East Washington mural delayed again, leaving artist feeling disrespected (2024)

The delay for a much-anticipated mural on the side of Metro Transit’s maintenance building on East Washington Avenue is now extending to three years, amid a rocky relationship between the artist and the city and newly discovered structural problems with the building.

The city and artist Jenie Gao had finally inked a contract in March for the mural project at 1101 E. Washington Ave., after 10 months of negotiations, when city staff discovered the see-saw siding of the building was deteriorating from the inside. Replacement of the siding will push the completion of Gao’s mural to 2026, three years after its originally planned completion date of 2023.

Gao estimates having logged 318 hours on the mural since May 2022 and has so far received a $2,000 in payment in 2022 and a $3,000 payment in April 2023 for redesigning it. Earlier this month, the Madison Arts Commission backed paying Gao about $10,000 for redesigning the mural again so it works with the building’s new siding.

But Gao, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, estimates that they have spent 76 hours of work on the project this year alone that will go unpaid, because the payment backed by the commission will go toward future work on the mural.

“It makes me feel disrespected,” said Gao, who is based in Vancouver, Canada. “After years of hearing other artists describe what it’s like to work with the city of Madison, and now going through it myself, I understand why so many people don’t want to do it. It’s hard.”

Gao’s original design, “The Time is Ours,” consisted of four painted aluminum sections replete with mounted renderings and silhouettes of bus riders, cicadas and Canada geese. The design’s painted waves are meant to mimic the waves of the city’s lakes with colors that correspond to the seasons.

In preparation, Gao interviewed nearly 30 bus riders, most of them people of color, about their experiences riding the bus and how they use their time riding public transit.

“I’ve created this project that is so centered on the community,” Gao said. “I know that the community loves this project, and they love the artwork I’ve created. They really care about this project, and they want to see it happen. But if I didn’t know that, it would be really hard to feel like the city of Madison actually wanted this to happen.”

Support for art

Wisconsin ranks next to last in the United States for per capita spending on public art, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. In 2017, Madison passed its “Percent for Art” ordinance, which requires 1% of any city money for capital projects above $5 million to go toward public art. The Metro building project was the first initiative to be funded by the ordinance.

In November 2022, the City Council awarded Gao the project over four other finalists. Gao, who previously served on the Madison Arts Commission, has other art displayed in the city, including murals on the East Side Trinity Lutheran Church and the Bayview Foundation’s apartments in The Triangle.

In public meetings, Gao’s vision for the site saw ample public support. Original plans called for days where residents could help paint the mural and Operation Fresh Start, a youth mentoring and education nonprofit, also was brought on to help Gao with the painting.

But immediately after that public backing 18 months ago, delays hit the project.

Just before the Council awarded the job to Gao, ongoing building renovations required the mural to be redesigned. In the course of those renovations, the city discovered the deteriorating siding.

Contract disagreements and prolonged talks between Gao and the city over payment and terms led to more delays, with a final agreement not coming until March, just before the discovery of the siding’s poor condition.

‘Not super easy’

Karin Wolf, the city’s arts program administrator, expressed disappointment that Gao’s experience working with the city has caused Gao so much frustration.

“Public art is not super easy,” Wolf said. “We do need to look at how artists are treated in our society and it’s a bigger issue than Jenie and Metro Transit.”

The Metro mural is not even close to the most delayed public art project undertaken by the city either, Wolf noted.

The “Question Mark” light sculpture on the Mifflin Street window of the Madison Central Library faced delays in part because the city wanted to get it registered under the National Electrical Code. “Shift,” an art installation by Julia Schilling at the Highland Avenue underpass, took seven years to be completed.

“Each project has its own bumps and hurdles,” Wolf said, adding that Gao is a “strong voice for artists.”

Going forward, Gao will pick out the material used for siding the Metro maintenance facility.

“It’s pretty awful that we say that’s just the way it is,” Gao said of how artists must navigate government bureaucracy to get public backing for their art. “This is potentially a stifling way to expect people to work.”

Despite the delays, the city views the discovery of the siding’s deterioration with relief. If caught later after the completion of the mural, replacing the siding could have endangered Gao’s art altogether.

“If there is a silver lining, it is that Jenie Gao’s mural will have a longer presence in our community on the new siding,” City Attorney Michael Haas said.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that Gaoreceived a $2,000 in payment in 2022 in addition to a $3,000 payment in April 2023.