When was the last time public art, like the new Sky Vessels in Launceston, was revealed to universal acclaim?

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I don't know, and I am sceptical that it has ever happened. Art by its nature is subjective.

It might be surprising now, but when Danish architect Jorn Utzon's design for the Sydney Opera House was selected from 223 entries, it received plenty of criticism.

The artistic design was inspired partly by sails on the ocean. Some letters published in The Sydney Morning Herald described the designs as 'a Danish pastry', an 'armadillo' and 'the Loch Ness monster'.

Closer to home, our own regular letter writers and online commentators weighed into the debate on Launceston's new public art, describing Katie Stackhouse's work Sky Vessels as half-sucked Maltesers, giant coconuts, searchlights and satellite dishes.

Artists and designers must be thick-skinned after putting up with the public criticism of their public works.

The other option that was considered for selection in Launceston, 'Kanamaluka Kanalaritja', was described as a symbolic representation of the shell necklaces made by Aboriginal women. Who knows what nicknames the public would have come up with for the........

© The Examiner