Rotating Public Art Exhibition Program

Background

The Rotating Public Art Exhibition Program seeks to create an outdoor art gallery to enliven the urban landscape, create a dynamic visual experience for residents and visitors, create more venues for artwork in the City, increase exposure and opportunities for artists who live and work in Pasadena, educate the public about public art by stimulating discussion, provide a cultural draw for tourists and provide entrée for artists new to public art.

The impetus for a temporary public art program derives from Cultural Nexus, the City’s Cultural Master Plan. The Nexus plan recommended the increased presence and awareness of public art throughout Pasadena by developing projects and opportunities that target local artists, locating projects in the Northwest Pasadena and East Pasadena neighborhoods, and developing a program of temporary public art projects on the grounds of libraries.

The Rotating Public Art Exhibition Program was developed by further refining the recommendations and vetting potential sites, outlining budget parameters, and modifying implementation procedures and timelines. The resulting Rotating Public Art Exhibition Program was approved by City Council in July 2010.

Selection Process

On February 28, 2011 the selection panel met, reviewed all artwork submissions and selected six loaned artworks and three site specific concepts as well as alternates for each of the nine locations.  According to the Public Art Guidelines for City Construction Projects, a panel of arts professional and community stakeholders reviewed and selected final artworks.  To ensure representation from every Council district, staff requested from Councilmembers names of community representatives from their respective districts who would serve as voting members of the selection panel along with three public art professionals.  In addition, City representatives from the Building and Neighborhood Revitalization Division of the Planning Department, Water and Power Department, and the Accessibility and Disability Commission were invited to attend in an advisory capacity and respond to any questions or concerns from the panelists. 

Implementation  

On April 2, 2011 staff presented the selected artworks and concepts to City Council as an information item.  Staff also presented these selections to the Arts and Culture Commission on April 13, 2011 for the Commission's review and approval.  During the summer of 2011 Cultural Affairs and Public Works staff were hard at work engineering and installing footings for the artwork installations. Artworks were installed from August through December 2011. All nine artworks of the inaugural phase of the program are now installed and available for viewing. Lighting installation will be complete this winter, and a dedication event is being planned for early spring.

Rotating Public Art Exhibition program Dedication

Saturday, March 10, 10:00 a.m.
Sidney F. Tyler Park
S. Lake Ave. & Oakwood Pl. (south of California Blvd.)

Click here for the program brochure. 

RAIN GARDEN WORKSHOP - TOPIARIES

We are pleased to announce a beautiful addition to the Rotating Public Art Exhibition Program.  A new, sustainable green space has been installed in the Playhouse District at Catalina Avenue and Union Street, surrounding Christie Beniston’s colorful sculpture entitled Topiaries.  Transforming the previously unused parcel of land, the garden marks the successful collaboration among Cultural Affairs, the Departments of Water and Power and Public Works, and local residents who invigorated the site with the addition of rock swales and basins, drought-tolerant native plants, a new fence, benches, trash bins and picnic table. 

Click here for photos of the site. 

For images and descriptions of the installed artworks, please scroll down this page.

The first nine locations and artworks include:

  
Convergence by Jon Seeman 

Jon Seeman demonstrates the strength and drama of steel by suspending large, three-dimensional forms in the air.  In Convergence, there is a play of shapes that create an optical illusion so that a sphere appears to have negated gravity and is floating in space.

 
Diversity by Cecilia Lueza 

Diversity consists of three parts, each representing the profile of an ethnically diverse female face.  Though each face refers a different ethnic background, they all share the same colors to show that we all belong to one race, the human race.

  
Handstand by Daniel Stern 

Handstand is a life-sized, bronze male figure raised on a nine foot pole and turned upside down in a handstand position.  This playful sculpture suggests what might happen when an ordinary businessman allows himself to express instantaneous joy through the flight of movement.

 
EnSconce'd by John O'Brien 

In EnSconce’d, the artist created five outlined forms that refer to some of Pasadena’s famous architecture.  The forms sit atop two triangular prisms that act as a compass, pointing to JPL and Mt. Wilson Observatory.

 
Planting a Garden by Margaret Lazzari and Lauren Evans 

Margaret Lazzari and Lauren Evans have created a virtual garden with their site specific installation of five distinct panels with hand painted and illuminated floral images of different sizes and shapes.  The panels are staggered in a zigzag configuration to maximize viewing angles and resemble a folding screen.  The flowers are intended to be a metaphor for Pasadena’s diversity, each type of flower symbolizing a different cultural or ethnic group with the community.

 
City Speaks by NewTown Pasadena 

NewTown Pasadena Foundation brings together the talents of three Pasadena poets, a sculptor and a sound designer to create a contemplative, sonic outdoor living room.  The project pairs a sculptural seating component intended to recall the Arts and Crafts decorative style with an audio component that plays recorded, original poetry.  The public is invited to sit on the furniture and listen to recorded personal reflections on Pasadena. 
    360 by Don Kingfisher Campbell 
   Canto by Matthew Shenoda 
   Everything by Kathabela Wilson 

 
Topiaries by Christie Beniston 

The Topiaries sculpture refers to man’s creativity and positive intervention in nature which has resulted in, at times, whimsical and refreshing combinations of shapes and forms. The colorful topiaries and their placement in an urban setting symbolize the human drive to influence nature in all types of environments.

 
Phantasmagoria of Joy by Brian Carlson 

This playful sculpture depicts a figure in motion. According to the artist, it is a “static kinetic stop motion back flip with a ¾ twist.” The word phantasmagoria refers to an optical illusion produced by a magic lantern in which illusions are created when figures appear to increase or diminish in size, pass into each other, or dissolve.