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Not long ago John Yancey believed his iconic “Riffs & Rhythms” mosaic, which had been displayed at the Austin Convention Center for about three decades, would disappear under the rubble when the building is demolished, starting next month.
“Time is running out,” Yancey said last month as he contemplated the enormous task of saving his three-ton work from the wrecking ball.
Austin city officials had said that Yancey’s ceramic mural embedded in a convention center wall was too large and expensive to move. The city council voted in January to “deaccession” it and three other public art pieces at the convention center to escape responsibility for preserving those public artworks funded by taxpayers.
Yancey’s mural now faces a dramatically different future thanks to a few caped crusaders who worked behind the scenes to save the piece, which has been carefully removed from the convention center.
Image credit: Richard Stone.
Harold McMillan, the founding president of the East Austin Creative Coalition and a longtime African American cultural arts producer, initiated community efforts to save Yancey’s artwork.
“It seemed like they (city council members) were just washing their hands of it and not taking responsibility,” he said. “That just didn’t seem right to me.”
Other champions include Anmol Mehra, a mixed-income housing developer and Austin arts advocate, and Donna Carter of the architectural firm Carter Design Associates, which focuses on community preservation and is active in East Austin’s Blocks 16 and 18 Project.
“Sometime last year, I started hearing about the pieces of art that weren’t going to be moved and the challenges these artists, and specifically John, were facing trying to save their art,” Mehra said. “It was infuriating to me that the artists were being treated this way. It felt like it was an insult.”
Carter also was disturbed by the city’s decision to allow the destruction of an acclaimed piece of artwork by an accomplished African American artist.
“From my vantage point, this was so disrespectful to John as an artist, and disrespectful of a piece that many associate with the convention center,” said Carter. “I was just so incensed that within this huge project somehow couldn’t accommodate this.”
McMillian sprang into action, launching an effort to raise funds to rescue “Riffs & Rhythms” and find it a new home. “My primary role was making some connections, people to people.”
“Harold signaled to the group that he had heard the plan was to deaccession the art at the convention center because they were impossible to move, so if the artists could not take possession of them, they would be destroyed,” Carter said.
“Nothing’s impossible,” Carter continued. “Where there’s a will there’s a way … and, yes, you’re going to need some dollars. It’s not for the faint of heart, but you can do it. To find there was no will (on the city’s part) made me angrier and angrier and angrier.”
Initially, Carter received estimates that it could cost $150,000 to remove the mosaic. Later, Carter learned from Yancey that Sheehy Fine Art Services estimated that they could safely remove the mosaic for around $40,000 — a rounding error in the $1.6 billion that the city plans to spend redeveloping the convention center. “That’s pocket change,” Carter said.
Carter recruited an anonymous donor to help cover much of the costs but still needed additional resources.
“I thought it was important and necessary to save this piece,” Mehra said. “So, I joined that donor to help cover the cost of removal, storage, insurance and transportation and, possibly restoration. We’ll figure out who’s going to pay for it later.”
“This was a solution I could never have predicted,” Yancey said. “The fact that they cared about this, put themselves out there and committed those resources … well, they will always have my deep appreciation.”
Carter and Mehra were on hand last week as the Sheehy crew began dismantling “Riffs & Rhythms” and carefully packing it away for temporary warehouse storage. “Where it’s going (to end up) hasn’t been decided yet,” Mehra said. “We have a couple of ideas, but no decisions have been made. We’ve just been focused on the need to get it out of the convention center.”
Image credit: Richard Stone.
Yancey said it will likely take two or three years to restore “Riffs & Rhythms” and work out where it will be exhibited. The most likely location is within East Austin’s historic African American Heritage Cultural District, where another of his mosaics resides: “Rhapsody.”
Three other convention center art pieces also have been salvaged. According to a media release from the City of Austin’s Office of Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment (ACME):
- “Waller Creek Shelves,” by Damian Priour, will be relocated to the Austin Public Library as part of Austin’s Art in Public Places collection.
- Rolando Briseño’s “Macro/Micro” will stay in that collection, with plans underway to reinstall a digital re-creation of it elsewhere.
- Margo Sawyer has removed her “Index for Contemplation” from the convention center. ACME is exploring options to make that work a legacy installation in Austin’s new convention center.
Where “Riffs & Rhythms” is concerned, McMillan said that all the city really did was get out of the way. “In the final analysis, the reason that the artwork was saved and has a potential home is not coming from the city,” he said. “Those actions came because of the work by a group of people who were determined to save this piece of art.”
City officials have not explained why preserving and relocating the artworks were not part of the original budget for the convention center redevelopment. The city plans to start tearing down the 33-year-old Austin Convention Center next month to make way for a larger center to cover six square blocks downtown. City officials say the redevelopment will cost $1.6 billion over four years.
Going forward, ACME Director Angela Means said that her department will “undertake a comprehensive assessment of Arts in Public Places to ensure its continued relevance, accessibility, and alignment with the city’s cultural and economic goals. This assessment will be informed by community input, national best practices, and the diverse needs of Austin’s artistic community.”
Yancey is relieved and happy that his art will survive.
“Two weeks ago, I felt that this wasn’t going to happen,” he said. “I’m not happy it had to come down (from the convention center) but I’m glad that it is down safely. It’s packed. It’s safe.”
Richard Stone is a Central Texas native reporter and editor with 35 years of award-winning experience covering local issues that matter. More at Wilcoblues.com.
