One Seminole County city is a step closer to having an ordinance to regulate public displays of art.

On Monday night, Sanford City Commissioners passed the first of two readings of a public art ordinance meant to encourage and regulate art displays throughout the city.

  • Proposed ordinance will allow art to be displayed in public
  • City leaders say it will make city beautiful
  • Teenagers have already created a sculpture

A group of teenagers recently spent a week of their summer vacation making sculptures. But they couldn’t take their work home.

“For many of them it was the first time they made a piece of art that was not going to go home with them, that they had to let go and release and give to the community,” said Jennifer Lindquist, a Sanford artist and art teacher.

The teens’ work is now embedded in the brick outside a downtown Sanford building.

“Kind of looks like it was meant to be part of it,” said Lindquist. “That was the point.”

The teens’ sculpture is just temporary. But if the public art ordinance becomes law, there could soon be several sculptures and murals across the city.

City leaders say art not only makes the city look better, but it also draws people to businesses throughout town. A day after the sculpture was put into place, Lindquist says it was already getting attention.

“I drove by and I saw someone taking pictures of it and said 'Do you like it?' and they were like 'Yeah, I was just about to post it on Facebook' and say 'I hope they’re allowed to keep it,'” said Lindquist.

The ordinance regulates any public art, allowing city leaders to screen the content of it. It also will require property owners to maintain what’s put in place and pay a small fee. But the measure also cuts some red tape involved in the process of approving new art.

Artists like Jennifer Lindquist hope the new measure will encourage more artists to display their work in Sanford.

“When an artist comes by and sees this, it is a note that says we’re in your camp, we like what you do,” said Lindquist.

Sanford City Commissioners could bring the public art ordinance back up for a final vote in August.