Race, sex and politics: 'Harmony' sculpture prompts debates, changes to public art in Boynton

Changes are likely coming to Boynton Beach's public art program after a world-renowned artist faced backlash from local residents and city leaders.

A large sculpture by Seattle-based artist Patti Warashina is meant to honor the power of music and its ability to bring people together. But the artwork, titled "Harmony," prompted division among supporters who admired the work and critics who pointed to conspiracies, politics and concerns about whether the statue was appropriate in Boynton Beach, a city that often prefers imagery of the nearby ocean and the local fishing industry.

South Florida PBS, which includes the public broadcasting station WXEL, commissioned the artwork for its future Cornelia T. Bailey Cultural Arts Center at 3401 S. Congress Ave. The center — a $10 million project funded by PBS donors — will host art classes, concerts, performances and screenings of PBS programs after its completion in the coming years.

Developers in Boynton Beach are required to incorporate art into their construction projects, or to help fund the creation of artwork elsewhere in the city. It has to be "accessible and readily visible to the public," and it has to be approved by the city's Art Advisory Board.

Leaders at South Florida PBS decided to build a large statue in the garden area outside their future art center, within sight of drivers on Congress Avenue, and they chose Warashina for her "whimsical style that will ignite the imaginations of everyone, especially children, and encourage viewers to enjoy music."

The 12-foot statue, which will take about two years to construct, depicts an abstract female figure sitting on top of a sphere, with a red conductor's baton in one hand and a black musical note in the other. The artist said large sculptures can also offer a feeling of protection, "as if in the presence of a maternal figure."

“This female figure, ‘clothed’ in abstracted rhythmic musical scores, is conducting an imaginary orchestra for a universal audience, while sitting on a speaker box that emanates music," Warashina said in her proposed design. "This female figure is conducting celestial music to the world as a way to assemble a global audience, while balanced on the planet Earth."

Critics call Boynton Beach artwork 'satanic' and 'sexually enticing'

As the age-old saying goes, "art is in the eye of the beholder," and some viewed Warashina's work through the lens of political and religious convictions.

While the statue is not going on city property, and South Florida PBS is paying the entirety of its cost, “Harmony” still faced a vote by the city's Art Advisory Board. That's because the statue is being built to satisfy the city's requirement for art at new developments.

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It narrowly passed that review on Aug. 10 with a 3-2 vote, after critics packed the normally empty advisory meeting and voiced their concerns during public comment.

Some critics appeared more displeased with the artist than the statue itself. Warashina's past work includes commentary on human rights, technology and politics, including a sculpture of former president Donald Trump in the form of an animal, holding a mask of Vladimir Putin's face.

Cindy Falco DiCorrado, a well-known supporter of Trump and a former Boynton Beach mayoral candidate, said all of Warashina's art is “politically motivated" and meant to be “a satire on people who are conservatives.”

“That is not harmony," she said of the statue coming to Boynton Beach. "It’s diversity. Again, we’ve had enough diversity in our community, haven’t we?”

Two other public speakers accused the Japanese-American artist of creating sculptures inspired by communism, with one speaker calling the abstract artwork "shapeless" and "upsetting." Others described the work as frightening or evil.

“Do I think there’s going to be kids that would walk by that and have nightmares for weeks? Yeah, because to me it’s scarier than probably the scariest clown I’ve ever seen," said Donald Tarca, a longtime Boynton Beach resident.

Warashina describes the "Harmony" statue as a female figure, but some critics referred to the sculpture as "nonbinary," meaning its traits aren't exclusively male or female, and they drew a connection between the artwork and the problem of pedophilia — apparently referring to the false claim that LGBTQ+ people are predators.

"We do not want children questioning an enticing statue when the object we are speaking of would be nonbinary. We don't want our children being confused with … pedophilia," said one public speaker, who went on to call the statue "very sexually enticing" and "satanic."

One person suggested placing a large American flag outside of the art center instead, while another person recommended artwork that features musical notes and the message, "God bless America," prompting applause from the audience.

Supporters come to artist's defense amid 'Harmony' controversy

During the same meeting, art appraiser Dena Rigby defended "Harmony" and the artist, who has created thousands of artworks for museums and galleries throughout the United States and abroad.

Warashina has also earned dozens of awards during her decades as an artist, including the 2020 Smithsonian Visionary Award, given to people "who have reached the pinnacle of sculptural arts and design."

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“She is a mother, a grandmother and widow of the late artist Robert Sperry. She’s not a communist," Rigby said, addressing the public comments. "But most importantly for today, she’s a highly celebrated Japanese-American artist. She has an extensive career spanning 60 years.”

Carlos Navarro, a South Florida artist for more than two decades, submitted his public comment in writing, calling "Harmony" beautiful, fun and non-offensive. The artwork, he said, is perfect for a cultural art center.

"We need to stop with the banning and canceling of things that we may not like nor understand, and be open to art, concepts, and ideas that expand our minds and consciousness as an enlightened, intelligent, and accepting society," he said.

And a member of the Art Advisory Board was quick to throw his support behind the sculpture. Board member Sam Velazquez said the sculpture evoked happy memories from decades past when he was a music student in a seminary.

“Other public artworks that we have approved have not garnered such a controversial attitude," he said. "Satanic? Pedophilic? Those are not words that occupy my being."

'Harmony' sculpture barely passes vote by Boynton Beach art board

But much like Boynton Beach residents, members of the art board were split on their support for "Harmony." The statue, which is believed to represent a person of Asian descent, would be Boynton Beach's first artwork by a Japanese-American artist, according to a city report.

Board member Phyllis Pacilli pointed to U.S. Census data from July 2022 and said that only 2.7% of Boynton Beach residents are Asian.

Pacilli also said she conducted an unofficial survey at Barrier Free Park and Caloosa Park, which neighbor the South Florida PBS building and its future arts center. She spoke with 147 people — some of them Asian — and found that 72% reacted negatively to the statue.

Fellow board member Ace Tilton Ratcliff, a supporter of the statue, began to push back on Pacilli: "I think the fact that we have a white woman here telling us," Ratcliff said, before the board's vice chair interjected and called for Pacilli to finish her comments.

Ratcliff said later in the meeting that Asian Americans should be represented in local art and the celebration of diversity, regardless of whether they make up a small percentage of Boynton Beach's population.

Board member Gregory Hartmann said the sculpture was not family-friendly, and during a past meeting, he called it ugly and overly large, according to meeting minutes. Official descriptions of the artwork say the figure is clothed in black rectangles or abstract musical scores, but others see her as being nude. As for its size, the statue itself is 12 feet, while the base adds another 3 feet to its total height.

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Hartmann also shared concerns about South Florida PBS commissioning the art in December 2022, months before the art board's vote. The board was first scheduled to vote on the statue in June and, after reaching an impasse, they rescheduled the decision to early August.

In comments made at those two meetings, the city's public art manager, Glenn Weiss, said that South Florida PBS was free to follow its own art selection process, so long as the organization followed the city's guidelines and sought final approval from the art board.

The guidelines, Weiss said, require art to come from a professional artist, to meet community standards and to be high quality and long-lasting. He said the board's duty is to vote on whether art meets those guidelines, not to discuss whether they personally like the art.

With Ratcliff and Velazquez in clear support of the statute, and Pacilli and Hartmann against it, the decision came down to two other members of the Art Advisory Board.

Board member Cynthia Alexis attended the August meeting virtually using Zoom, and she abstained from voting, citing her struggle to hear the conversation and make a fully informed decision. The swing vote fell on Vice Chair Clovis Moodie, who approved the statue.

"You've heard tonight a civil discussion, for the most part, about 'Harmony,' " said Dolores Fernandez Alonso, the president and CEO of South Florida PBS, who spoke during the Aug. 10 meeting. "She meets all of the objective criteria, but she truly does embody diversity, creativity, innovation, trustworthiness, and resilience."

Changes now in the works for Boynton's Art in Public Places program

Days after the city's Art Advisory Board approved the statue, Boynton Beach leaders heard from another round of people both for and against the artwork on Aug. 15, at a city commission meeting.

Vice Mayor Thomas Turkin joined the voice of those against the statue and its Seattle-based artist. Turkin said art from the West Coast should be kept out of Boynton Beach, and he criticized Warashina for her body of work, including the satirical sculpture of former President Trump.

"Regardless of your party, regardless of what you like or what you don’t like, you respect the office. You know what I mean?" Turkin said. "Could you imagine if an artist proposed some type of crazy rhetoric or some type of nasty art for other presidents? There would be incredible backlash. I don’t think there’s space for politics in art, and this is political."

But the decision was already made. The Art Advisory Board oversees the city's public art program, not the commission, and the "Harmony" statue will be fabricated by Blue Mountain Fine Arts of Baker City, Oregon.

Commissioner Angela Cruz, who opposed the statue in a letter to the art board, and who represents the district where "Harmony" is planned, is now leading the effort to update city rules and give the commission more control over public art.

Cruz suggested that a city ordinance be updated, ensuring the art board is limited to making recommendations, and giving commissioners the final vote on public art. In response, Commissioner Aimee Kelley said the art board was created to make those tough and often controversial decisions, taking the burden off of commissioners.

“So I’m hesitant to make it that we’re now taking that responsibility back on ourselves," Kelley said. "Because it was my understanding the whole reason the art board is set up that way is so they make those decisions in a neutral way, as opposed to commissioners who may have pressures from residents or whatever.”

Ultimately, a majority of commissioners decided they did not want the responsibility of approving every public art project in the city. They instead approved new language that allows any commissioner to appeal decisions by the art board, and for the commission to then vote and potentially overturn the board's decision.

Cruz also wanted to ensure that Boynton Beach only curates local art in the future, as opposed to artwork by people like Warashina, who operates on the other side of the country. Cruz also attempted to include a requirement that art be consistent with the city's vision "as a family and fishing-oriented community," evoking more concerns from Kelley.

"Part of art is that it brings up conversation and it’s interesting," Kelley said. "If we force everyone to only create family art and fishing art, then we’re going to be looking at a lot of sailfish, and it’s not going to be appealing.”

”I do think the theme should be reflecting of what we are," Turkin responded. "We are a coastal, family town, and that doesn’t necessarily mean sailfish. There’s hundreds of species of fish. There’s starfish, there’s coral reefs, all sorts of stuff. And heritage, too. There’s a lot outside of fishing in history.”

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While commissioners stopped short of defining the exact theme for future art, they did approve updated language that says artwork must come from a Florida artist, with preference given to people in Palm Beach County.

The ordinance updates still face a second reading and vote by the commission at a future meeting. Mayor Ty Penserga said the Art Advisory Board could also help commissioners define the city's vision for future art.

"Seasons change, and maybe new ideas come in time," the mayor said. "We shall see."

Giuseppe Sabella is a reporter covering Boynton Beach and Lake Worth Beach at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at gsabella@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Artist Patti Warashina sculpture in South Florida causes controversy