SOS! Featured in US Airways Magazine
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The May 2003 issue of US Airways' magazine, Attaché, included an article about Washington, D.C.'s outdoor sculpture and the work of Save Outdoor Sculpture! and others to conserve it. "Monumental Tasks," by Tom Dunkel, featured an interview with SOS! Director Susan Nichols, along with comments from National Park Service personnel and conservators.
The District of Columbia contains some 105 statues, 59 plaques, 22 memorials, 16 monuments, and four national historic landmarks, according to the article. Many of these are obscure and little visited, while some, like the Washington Monument, draw crowds of tourists. The article examines some of the challenges of protecting these public artworks from weather, pollution, graffiti, pigeons, and terrorists. It cites benign neglect as "the most formidable foe."
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Nichols cites the original SOS! survey of 32,000 monuments in the United States, which found that only half are well maintained. "Of that second 50 percent," she said in the article, "10 percent is in urgent need of care. The increase in acid-rain pollution, especially in the last 20 years, has done the most harm." She also notes that many cities are creating public-art offices and programs to provide for maintenance of new monuments.
For more about America's public sculpture, visit the SOS! home page.