d Agenda Item No. 4b Agenda Report ARTS, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT APPROVAL OF CLIFF GARTEN ARTWORK FOR THE BROADWAY PLAZA PROJECT

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1 d Agenda Item No. 4b Agenda Report DATE: APRIL 27, 2015 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: ARTS COMMISSION ARTS, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT APPROVAL OF CLIFF GARTEN ARTWORK FOR THE BROADWAY PLAZA PROJECT STATEMENT OF ISSUE: The Public Art Master Plan for the City of Walnut Creek states that for private development public art projects, the Arts Commission approves artists and art. The Arts Commission is asked to review and consider approval of the design concept by Cliff Garten for the Broadway Plaza project. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Staff recommends approval of design concept by Cliff Garten for the Broadway Plaza project. DISCUSSION: Cliff Garten s artwork will be installed on the building façade at the main entrance to Garage D, at South Broadway, as shown on the site plan (Document 1). At approximately 28 feet high by 80 feet wide, this large-scale area will be highly visible to vehicular and pedestrian traffic on this major thoroughfare. Artwork integrated with the architecture and defining the entrance in this location will have a significant impact on the character of the building. It is an opportunity for a landmark or gateway piece that has a strong, memorable presence. Through conversations with the Commissions and the Subcommittee, the development team became very interested in the possibility that artwork on the garage façade would incorporate light as a major component of the work, creating a distinct experience after dusk. About the work conceptual ideas and history: As presented to the Arts Commission in March, the inspiration for Garten s artwork stems from the Lily species that is native to Walnut Creek. The Volvon Indian tribe, originally native to the Walnut Creek area, were expert gatherers and cultivators of acorns, seeds and other local fauna. Two of the most important plants in their culture were the Soap Plant, Latin name Chlorogalum pomeridianum (the thinner, more delicate flower), and the Cluster-lily also known as the Indian Potato, Latin name Brodiaea coronaria (the broader, six-petal flower). Imagery of both flowers used by Garten in the artwork motif for Broadway Plaza were integral to the diet and lifestyle of the community that originally inhabited the area.

2 Arts Commission Agenda Report Approval of Cliff Garten Artwork for the Broadway Plaza Project April 27, 2015 Page 2 About the medium: The relief-like façade will be constructed using cascade coil aluminum mesh, laser cut aluminum, and color-changing LED lighting. The finishes on the surface of the laser cut line work will differ across the two types of flowers. The idea is to have the lines contrast with different amounts of reflected or refracted light during both the day and at night. The budget for this artwork is $325,000 and in addition, Macerich is providing the panel mounting system to realize this project. The Commission expressed support for this concept when reviewing the preliminary ideas in March. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: There is no financial impact related to this action. DOCUMENTS ATTACHED: 1. Site Map 2. Site Plan 2. Cliff Garten Design Concept COMMISSION ACTION NEEDED: Move to approve design concept by Cliff Garten for the Broadway Plaza project. ALTERNATIVE ACTION: The Commission could ask the artist to explore alternative designs for Broadway Plaza project. PREPARED BY: Carrie Lederer, , lederer@walnut-creek.org Erik Mortensen, , emortensen@bedfordgallery.org

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7 ATTACHMENT 3 + cliff garten studio cg@cliffgartenstudio.com 1315 preston way venice, ca t cliffgartenstudio.com Liliales Broadway Plaza Walnut Creek, California, 2016 Liliales by Cliff Garten Studio is an artwork that is inspired by the early history and culture of Walnut Creek and the surrounding East Bay Hills at the base of Mount Diablo. The translation of this early history to the contemporary entry of the Broadway Plaza is a way that the art bridges the past and the present. The original inhabitants of the area were the Volvons, one of the seven tribes constituting the Bay Miwok. The Volvons survived primarily on foraging for acorns as well as using their expert botanical knowledge to cultivate a variety of plants for both nutrition and utility. Two of the most important plants in the Volvon culture were the Soap Plant, Latin name Chlorogalum pomeridianum, and the Cluster-lily also known as the Indian Potato, Latin name Brodiaea coronaria. Both of these plants had a variety of uses and significance for the native tribes. Most notably, Volvons pulverized the soap root and mixed it into water creating foam, adding the suds in a stream to incapacitate fish that they then gathered from the surface of the water. Sometimes the natives dried the fibrous roots of the plant to create natural brushes and combs. Brodiaea is also known as the Indian Potato, and was used by a variety of Native American tribes in California. These tribes would dig up the bulbs during the first part of May, cooking the corms in an earth oven as an excellent source of protein. Both the Soap Plant and Brodiaea were essential to the native way of life. The artwork is derived from images of each of these flowers. The flowers have been abstracted into their essential silhouettes, generating elements used to create an elegant, layered floral motif along a series of steel panels protruding from the facade of the parking garage on the East side of Broadway Plaza. Each panel measures roughly 12 wide by 28 tall. They are covered with an aluminum architectural coil mesh and are separated by 6 wide concrete panels mounted to the frame of the parking garage just a foot behind the metal panels. The panels together form a field of flowers that creates a pattern across the elevation of the parking garage. Flowers are arranged in layers, creating a unique viewing experience from every angle. Materiality plays an important role in the way the artwork will appear to change in differing lighting conditions, both from sunlight and the color-changing LED lights used to illuminate the sculpture at night. An architectural coil aluminum mesh, much like chainmail, forms the substrate to which the line work of the flowers is attached. The aluminum mesh is a material that allows transparency, lightness, durability, and receives light in a very subtle and elegant way. Applied to the surface of the mesh are layers of the two types of flower blossoms, both Brodiaea and Soap plant, which are laser cut out of 1/16th inch thick aluminum sheet. The Soap plant is the finer background line work and the Brodiaea is the larger line work on top. Although the aluminum of the floral pattern is the same silver anodized aluminum as the architectural coil, it takes light differently as a coil mesh, than it does as a flat panel and yields two different colors in sunlight or in LED light. The Brodiaea line work continues on the concrete between between the art panels, while the Soap Plant is contained only to the panels themselves. Because the concrete panels are behind the coil mesh panels the effect is an exaggeration of depth of the layers of the façade, as the pattern of the Brodiaea on the top surface drops behind the pattern of the soap plant. At night, a series of color-changing LED lights at both the top and bottom of each of the panels runs through a dazzling light show that alternates color between the background of the parking structure and foreground of the art panels. The LED lights will be programmed by the artist for a full color light show, which can be changed, for seasonal or other effects. The foreground panels with the floral patterns are illuminated one color and the concrete panels are a complimentary color. The effect of the lights on the differing materiality of the line work and the separation between the panels will create a varied and beautiful field of pattern and color, making Liliales a stunning entry and drive-by for Broadway Plaza and a subliminal reminder of the indigenous history of Walnut Creek.

Luminous Bodies and the Corridor of Light for Lynn Street Rosslyn

Luminous Bodies and the Corridor of Light for Lynn Street Rosslyn Artist & landscape architect Cliff Garten, Venice, CA selected Harbor View, Long Beach, CA Avenue of Light, Fort Worth, TX The project