t beat.”

At the Vance Street site, there is also a distinct lack of windows and through traffic, as compared to the amount of each on College Street leading to the downtown square.

“We were given the old jail site and we thought more and more about central downtown area and an uplifting expression to benefit lives every day,” Lippman said. “Maybe you build it and they come, maybe they don’t.”

Boone, an assistant professor of landscape architecture at N.C. State, has expertise in urban and participatory design, as well as design of public spaces. He agreed with Lippman’s assessment and said he wanted the art to benefit citizens and be a part of their daily lives.

“Landscape architecture is about matching the needs of the people with the needs of the land,” said Boone. “We’ve heard about the experiences of people here, the needs here and observed and talked to local citizens about needs and speculated into the future — how a public art piece can be woven into that fabric.”

Boone said he wanted to weave in the “history of Clinton” with its “best,” by re-introducing a new mural at the old mural site.

“College Street, day and night, is always busy,” said Boone.

Pre-conceptual designs

During the open house, held at the Small House, the landscape architect led attendees through several 3-D mock-ups of what the design from College Street to Vance Street, across Connesstee would look like. Boone emphasized the designs were “pre-conceptual.”

“The ideas are a step toward a concept, a narrative that can inspire a story,” he said. “This is an interim step toward a long-term vision of reclaiming that as a place for people and not just for cars.”

In addition to a focal piece by Lippman at the top of College Street, near Main Street, pre-conceptual designs included additional landscaping and the elimination of dumpsters on Connesstee Street leading to the central park site. Boone said the Cattail Branch’s width would be expanded, giving it less of a “drainage ditch” appearance, and a “circular element,” be it a walkway, a fountain or another piece, would be added at the Vance Street side of the central park site.

“There would be a circular element off Vance Street to let people know the creek is there, to welcome them into the greenspace,” said Boone.

He and Lippman shared an idea for a translucent canopy, possibly made of angled glass, to line the Cattail Branch. Such a design would bring colors to the area, due to the glass reflecting the amount of light there is at the site. There is “a lot” of light at the site, Lippman noted. Lippman, who has made several glass art pieces, said the focal mural at College Street might also be glass.

“That’s the thing about glass, when you light it up at night, it looks spectacular,” she remarked.

Boone expressed thoughts for something different than a large concrete parking lot at the central park site. “There’s a lot of parking lots, both publicly and privately owned, downtown already,” said Boone, who instead floated the concept of a “structural lawn.”

“We would delineate with trees, so you can still park there, but if there are no cars there, it’s still a nice area. You can just pull out a chair, sit down and say hi to a neighbor,” Boone remarked. “It’s very popular. When there are no cars there, which can be 16 hours out of the day, it has another use. Two-thirds of its life is for people, one-third of its life is for cars.”

A ‘paradigm shift’

Wayne Weeks, who owns Weeks Insurance, which bumps up to the central park site, voiced concerns with the perceived limited amount of parking already in the area and how the structural lawn would work. He has elderly customers who do not want to walk from long distances to his business, he said.

“We have a problem with parking on Vance Street as it is,” said Weeks.

Some others expressed a similar sentiment. Boone said he has heard the concern and pointed to various opportunities already present in the downtown and surrounding area.

He said the problem of parking was today’s, not necessarily tomorrow’s. A few less parking spaces — the structural lawn could still likely hold up to 20 or more cars — is a short-term sacrifice in favor of a long-term investment in a human experience, he attested.

“That’s a recurring response in Clinton, ‘Where are we going to park?’” Boone remarked. “If you allow parking to drive urban design in this town, then you are going to be in trouble. You can be proactive about claiming spaces (for design) and adapt around that.”

He said such design elements are “difference makers” in people relocating or utilizing a particular space. Julie Stefanovich said a “paradigm shift” was needed by locals for the art process to be a success.

Mason Tarr said the project could act to bring people to the downtown, not just through it. Foot traffic would increase and could change the way businesses advertise and do signage. Public art committee member Frank Bradshaw said, through the project, more people might come and actually walk downtown, patronize the stores and learn more about their local community in the process.

“I love the way you’ve incorporated not only the jail site, but the downtown portion,” Tarr said to Lippman and Boone. “This is taking the town to a new level and it’s very exciting.”

The county’s IT director Chris Rayner also mentioned the possibility of using old jail hookups to provide wireless internet at the central park site, yet another tool that could attract people downtown.

Implementation of the public art project will require an estimated $50,000, with possible sources being $25,000 from a state Arts Council grant with a $25,000 local match, city officials said.

Turlington said the deadline to apply for the $25,000 state implementation grant is Feb. 5 and the application would have to be accompanied by conceptual designs and site plans. The city will not know until August or September whether it received the grant. In the meantime, there would be fund-raising efforts in the community, said Turlington, who voiced her own excitement over the project.

“It’s amazing what they’ve been able to do in just a couple days,” said Turlington. “It’s been overwhelming how much they’ve been able to glean from the community, and they can take that and implement this in the community.”

Once all funds are in place, Lippman said the art piece and design process would take little more than a year to complete. She will return to Clinton next month with concept designs.

She said she was thrilled to have the opportunity to develop an art concept fitting Clinton and its beauty — not just for this generation, but for the next and the one after that.

“It’s something that endures over time, something you will have to live with for a long time, and something I’ll have to work on for a long time,” said Lippman. “It’s something that’s timeless.”