City’s Public Arts Coordinator Resigns

Saying she wants to work more closely with artists, Ventura’s first full-time public arts program coordinator will be leaving the city after only 16 months.

“It’s just a desire to do more projects that happen a little quicker,” said Jennifer Easton, who coordinates public art projects for the city. “I still have a real interest in planning.”

She added, “I don’t think I will be taking another public arts job immediately. I want to be working more directly with the artists.”

Easton came to Ventura in April 1996 to oversee the city’s public arts program.

Ventura began its Art in Public Places program in 1991 as a way to feed art concepts into functional city projects. The City Council voted to allot 2% of the city capital improvement budget for commissioning artists’ energies.

The city has accumulated $829,000 since the collections began.

To date, the city has funded a sculpture in Arroyo Verde Park and a piece at California Plaza next to the Promenade. The city has also approved funds for a series of artworks along the Ventura River Trail, and a sculpture of a Chumash Indian boat for the side of the downtown parking structure.

Most recently, the Art in Public Places Committee was thrust into the spotlight when Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau Executive Director Bill Clawson approached the committee to ask for $125,000 to paint a Wyland mural along the Ventura Freeway.

Before coming to Ventura, Easton worked for the city of Los Angeles for three years on various public art projects.

Despite her love of public art, she said she found working for the government in the art field could be hard--and at times, frustrating.

“It’s a challenge,” she said. “Philosophically, government is about creating a systematic response to community concerns, and art isn’t always a systematic response.” Easton is moving to San Francisco, where she says she may go back to museum curating.