The Spheres at MacArthur Park - PUBLIC ART EVENT

PUBLIC ART EVENT

"The Spheres at MacArthur Park"
being unloaded and inflated

More than 3,000 giant brightly colored balls are being floated onto Downtown L.A.'s MacArthur Park lake, part of a playful and ambitious public art event that will last until late September.

The project was developed by Ed and Bernie Massey, co-founders of Portraits of Hope which produces art, education and creative therapy programs for children in schools and hospitals. Nearly 8,500 community volunteers have participated in the project, painting balls as large as 6 feet in diameter and donating resources (Daily Breeze, July 29, 2015).

"Lone Sailor" Gazes Across Long Beach Harbor

As you walk or ride along Long Beach's Bluff Park on Ocean Blvd. this summer, stop a moment at the U.S. Navy's Lone Sailor Memorial and take a closer look at its public art focal point:  the WWII Navy seaman, dufflebag at his side and peacoat collar turned up against the wind, gazing out across Long Beach harbor.

"The Lone Sailor" (1984) by Stanley Bleifeld

The bronze statue was cast in 1984 and installed in 2004, and is one of several throughout the United States by sculptor Stanley Bleifeld.  Bleifeld modeled the 7-foot 2-piece sculpture after Petty Officer 1st Class Dan Maloney, yet added the common name William Thompson to the sailor's dufflebag tag (Wikipedia).


More >> Public Art in Public Places 
More >> Google Maps 

Heritage of Orange County's Japanese Farmers

"We Too Were Once Strangers"
(2015) by Richard Turner 

Richard Turner's latest sculpture for the City of Santa Ana pays tribute to the area's early Japanese agricultural heritage. Dedicated on July 11, 2015, Turner's bronze, stone and concrete celery stalk sculpture and raised stone platform serve as a memorial to one of the most common crops cultivated in the vicinity by Japanese Issei farmers.

More >> "We Too Were Once Strangers"  
More>> Public Art "We Too Were Once Strangers"   

Flower Street Bike Trail entrance
Flower Street and Sunflower Avenue, Santa Ana

Bold New MLK Hospital, Bold New Public Art

"Pieces Together" by Lawrence Argent
MLK Hospital main entrance

Two recent sculptures at the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital pay tribute to themes of diversity and unity reflected by the surrounding Willowbrook neighbor-hood.  The hospital's public art centerpiece is Lawrence Argent's 20-foot high 110-ton granite puzzle piece at the main entrance, inspired by the idea that "each part of the whole is integral, as in a jigsaw puzzle."

"Pieces Together"   shows facial images from the Willowbrook community, with a swirling spiral on the reverse as "a single breath that unites all voices into one."  These themes emerged from Argent's community outreach that utilized three-dimensional data scans of his interview participants' lips.
 (
[more about Lawrence Argent's approach and vision]

"A Healing Home" by Dominique Moody

Outpatient Center Lobby

In contrast, Dominique Moody's sculptural
collage inside the new Outpatient Center is
more understated.  Yet the intimate charm
of each collage's framed "visual narrative"
of persons and places draws in viewers to
this showcase of tangible and compelling
community diversity.

For  "A Healing Home"  
Moody assembled nine separately titled
collages using reclaimed redwood, found

 Photo Image of 
Martin  Luther King, Jr. 

objects and materials, and archival
photographs printed on glass.
[more about Dominique Moody's approach and vision]

Other public art at and around MLK Hospital:

Martin Luther King, Jr. (photographic image)
10-foot by 6-foot transparent photographic glass panel
          Location: exterior entrance, Outpatient Center,
          1670 E. 120th Street, Willowbrook, Los Angeles

"Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dr. Charles R. Drew"

30-foot by 10-foot bas relief sculpture

          Public Art "Rev. King, Jr. and Dr. Drew"  
          southwest building façade, King Drew Magnet High School,
          1601 E. 120th Street, Willowbrook, Los Angeles

"Hide-n-Seek" by JoeSam

station art:  column-mounted painted metal cut-out figures
          Public Art "Hide-n-Seek"  
          mounted on freeway support pillars,
          11611 Willowbrook Ave., Los Angeles

"Pathways to Freedom" by Michael Massenburg and Rachel Strayhorn

station art:  5 concrete and ceramic tile benches
          Public Art "Pathways to Freedom"  

"Rev. King, Jr. and Dr. Drew"
King Drew Magnet
High School

          11611 Willowbrook Ave., Los Angeles

"Hide-n-Seek" by JoeSam

"Pathways to Freedom" by
Massenburg and Strayhorn

Special Olympics LA2015 - Murals Welcome Athletes

Los Angeles Welcomes the Special Olympics and pays tribute to its athletes and supporters with three recently completed public murals by renown local artists David Flores, Cryptik and Kent Twitchell.  

"World Stage Legacy" (2015) by David Flores

The Special Olympics World Games Los Angeles (LA2015) will be the largest sports and humanitarian event in the world this year, running from July 25 to Aug. 2, 2015. Flores' recently completed "World Stage Legacy" is at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where the opening ceremony will be held on July 25, 2015.  Cryptik's "The Greatest" and Kent Twitchell's "Monument to the Special Olympics" are near the L.A. Convention Center.

With President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as Honorary Chairs of the Games, accompanied by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Jerry Brown serving as Honorary Hosts, we hope these mural tributes speak LARGE our L.A. enthusiasm for the Special Olympics.

"The Greatest" (2015) by Cryptik

"Monument to the Special Olympics"
(2015) by Kent Twitchell

At the Coliseum:

“World Stage Legacy” by David Flores
80-foot long mural of Coliseum athletes and performers and Special Olympics figures
Coliseum building west exterior facing Bill Robertson Lane
[on Google Maps]

Near the Convention Center and Staples Center:

“The Greatest” by Cryptik
35-foot portrait of Muhammad Ali with 8 plaques bearing inspirational quotes from Special Olympics athletes and famous persons (Kofi Annan, Eric Chan, Laura Cook, Michelle Core, Nilasha Kurukulasuriya, Marco Martinez, Apolo Ohno, and Dustin Plunkett).
1248 S. Figueroa St., Historic Core, Downtown Los Angeles

"Monument to the Special Olympics" by Kent Twitchell
Double portrait of Special Olympics Ambassadors Rafer Johnson and Loretta Clairborne
1147 S. Hope Street, Historic Core, Downtown Los Angeles
[on Google Maps]

For the rest of L.A.'s public art...
>>> PUBLIC ART IN PUBLIC PLACES:  Public Art in Los Angeles, Southern California and Hawaii

Rosie's Dog Beach Gets Massengill's "Dogs at Play"

"Dogs at Play" (2015) by Karena Massengill

Dog owners have every reason to thank the City of Long Beach and its Arts Council for Long Beach this summer. Rosie's Dog Beach at Ocean Blvd. and Granada Ave. is now more fun than ever with brightly colored public art that serves as boundary markers replacing the regular marker cones. Karena Massengill's work is a set of 18 "Dogs at Play" sculptures, formally untitled, showing all kinds of dogs doing all kinds of fun things - jumping, chasing, skateboarding.  Painted in bright primary colors and standing at 3 to 5 feet, they vividly mark the beach park's inland northern boundary.

Rosie's Dog Beach is claimed as THE ONLY off-leash DOG BEACH PARK in L.A. County, with nearly 3 acres of waterfront surf and sand between Roycroft and Argonne Avenues. 

Google Maps LOCATION:  Public Art "Dogs at Play"

 Rosie's Dog Beach, 5000 Ocean Beach Blvd., entrance at Granada Ave. 

Open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Chris Burden's Irresistible "Urban Light" Gift to Los Angeles

Last summer we lauded the magic of L.A.'s most popular public artwork, an instant hit since 2008. With Chris Burden's early death, we honor the spirit and the genius of his engaging gift of "public art-space" to the world - the "Urban Light" creation of nostalgic form and mesmerizing context. Which is exactly what he intended:

"I've been driving by these buildings for 40 years, 

and it's always bugged me how this institution [LACMA] 

turned its back on the city." (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 30, 2008)

Burden hoped his assemblage sculpture of 202 vintage lampposts would serve both as landmark and an entryway to LACMA's expanding campus (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 30, 2008).  In fact, "Urban Light" has become the most popular public artwork in Southern California - our web data confirm that no other public art comes remotely close to attracting such widespread public interest, with hundreds of daily visitors enjoying its twilight-changing visual effects and contributing glowing online public reviews and images (Google Maps).

Undeniably, "Urban Light" is THE Wilshire Blvd. beacon - impossible for skaters or zombies to miss, and an irresistible enticement to its mesmerizing magic.


As "front man" for LACMA's still-obscured entrance...
    "Urban Light" steals the show. 


More >>  
More >>