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This artwork was placed on the building at 124 West Main Street in Pipestone prior to the owner requesting the required permit. The Heritage Preservation Commission recently denied a request to grant that permit after the fact. Photo by Kyle Kuphal
The Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC), during its July 8 meeting, denied a request from the Pipestone Development Company (PDC) for a permit for a piece of art that had been placed on the building at 124 West Main Street in Pipestone.
PDC President Jeremy Whipple said the abstract art piece was made by Charles Schriever, who had been in Pipestone visiting a relative and asked if there was a place he could place a piece of his work. Whipple said he allowed Schriever to place the piece on the building at 124 West Main Street, which is owned by the PDC and houses the Calico Quilt Shop and apartments.
“He actually does traveling artwork,” Whipple said. “He has art in such places as Athens, Greece; Berlin; Paris; Chicago; Denver; South Dakota; Mexico City; Memphis; Thailand. His mission is working with art on street views to create a connection with people in the world.”
The art that was installed in Pipestone is made of wood pieces of different colors that were nailed over siding that the PDC installed over a former doorway and window after it purchased the property in 2021. Pipestone City Council Liaison and Mayor Dan Delaney said the PDC should have applied for a permit from the HPC before installing the artwork on a building in the downtown historic district.
“Personally, I don’t mind it,” Delaney said. “I kind of liked it when I first saw it, but I cannot accept the fact that it was just put up and here it is. You bypassed the whole historical district guidelines that we have and if one person bypasses them there’s no reason to even have them anymore because everyone will.”
Artwork, made of wood pieces of varying colors, was placed on a sided-over door and window
opening on the building at 124 West Main Street in Pipestone. The work must be removed because a permit was not approved. Photo by Kyle Kuphal
HPC Vice Chairperson Linsey Prunty said she thought artwork on a property in the historic district should not alter the historic character of the property, but enhance that character, and she didn’t think the artwork in question did that.
“When you look at the structure of the building, it’s an orderly, cut facade of brick, of the quartzite, but this is more of a collage, so the defining characteristic of our buildings, I feel, is not being represented in that piece of art,” Prunty said.
The HPC’s decision to deny the permit for the artwork means it will have to be removed.
In other business, the HPC voted to table a request for a permit for a sign for the new tobacco shop at 118 W. Main St. to obtain more information about the material the sign will be made of. According to the permit application, the sign would be plastic, white and black, and 16 feet by 22 inches, mounted on the front exterior of the building.