Latest Newport Beach city sculptures to be unveiled Sept. 12

Installation is complete for some of the 10 new sculptures that will be part of the second phase of the Newport Beach Civic Center Sculpture Garden, according to a city news release.

“Re-cycled” and “Demoiselle,” along with other new pieces, will be formally unveiled at a grand opening celebration scheduled for 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 12 in the Civic Center Park, according to a news release.

“Some of the artists will be on hand to talk about their artwork, and visitors will be able to take a walking tour of the sculptures led by members of the Newport Beach Art Foundation,” the release said. “Special art activities, held in two locations of the Park, will introduce children to three-dimensional design inspired by the new sculptures. A short program will be held in the Community Room beginning at 3 p.m., with live music and refreshments following.”

The 10 sculptures will remain in place until summer 2017, and they will overlap 10 sculptures installed last summer that will be removed in another year.

• The new sculptures include “La Cage aux Folles” by Warren Techentin, an architect who “took inspiration from cages, follies and the nomadic Mongolian yurt to create his adventurous and interactive ‘La Cage aux Folles,’” the release said. “The work explores the craft of pipe bending, computational procedures, and fields of linear strands in which each element becomes a participant with numerous roles to play. La Cage has also been treated with a TNEMEC architectural coating to reduce the effects of rusting. The dramatic sculpture has been sited along the entry drive to the Civic Center parking area as its color and linear aspects compliment the City Hall architecture nearby.”

• “Re-cycled” is by artists Jarod Charzewski and Sean Mueller, the release said, and “is designed to evoke a viewer’s inherent connection to preservation by exploring objects and their ability to be tethered to emotional attachments and the resulting inability to throw things away. The sculpture is primarily composed of repurposed bike chain rings and is a little over four feet in diameter. The work is centered where the pathways converge at the primary entrance to the dog park in the upper park.”

• “Prime Commonality” is by Luke Crawley and Quincy Owens and “represents the ancestral commonality between humans and chimpanzees, which is undeniable, with dramatic evidence exhibited in chromosomal similarities,” the release said. “Each pillar is seven feet high and is styled to represent human and chimpanzee chromosomal banding using panels of aluminum and translucent acrylic. The artwork also has a light and sound component that will not be activated for this exhibition. The three pillars have been installed around the stairway entrance at the very top of the park on Avocado Avenue.”

• “Decline” by artist Oakland-based Grant Irish is a part of a larger series that was conceived when the artist was confronted with discarded fragments of machinery along Kauai’s North Shore, the release said.

• “Iron cogs that powered nations, transformed into benign treasures, their original intent lost to the rock, sun and sea,” Irish said in the release. “Touching the skeleton of a gear embedded in lava, I wondered what fossils of the hardware that process data in this Age will be left for someone in the future to discover.”

The piece is made of steel and is 15 feet long and will be situated at the top of the lower park’s entry stairs.

• “Sunflower” by artist Patricia Vader won’t be installed until January, the release said. It is “a wind-driven kinetic metal sculpture that supports eight windmills representing the petals and heart of the flowers,” the release said. “The windmills are custom-made bicycle wheels with powder-coated aluminum disks and they spin in different directions (clock- and counter-clockwise) at any given time.”

• “Three Saplings” by artist Diana Merkessinis is made from reclaimed steel and began as a gesture drawing, the release said, intended to “leave the viewer wanting more.” The pieces will be located along the sloped hillside adjacent to the parking area at the park entrance.

• “Double White” by Bertil Petersson weighs 400 pounds and is 6 feet tall and “is intended to be a minimal visual element in an otherwise busy visual environment,” the release said. “The artist chose steel as the primary material for this artwork because it is relatively mobile while easy to maintain. This work is sited in the upper park and can be viewed from the nearby outdoor seating area.”

• “Demoiselle” by artist LT Mustardseed should be weather tolerant and is “a metamorphose of the damselfly, a native species to California, created using recycled materials, in particular automotive parts,” the release said. “The mouth of the demoiselle fly is made from the grill of a 1940 Chevy truck. The head is made of a motorcycle fender. They are both painted with metallic auto body paint.”

• “Act/Equator Z360″ is by Carlsbad artist Kenneth Capps, who described this zinc-on-steel work as “a split atom that fell from the sky; incessantly in motion,” the release said.the piece will be located midway up the lower area of the park.

• “Pebble Series” by artist Edwin Hamilton is part of a series of work “that aspires to tap into a universal human psychic content evoked by ancient stonework in a contemporary sculpture,” the release said. It will rest near the center view area in the middle of the lower park.

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