Witness the spirit, dedication and passion of a small group of Bowling Green State University art students and their community partners, working together to beautify one of the gateways to the campus in the city of Bowling Green.

WBGU-PBS’ newest documentary chronicles the hard work of those that came together to build a public art project, more than two years in the making.

Compiled by BGSU Graduates Associate Producers Carrie Morgan and Lisa Marshall, the documentary chronicles the hard work of those that came together to build a public art project, more than two years in the making.

In the fall of 2004, Bowling Green State University’s Public Art Committee proposed giving undergraduate students the real-life experience of following a commissioned piece of art from beginning to end. An elective “Public Art” class, taught by BGSU Instructor Greg Mueller in the fall of 2005, drew 15 students, who formed three teams to compete for the commission.

Working within a $20,000 budget, the students’ task was to design a gateway at the northwest corner of the campus, at the junction of East Poe Road and North College Drive. The winning team had to garner city and county support, investigate how to construct and assemble the public work of art, and get the necessary building permits to build the public art project they designed.

The 360-foot-long structure, titled “The People,” is a portrait of the community featuring 75 silhouette panels. Scenes representative of the City of Bowling Green along East Poe Road transition to the central Black Swamp scene at the corner, depicting the history of Bowling Green, and then on to scenes representative of Bowling Green State University along North College Drive.

“If you stop and look at the emblems that are on the fence, you’ll see it really represents contemporary Bowling Green,” says Bowling Green City Mayor John Quinn. “There are lots of folks up there and lots of occupations up there that represent the things that make this city run every day.”

In May of 2007 the official unveiling of the Poe Road Public Art Project took place. People from all over the community came to celebrate the art project’s completion and show their support. Additional donors stepped forward and the artists received accolades for a job well done.

“It’s really nice that we’ll have something from the students that will be a permanent part of this city,” says Linda Dobb, BGSU’s Executive Vice President. “Students are a permanent part of this city, but students come and go. Now we’ll have something that’s by the students and about the students that will be here forever and ever. It’s wonderful.”

“We were told repeatedly that undergraduate students were not capable of realizing a project of this scale,” says Katarina Ray, Director of BGSU’s School of Art. “Mature artists would have found this project daunting. The fact that of the starting team of five, three stayed on all the way through to completion and were working in all kinds of weather and never gave up is the greatest testament to creativity and perseverance, and I am confident those three students will go on to become very, very successful human beings and artists.”

The public art project was produced in collaboration with the City of
Bowling Green, Wood County, Defiance Metal Products, the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Ohio Arts Council, and numerous individuals and organizations.