The Public Art Archive™ (PAA) is a free, continually growing, online and mobile database of completed public artworks throughout the U.S. and abroad. By uniting records from public art organizations and artists into one comprehensive resource, PAA aims to provide universal access to the complex stories that characterize public artworks not as static objects, but as dynamic, interconnected keepers of history, context and meaning. PAA’s mission “to make public art more public” has guided the program’s growth into one of the largest active databases of public art. Since the Archive’s inception in 2010, public art organizations and artists have submitted informational text, images, and additional multimedia files describing completed public artworks at no cost.
- Document and support best practices in cataloging public artworks across the globe;
- Provide free access to information about public artworks in one central repository;
- Raise awareness about the significance of public art;
- Develop resources to inform diverse audiences about the breadth and depth of what constitutes public art;
- Encourage sustained engagement with public art to support discovery and education;
- Preserve the transforming history of public spaces to continue to learn from public art practice.
Dreaming Forward/Soñando by Alex Paul Loza. 2018. ArtsBuild Collection, Chattanooga, TN. Photo courtesy Alex Paul Loza.
Purpose of PAA
Make public art more public.
Developed with the mission of making public art more public, the Public Art Archive (PAA), a program sponsored by the 50-year old non-profit organization Creative West (formerly WESTAF), provides free and low-cost resources for the public art field. Built for artists, administrators, consultants, planners, educators, and researchers, audiences of all ages and backgrounds can engage with PAA’s services.
- Document public artworks across the globe;
- Provide free access to information about public artworks in one central repository;
- Develop resources to inform diverse audiences about the breadth and depth of what constitutes public art today;
- Support best practices in cataloging public art;
- Raise awareness about the significance of public art;
- Showcase the variations of worktype, function, material, and subject matter;
- Encourage sustained engagement with public art to support physical exploration;
- Preserve the transforming history of public spaces so we can continue to learn from public art practice.
Dancing Chairs by James Schmidt. 2014. City of Hillsboro, OR Public Art. Photo courtesy of the collection.
Eligibility Requirements
Eligibility criteria are a key component of PAA’s values-based mission and commitment to inclusiveness and equity. All public artworks, despite budget value or artist experience can be included if they fit one of the following criteria:
1. in a place accessible or visible to the public: in public;
2. affecting a community or individuals: public interest;
3. used by a community or individuals: public place;
4. paid for by the public: publicly funded
Note: While there are many existing definitions of public art, the following guidelines, from The Practice of Public Art, by Cameron Cartiere and Shelly Willis (Cartiere, Cameron and Shelly Willis, ed. The Practice of Public Art. Routledge, 2008, p.15) is the standard definition that PAA uses to determine if the artwork fits the criteria.
If the eligibility of a work of art is in question, contact the Public Art Archive team.
