Public Hearing on Art Icons for Streetlight Poles

A public hearing on proposed large icons for San Pablo Avenue streetlight poles — which would be the biggest public art project in El Cerrito history — will be held during a special meeting of the Arts and Culture Commission Thursday, 7 p.m., in the City Council chambers.

The proposed designs for the colorful icons — simple images of people and objects placed on 50 streetlight poles along the length of San Pablo — were rejected by the city's Arts and Culture Commission in April. But city officials later that the commission's action was not properly done and that acceptance or rejection of the designs could come only after a formal presentation of the artists' full design proposal, accompanied by a public hearing.

"Please plan to attend and/or write and let the ACC (Arts and Culture Commission) know your thoughts," said commission chair Joyce Hawley in an email addressed to "Friends and Neighbors" that was received by Patch. "We need your input."

Hawley asked that her email, sent yesterday, July 11, be shared with "anyone you think might be interested."

City staff, in a report for Thursday night's meeting, says the proposal meets the guidelines for the project established by the City Council and recommends commission approval. However, the report notes that the commission earlier rejected the proposed designs, and so the report also recommends that if the commission continues to be opposed to the current proposal, it should express its disapproval in another motion after the hearing and state the reasons for doing so.

One change in the artists' plan since it was originally proposed is addition of title cards to the lightpoles with the title of the icon and the artists' names. The icons themselves, on flat steel plates, would be located 20 feet above ground. The shapes would vary but each would fit in the dimensions of 40-inches by 60-inches.

The commission voted 5-0 on April 20 to ask the two Berkeley artists commissioned to do the $100,000 project, Jonathan Russell and Saori Ide, to come back with different designs. Their proposed designs had been criticized as resembling "clip art" and not representative of El Cerrito. The commission asked them to return with abstract designs without color or in copper.

Russell subsequently told Patch that he and Ide are "more than willing to go in a new direction" and have "a very exciting idea of copper forms." 

But first, Russell said, the artists's contract with the city requires a formal, detailed presentation of their original plan. Some commissioners questioned the detailed plan presentation and hearing as a waste of time and money, but Assistant City Manager Karen Pinkos told the commission that attorneys for the city and for the artists agreed that the contract requires such a step before the commission can properly accept or reject the proposed design.

Russell told Patch, "We are compelled, in order to fulfill our contract, to present our current proposal to the AC (Arts and Culture Commission) for their official thumbs down. At that time we are looking forward to scheduling a meeting where we can present the AC with a new project that is more in keeping with the parameters that they have recently proposed. We have what we think is a very exciting idea of copper forms on the street light poles in place of the painted icons that we previously proposed."

The detailed proposal for the designs that were rejected in April — including a budget breakdown, manufacturing specifications and detailed map of the placement of the icons — is included in the packet for the Thursday night meeting. The proposal also shows all the icons with their titles.

In their project description submitted for the meeting, the artists say, "These colorful icons bring together the variety of life styles and community interests that make up the city of El Cerrito. Not only will these images mark location but they will also convey to passersby the character and history of the city. These panels will be eye catching visual elements on San Pablo Avenue and will elicit a fun and exciting interaction. People can enjoy finding all 50 images, figuring out what the images mean and how they relate to the city."

Anyone wishing to provide comments to the commission on the art project can speak at the hearing or submit them in writing before the hearing to
El Cerrito City Hall
Attn: Suzanne Iarla, Arts and Culture Commission Staff Liaison
10890 San Pablo Ave.
El Cerrito, CA 94530

Russell and Ide were chosen by a city-appointed selection committee from among 17 public art proposals in February last year. The proposals were submitted in response to the city’s Request for Proposals to artists calling in part for "site-specific, durable, artworks that serve to provide continuity and color along the Project."

The Request for Proposals also said, "The City will ask the selected artist to respond to the cultural diversity of the El Cerrito community and develop artworks that identifies San Pablo Avenue as unique, walkable, and reflective of the surrounding neighborhoods."

The solicitation for public art on San Pablo Avenue was a result of the city's multi-year San Pablo Avenue Streetscape Project, in accordance with the city's Art in Public Places Ordinance, adopted by the City Council in 2005, requiring that new projects costing $250,000 or more devote at least one percent of the development costs to public art.