Is Beaufort ready for a new public art project?

Another public art project could be coming to Beaufort, and this time, organizers hope to protect the work from thieves and vandals.

Laura Maxey, director of ArtWorks and Arts Council of Beaufort County, said the organization is exploring the possibility of another project but wouldn't know more until seeking approval of the organization's board of directors at a planning retreat next month.

The Arts Council commissioned a series of mermaid statues in 2006 and 2007 that were later auctioned to benefit the Arts Council. Though the subject of the next project isn't set, sea turtles are among the ideas being considered.

Maxey asked Ridgeland artist Kevin Palmer recently about the possibility of creating turtle molds. She hopes a system for funding and protecting future work would follow.

"It's not like we'd have to invent the wheel," she said. "There are other cities who have public art."

Maxey has been in her job less than two years and has compiled a binder of information about Beaufort's history with public art. In 2003, the city created the Beaufort Public Art Commission and said that 1 percent of any capital-project cost would be allocated for public art.

The commission faded a few years later after a debate about a public art project to accompany improvements to Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park.

Mayor Billy Keyserling said this week he wasn't aware of any publicly funded art in the area other than the Robert Smalls statue by Tabernacle Baptist Church. The city loaned the Arts Council money for the mermaids, but it was paid back.

He said the commission could be revived and that City Council included public art in a discussion during its retreat about the creation of a cultural district.

"I think it's a conversation we should have," Keyserling said.

Hilton Head Island has a Public Art Fund via the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. A committee works with the town to identify property suitable for public art.

Once the fund acquires a new piece of art, it seeks council approval for placement, and the town takes over ownership and maintenance.

Maxey said talk about funding and possible partnerships with USC Beaufort and the Technical College of the Lowcountry would begin after securing board authorization for a project.

When she was Hilton Head's assistant director of facilities maintenance, the town kept an eye on sculptures during normal rounds to check on landscaping and other contractors, Maxey said.

Theft and vandalism have plagued Beaufort's past efforts.

The "Mermaid de Liberte," a mermaid posted at the intersection of Bay Street and North Street, went missing around Christmas last year. The sculpture decorated by Brenda Beasley-Forrest included 2,200 Statue of Liberty stamps as scales, a crown of seashells and fishnet top.

A cow sculpture that was part of a traveling exhibit from Chicago was set on fire. A pig from a Cincinnati exhibit was stolen but later returned.

The mermaid "Sadie, the Sea Island Quilter" had already been vandalized once when it was stolen from West Street Extension, later seen sticking out of the window of a Honda cruising Bay Street and found stashed under a house.

Some of the mermaids remain in the public eye and were tracked by The Beaufort Gazette earlier this year.

Maxey said she has mentioned the possibility of a future project to Keyserling and the city's planning department and hopes to work with the city to ensure future art is secure.

Since the last coordinated effort, some rogue art has appeared downtown.

Flowers were painted around manhole covers on Port Republic Street and are still there, the city deeming them an S.C. Department of Transportation issue and not harming anything. A face that appears to have been created using gold paint adorns a building for sale on the corner of North and Bladen streets.

"I think I know who did them all (the flowers and face)," Keyserling said during a council work session Tuesday. "And I wouldn't tell anyone."

Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.

Related content:

• Where are Beaufort's mermaids? , April 28, 2015
• The lady vanishes! Mermaid statue missing from Beaufort park , April 24, 2015
• This just in: Mermaids live in Beaufort , June 1, 2013

This story was originally published July 22, 2015 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Is Beaufort ready for a new public art project?."