Loan Program Expands Public Art Project

Barrett DeBusk is a Texas-based sculptor whose whimsical work is probably unknown by Fallbrook residents and the thousands of visitors who descend on the village each week. Thanks to a new, innovative art-borrowing program established by Fallbrook’s Art in Public Place committee, that won’t be the case anymore. On May 16 DeBusk’s “Fat Happies” sculpture will be officially installed outside the Mike Choate Early Education Center at the northwest corner of Fallbrook Street and Mission Road. The piece is the first installation in the public art committee's Art On Loan program, which was launched to display various pieces of art ---- mostly sculptures ---- in high-traffic parts of Fallbrook for limited periods of time. Committee chair, Larry Miller, said the group will pay about $4,000, including a small artist's fee and insurance costs, to display the piece for a year and a half. "The artist benefits because he'll get a modest honorarium, but the work is also for sale, so he'll be able to get that publicity for his work," he said. "And the school benefits because they have this attractive sculpture on their property. It's a win-win situation." The brightly colored steel sculpture depicts two people dancing, and appears wellsuited for an early education center where preschool classes are held, Miller said. The art in public places group has helped install various sculptures throughout Fallbrook, as well as a mural at Alvarado Street and Main Avenue that was completed last year by local artist Jim Fahnestock.

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