The city is poised to refurbish and reinstall five sculptures currently moldering in a Public Works warehouse, as part of a greater effort to celebrate more than 100 pieces of public art citywide.

The renovations are being funded by the R.K. Mellon Foundation's $300,000 grant and spearheaded by Kimberly Baker, hired as public art manager by the Ravenstahl administration last year.

Reinvesting in public art "sends the message that the city is a vibrant, urban place," Ms. Baker said.

Artist Peter Calaboyias found four of the sculptures, including one of his own, in a city warehouse under the 62nd Street Bridge in 2006. All four had been removed from outside the Carnegie Library's Squirrel Hill branch in the mid-1990s for rehabilitation, but fell to Public Works when a city-hired restoration firm went bankrupt.

A fifth sculpture -- the 15-foot-tall "Steelcityscape" by Aaronel deRoy Gruber -- had been in the portico of the City-County Building and later Allegheny Riverfront Park. The sculpture of 12 intertwined steel rings used to be silver, but at some point was painted purple, and now rests on its side like a mangled Slinky.

Pat Ford, Urban Redevelopment Authority director and former city planning director, appealed to the Mellon foundation last summer for money to renovate the sculptures and its board awarded the city the grant last month. It goes to City Council for approval soon.

Art does more than make the city pretty, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said -- it's also an economic development tool.

Public art "shows that Pittsburgh values creativity. One of my goals is to attract and retain an innovative and talented work force. We're investing in public art to create a sense of place where they feel welcome, a place that sparks imagination.

"We want to demonstrate that ideas are born and showcased proudly here," he said in a statement.

Public art has been getting special attention in the city since February 2005, with the opening of the public-private Office of Public Art. Funded by the Heinz Endowments, the office is a collaboration between the city and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and has published two walking guides to public art around Downtown and Oakland. It also won a National Endowment for the Arts grant to study the city's holdings.

The next step was hiring Ms. Baker to a newly created public art position in the city Planning Department, to push arts initiatives full-time. The 31-year-old Florida native was formerly public art manager for Seattle's Arts & Cultural Affairs office.

The renovations of the five sculptures is the first step in a three-phase, $900,000 public art plan, which includes evaluating the conditions of more than 20 other at-risk pieces citywide and adding identification or educational signs to all the works.

The city can support and help fund new artists and artworks but needs to focus on its current inventory first, Ms. Baker said. That will include not just cleaning the artworks, but lighting them, maintaining them and letting the public know where and what they are.

"We have to take care of what we already have before commissioning new works for the public. If we don't take care of what we have, that's the wrong message to send out," she said.

When the city does refocus on funding new artworks, it will likely be through its mostly forgotten "One Percent for Art" program, which requires that 1 percent of construction costs on city government projects go to art. The problem is the city rarely builds anything anymore, and the city-affiliated agencies that do -- such as the Sports & Exhibition Authority and the Parking Authority -- are not covered by the ordinance.

That program is what funded, in 1973, four sculptures for the outside of the Squirrel Hill library, including "Five Factors" by Mr. Calaboyias, which the city now plans to renovate. (The Allegheny County Airport Authority is currently in talks to dismantle another Calaboyias work, "Silver Grid Wall.")

The others are untitled works by Edward Bordas, Thomas Morandi and James Myford.

After Mr. Calaboyias found his sculpture in 2006 with the help of City Councilman William Peduto's office, council approved a resolution calling on the city to renovate and reinstall the former library works.