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Discover Center and Public Art committee plan walking tour, digital map linked to 'Winds of Change' exhibit
Summary
The Discover Center's April 1 retrospective of sculptor Cabot Lifeford will tie into a joint public-art compendium and a walkable/digital tour produced with the city's Public Art Review Committee, which has compiled a 70-entry inventory and is exploring Google Maps, QR codes and the Public Art Archive for distribution.
The Discover Center will open Winds of Change, a retrospective of sculptor Cabot Lifeford, on April 1, and the museum and the Portsmouth Public Art Review Committee plan a joint walking tour and digital map to direct visitors to public sculptures and sites in and around Portsmouth.
The exhibition will include iconic Lifeford works and related sketches; Sarah Roberts Terry of the Discover Center said the museum’s team wants a self-guided option. “Our thought on our end was, in terms of a self guided tour to essentially have, like, a booklet, or, like, a brochure that we have on our site, with QR codes, for all of the pieces of art,” Roberts Terry said. The committee’s compendium, compiled by volunteers, already lists about 70 works with photographs and standard descriptions and “lends itself really well” to a downloadable map or brochure, committee members said.
Why it matters: combining the exhibit with a clear, updatable public-art guide could raise local tourism, help residents discover works they pass daily and create an archival record. Committee members and Discover Center staff discussed digital delivery options that would keep the inventory current and accessible.
Committee members and museum staff discussed scope and tools. The walking portion would likely include about 15–20 pieces for a single, walkable brochure; the Discover Center also plans a larger, driving-oriented guide for Lifeford work in New England. The group discussed three digital approaches: producing a printable/downloadable brochure with QR codes that link to site pages, embedding the compendium into a custom Google Map so photos and descriptions appear on tap, or uploading entries to the national Public Art Archive, which already hosts city collections elsewhere. “We started putting together, essentially, like, a Google map, of where all the locations are,” Roberts Terry said, and the committee noted that Google Maps supports icons, photos and links as an initial, no-cost prototype.
Library staff have also contributed material: Elisa said the library exported an internal catalog spreadsheet containing more than 100 pieces, many of them archived and not on public display. Committee members cautioned that listings must clearly say whether works are publicly accessible or held in archives so visitors do not expect to see pieces that remain in storage.
Next steps: the committee will send a finalized compendium draft to the Discover Center; Sarah Roberts Terry said the museum will prototype a downloadable map and experiment with Google Maps or the Public Art Archive for added features such as audio. The committee agreed to share a final draft of the inventory by the end of the week so the Discover Center can integrate it into exhibit outreach.
The partnership is intended as iterative: staff and volunteers noted the ease of starting with 15–20 walkable items and scaling to a fully digital, editable catalog over time.
