Public Hearing on Light-Pole Sculptures on San Pablo Avenue

A public hearing will be held at City Hall Thursday night on what would be El Cerrito's most prominent installation of public art – abstract copper sculptures suspended on a dozen streetlight poles along San Pablo Avenue.

The fate of the long-planned $100,000 project, now being presented by the artists in a revised form after their first proposal was rejected, is being decided by the El Cerrito Arts and Culture Commission, which may take a vote on the plan following the 7:30 p.m. public hearing.

"Our idea is to create playful and eye-catching sculptures that both pedestrians and drivers alike can enjoy," the two artists, Saori Ide and Jonathan Russell, say in their formal proposal being presented Thursday night.

"These wind sculptures will provide the city of El Cerrito with a cohesive and vibrant artwork that will create a pedestrian friendly environment and visually tie together the long stretch of San Pablo Avenue, from the North end to the South," the proposal says.

A copy of the 27-page proposal, including the artists' illustrations of what the sculptures would look like and maps of their locations, is attached to this article, along with the meeting agenda.

Ide and Russell, a wife-husband team from Berkeley, were awarded a $100,000 commission in an open competition sponsored by the city to design and install the public art component of the multi-year San Pablo Avenue Streetscape Project. The $6.6-million streetscape project is essentially complete except for the art, which has been delayed by disagreement over what direction it would take.

The funding results from 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. It is Chapter 13.50 in the city's Municipal Code.

The artists' first proposal – colorful icons of people and objects on 50 streetlight poles along San Pablo – was rejected earlier this year by the commission, which said it wanted to see designs that are abstract and copper.

The artists' second proposal (which is attached to this article) is being presented formally Thursday night following a series of arts commission meetings where the artists and commissioners shared ideas and feedback on the design, number of sculptures and location. 

The abstract copper forms would be mounted on streetlight poles 20 feet above the sidewalk and move with the wind. They would be placed inside C-shaped stainless-steel frames that would be 4-1/2 feet in diameter. The steel frames are designed to echo the relatively new bike racks that were installed as part of the San Pablo Avenue Streetscape Project.

For more background on the San Pablo Avenue public art project, you can see our past stories by clicking "San Pablo Avenue Streetlight Pole Sculptures" next to Related Topics below this article. For alerts on future stories on the topic, click the "Keep me posted!" button below the article.