A few years ago, a group of people gathered at Royalton Memorial Library to talk about bringing public art to South Royalton.
The brainstorming session looked at ways towns around Vermont have incorporated art into everyday infrastructure, such as painted municipal garbage cans or park benches and murals on downtown buildings.
Perhaps because of the library’s location, on Safford Street, talk turned to the nearest piece of neglected infrastructure.
“Literally all of us were like, ‘How about that underpass out there?’ ” Nell Gwin, who has helped spearhead the public art campaign, said this week.
Since 2018, Gwin and others have been applying for grants and negotiating with the railroad company that owns the Safford Street underpass. They are now in the homestretch, needing to raise $8,000 to unlock a state matching grant that will triple that sum. They’re halfway to their goal with about four weeks to go.
With funding in place, Passage, an art installation by Elizabeth Billings, Andy Wasserman and Evie Lovett, would be installed this fall.
Before I go any further, I have to acknowledge that this underpass is the only convenient route to my house. At only 12 feet, 1 inch tall, it’s not even all that convenient if, for example, you’d like to have a new refrigerator delivered and the big box store has only a big box truck to deliver it with.
In the nearly 21 years I’ve lived near the underpass, I never gave it much thought. It’s just another crumbling piece of privately owned American infrastructure. When you walk through it with a small child, hoots will echo pleasingly off the concrete walls. A reporter for the Burlington alt-weekly Seven Days once described the underpass and surrounding area as a “slice of Deliverance landscape” in a 2012 review of the nearby Worthy Burger, referencing the 1972 film in which backwoods locals in Georgia savagely attack four men on a canoe trip. I’m sure she couldn’t help it — being from Greenwich, Conn., she must have been confused by an ordinary working-class neighborhood — though her editor probably could have.
The public art planners focused on the underpass because, as Gwin said, it’s “right in the center of our town and a dreadful eyesore.”
What ensued from that choice is an encapsulation both of what it takes to get a piece of public art installed, and of the conflict between public and private investment.
In 2018, Gwin and Sarah Danly, a Vermont Law School graduate who settled in town, applied for a grant from the Vermont Arts Council that would have covered both the planning and the implementation of the project. They were turned down but received a planning grant the following year.
“I think they saw before us what a humongous project it would be to tackle that space,” Gwin said.
The grant enabled them to seek proposals from artists and ask for public feedback. That process turned up two finalists, a nature- and history-themed design from Katie Runde and Kevin Barry and a more conceptual work representing the White River, which runs through town, and the seasons by the Billings, Lovett, Wasserman team. While there was more public support for Runde and Barry’s plan, the committee working on the art project chose the other finalist for a variety of reasons.
The winning design is higher off the ground, making it less likely to be damaged, and is made of metal panels that can be removed if the underpass needs work or the panels need to be replaced, Gwin said.
“That’s going to be a brutal place for any design,” she said.
A railroad underpass, which is modern by definition, also strikes me as an odd place to put figurative art. Gwin noted that the location called for art with “a little more edge or grit to it.” Runde and Barry also installed an excellent public art display in Bethel that’s still on view. A little variety seems reasonable.
Gwin and Danly both have art in their backgrounds. Gwin went to Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt., which focuses heavily on the arts and humanities, and Danly went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston before attending Vermont Law School.
Royalton has a peculiar history with public art. Perhaps the best known work, Sam Kerson’s murals at what’s now known as Vermont Law and Graduate School, are now covered by acoustic panels. A lawsuit against VLGS is now in federal appeals court.
But there are other examples, including a George Lawrence painting of South Royalton village, a gift from resident Tom Powers, that hangs in the co-op market.
The appeal of public art, Gwin said, is that it’s right there, no need to travel or pay money to go see it.
In the case of the underpass project, there’s an added safety component. One side of the underpass will bear a wavy row of convex mirrors, and under some of those mirrors will be LEDs that will light the underpass at night, making it safer for pedestrians. The mirrors will also reflect oncoming vehicles.
“It’s really pretty crappy to walk under at night,” Danly said.
The lighting makes the project more complicated by requiring a line from Green Mountain Power and an electrician to do the wiring.
The major hurdle was getting permission from the underpass’s owner, Genesee & Wyoming Inc., a huge railroad holding company. Through sheer persistence, Gwin eventually got through to someone who oversees the company’s underpasses in 14 states and got him to visit the site a couple of times. Town Administrator Victoria Paquin also helped cut through the red tape.
In June, the company sprayed a dark gray sealant over the underpass’ crumbling concrete, which dates to World War I. It isn’t the resurfacing the art project’s planners had hoped for, but it’s better than what was there. A significant chunk of the project budget covers permitting fees to the railroad and a special insurance policy the company requires.
It has to be said, I think there’s something particularly galling about having to pay a private entity for the privilege of beautifying infrastructure the entity seems unwilling to beautify on its own. If there’s a better example of the need for public investment where private companies cut corners, I’d like to hear about it.
The project appealed to the artists because it’s in their backyard. Billings lives in Tunbridge, Wasserman in Vershire and Lovett a little farther afield in Putney, Vt. They like that they’re “doing something in our community, for our community,” said Wasserman, who has been working with Billings for many years and with Lovett since 2016.
“That underpass is a travesty for a lot of people,” she said. “We like that this project connects one side of South Royalton to another.”
With the project needing to raise another $4,000 to receive a matching grant of $16,000 from the state’s Better Places program, organizers are making a final push to their Aug. 21 deadline. The majority of the project will be paid for with grant funding, including a $15,000 grant from the AARP and $10,000 already received from the Vermont Arts Council.
Gwin, who grew up in Royalton, said she hopes the project leads to “more and more and more other good things happening” in town.
To learn more about the project, look for SoRo Underpass Art on Facebook or stop in to Royalton Memorial Library, where there are large-scale prints on display. To donate, look up the project on the crowdfunding site Patronicity, or contact the town office at townadmin@royaltonvt.com.
Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.
