Two of Auburn’s public art pieces reach the end

To qualify for deaccession, a work must be beyond reasonable repair and must be damaged to the extent that it no longer represents the artist’s intent, among other things.

By Robert Whale • October 4, 2023 3:30 pm
Courtesy photo “You Are Here - Millennium Sundial” by Ries Niemi. Location: Les Gove Park, 910 9th St SE. Date accessioned: July 5, 2000. Original cost: $15,000. Current market value: The artist assessment noted that it would cost him $75,000 to remake today. Current insurance value: $16,500. Estimated cost of repair: $26,250 – $33,000.
“You Are Here - Millennium Sundial” by Ries Niemi. Location: Les Gove Park, 910 9th St SE. Date accessioned: July 5, 2000. Original cost: $15,000. Current market value: The artist assessment noted that it would cost him $75,000 to remake today. Current insurance value: $16,500. Estimated cost of repair: $26,250 – $33,000. (Courtesy photo)

Many people in the community are fond of the Millennium Sundial at Les Gove Park and the large mural that graces one wall of a downtown building.

But time and the elements have worked their inexorable will on the public art pieces: the wood to which the sundial is attached is rotting and splintering, and screws are sticking out; and the mural is crumbling and can’t be saved.

So on Oct. 2, the Auburn City Council voted to remove artist Ries Niemi’s 23-year old sundial and Tom Teitge’s 34-year-old mural from the city’s public arts program.

Arts Coordinator Allison Hyde told the city council Sept. 25 that this process, called deaccession, removes them from their public site and from the maintenance cycle, and moves their hard and electronic copies into a deaccessioned collections file.

The City of Auburn adopted and approved its arts in public places policy for managing its public arts collection in 2010. The process of deaccessioning an artwork is typically completed at the end of a maintenance survey.

Every year, the city brings professional arts maintenance and cleaning companies to evaluate the collection. After the maintenance survey is complete, the companies present recommended maintenance, estimate the value and the cost of care for a collection, and recommend to staff whether a piece should be considered for deaccession.

Hyde said these two pieces have been talked about as possible deaccession candidates for several years. The parks department presented a recommendation to the Auburn Arts Commission for deaccession in August of this year and the commission voted unanimously to proceed.

Formally known as the “You’re here – Millenium Sundial,” artist Ries Niemi’s piece was created in 2000. Its primary material is wood, in this case, salvaged lumber that was already almost 100 years old when the work was created. Since then, the wood has been rotting away and splintering, becoming a bit of a public safety hazard.

Hyde said the city replaced the bench seats, but this past summer, city parks staff discovered that a large amount of rot and decay has been eating away at the underside of the table, and rusty screws are sticking out. To keep the public safe, the city enclosed that area in wood, but as Hyde said, that amounts to no more than a band-aid on a bigger problem.

To qualify for deaccession, a work must be beyond reasonable repair, must be damaged to the extent that it no longer represents the artist’s intent, and damaged to the extent that the expense of restoration and repair are found to exceed or equal current market value of the work.

The city notified Niemi to determine whether he wanted to do the repairs himself, but he declined.

“He is comfortable with this decision and has offered to have components of the sundial repurposed somewhere else in the city, if that is the city’s preference,” Hyde said, adding that city is studying whether to use some sort of more durable material to separate the wood from the bronze. Although it will no longer be a piece in the city’s public arts collection, the bronze sundial could still see a future as a gathering place in a park, Hyde said.

Courtesy photo “Centennial Mural” by Tom Teitge. East Main and B Street NE. Date accessioned: May 12, 1989. Original cost: $17,500. Current market value: $23,186. Current insurance value: $23,186. Estimated cost of repair: $5,000-$8,000.

Courtesy photo “Centennial Mural” by Tom Teitge. East Main and B Street NE. Date accessioned: May 12, 1989. Original cost: $17,500. Current market value: $23,186. Current insurance value: $23,186. Estimated cost of repair: $5,000-$8,000.

Artist Tom Teitge painted the Centennial Mural in 1989 on a wall that doesn’t belong to the city and has leased on a year-to-year basis. But the surface is crumbling and falling apart, and no amount of sealing and touch-up can prevent it from further deterioration, according to the city. Typically murals are not placed in public art collections for reason. The mural will still be on the wall and will henceforth be the responsibility of the building’s owner.

Info

• “You Are Here – Millennium Sundial” by Ries Niemi. Location: Les Gove Park, 910 9th St SE. Date accessioned: July 5, 2000. Original cost: $15,000. Current market value: The artist assessment noted that it would cost him $75,000 to remake today. Current insurance value: $16,500. Estimated cost of repair: $26,250 – $33,000.

• “Centennial Mural” by Tom Teitge. East Main and B Street NE. Date accessioned: May 12, 1989. Original cost: $17,500. Current market value: $23,186. Current insurance value: $23,186. Estimated cost of repair: $5,000-$8,000.