IOWA CITY — About 17 hours after publicly expressing his “sincere apologies” to the black community in Iowa City for what he called “my thoughtless action,” the University of Iowa artist who installed a Ku Klux Klan-robed sculpture on campus Friday issued a second statement to the general public espousing his view on the importance of free speech.

“I sincerely believe that freedom of speech is an essential part of all civil societies, and that public art is one of the most vital acts of free speech available to the civilian,” Serhat Tanyolacar, 38, wrote in the statement received by The Gazette about 6 p.m. Wednesday.

“I enter the public realm because the audience is not directed by the museum or gallery environment and administration,” Tanyolacar wrote. “Rather, the audience has more freedom to interpret the work.”

Tanyolacar is an assistant professor for the UI School of Art and Art History and a Grant Wood Art Colony Printmaking Fellow. He is described on the art school’s website as a Turkish-born multimedia artist, print maker, political activist, and autism advocate.

“As a Turkish citizen who believes in and defends freedom of speech, Serhat has been spreading awareness on continuous human-rights violations in his home country,” according to his UI profile.

In his initial apology to the black community, sent to The Gazette just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, Tanyolacar described in more detail the 7-foot-tall statue that sat on the UI Pentacrest for nearly four hours Friday without permission from campus administrators. He said the statue’s KKK robe was made from screen-printed articles from U.S. newspapers depicting the “horror and violence” in racist ideology.

Tanyolacar said his hope was to incite discussion and create positive change. But, in that initial statement, Tanyolacar said his piece failed.

“One of the failures in the installation was not having a dialogue with the black community in Iowa City … before installing,” he said.

And he asked to be “forgiven by the black people in Iowa City.”

“I am aware that, due to my thoughtless action, I caused pain, and I am ready to listen (to) the black community’s voice, move forward, and be a strong ally,” he wrote. “Please accept my very sincere apologies.”

In Tanyolacar’s evening statement, however, he stressed that the aim of public art is to “trigger awareness about our society” and open dialogue “about issues we usually avoid in our daily lives.” And, he said, that’s exactly what his sculpture did.

“By installing the piece in a public space of open discourse, the work has been effectively utilized by community leaders, my academic colleagues, the media, and the general public — all of whom need to talk about the pain and sorrow of our unspoken ideologies,” he wrote. “Furthermore, while it was not my intention, the work has reopened powerful discussions about freedom of speech in academia.”

Tanyolacar has been active on social media since erecting the sculpture Friday, and on Wednesday he retweeted a letter published in the Des Moines Register lamenting the loss of a “wonderful opportunity to embrace and discuss the values of free speech” in the university’s removal of the statue from the Pentacrest.

“Doesn’t the greatest art rattle our consciousness and our consciences, provoke thought and discussion?” Kathleen Richardson, director of the Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication, wrote in her letter to the editor. “Isn’t one of the roles of a university to provide a safe forum for such conversations, to foster the values of freedom of expression and to model civil engagement?”

Tanyolacar also used Facebook to address the issue Wednesday, posting this quote: “This is a matter of how public expression is handled within the realm of the university.”

Black students and community members have told The Gazette that many of the discussions, meetings, and protests about racism and diversity in the community were planned before the Friday incident. And, they have said, his piece only triggered fear and terror among some on campus.

Dozens of students and community members gathered Wednesday night for one of those previously-planned meetings at the Iowa City Public Library. It originally was advertised as being closed to the public, although all members of the black community were invited to attend, and library officials clarified Wednesday that all meetings there are open to the public.

Those who were involved said it produced productive conversations.

LaTasha DeLoach, a community member who attended the meeting, reacted to Tanyolacar’s second statement Wednesday, saying his decision to erect the statue was “not smart” with all that is happening nationally around the issue of race.

“And if he really felt it was about free speech, he should have never issued an apology,” she said.