fremont park art

The vessels are installed.

2011-04-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

My amazingly clever, hard working, and very strong crew installed both sculptures yesterday, giving up family time on a Sunday.

Lifting the sculptures off the truck, across the lawn and onto the steel rod imbedded into the concrete foundation.

Now, bathed in sunshine and blue skies, they rest.

Two Friends of Fremont Park, Judy and Gerald, demonstrate the scale of the pieces.

Many thanks to Martine, Daniel, Abaldo and Prudencia Farias and crew of Farias Trucking.

The installation is in progress

2011-04-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Andy & Brian Wilson (father and son) and crew from Grand Sierra Concrete for an outstanding and timely job on the pad and foundations. Also terrific thanks to CADA and Marc de la Vergne for funding the pad. And a new thanks to the sandblasting crew.

Progress on pad installation.

2011-04-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

CADA and the City have completed all steps in contracting for the pad installation. I am so thrilled. Hopefully, all will proceed as planned, for installation of the sculptures before the end of this month. Tick tock.

Inside Publications, January 2011

2011-02-20T19:31:00.000-08:00

Deb Belt wrote a wonderful article on my project. My deepest appreciation. As of now, we're still waiting for the City to pour the pad. And waiting...

Pad design

2010-08-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

The central design is referencing the quadrafoil in the center of the park, around the fountain. At this point, I've been waiting for the City to proceed with their red tape. The sculptures are sitting in the middle of my studio, ready for installation at any time.

The vessels are finished.

2010-07-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, we had an informal "unveiling" of the sculptures. The Friends of Fremont Park, CADA, architect Peter Simon, City landscape architect, Roy Tatem, Suzy Vose & Lorrie Kempf from SMAC, Commissioner Naify and art docents came to the studio. It was really terrific to watch people respond, as they circled the vessels, discovering all the various elements. Everyone has their favorites. Elaine Corn moderated for questions. Too fun.

New detail of the recycled 100 year oldd pottery shards from the archeology dig at 9th & J.

Next I have to design the surface detail of the new pad which will be poured for placement in the Park.

Fresh water clams, pottery and silos.

2010-06-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

There's a particular spot near William Pond, on the American River, where tiny islands break up the flow. There, hundreds of fresh water clam shells lie in the sand. I've collected these over the years, and then went back to collect more. Just a couple of days later, with summer and the melting snow, the river rose and the beach is covered.

Sun falls on the silos through my skylights.

Several years ago, the City dug up the street at 9th & J. All the material was
collected by archeologists, catalogued and I got some of the rejects.
I've been saving about four boxes ever since, and now I'm breaking up
the shards into small pieces and adding them to the vessels. Not all the
pieces have what's called crazing, but the texture is wonderful. All that
history and old, dried, 100 year old mudd. Romantic.

Making the second top

2010-05-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make the Valley silos for a very long time. Their presence is such an iconic image for anyone who has grown up in the Central Valley of California. In the summer, with the heat of day, the soil gives off the sweet smell of growth. Abundance. Fertility. But for that we need water.

Years ago, before I moved back to Sacramento, my mom said the salmon were so thick in the fall that it looked like you could walk across their backs to get to the other side of the river. I wish I could have seen that. This last fall I don't remember seeing even one.

Progress on the vessels

2010-03-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

I've been making elements to add to the surface of the vessels. This repetitive activity is ingrained in me and offers such satisfaction. It's in all my work over the past six years, and longer.

Each element is a tiny painting, stained with pigment floating into water.

Camellias are the official flower, profuse in my garden and all over Sacramento. The ground turns red and pink with fallen petals.

In the compass rose area next to the coyote, I've made a clay gear, direct from an actual railroad gear, a tribute to the railroad in Sacramento Valley history. Also, Fremont owned a railroad later in his life.

2010-02-24T15:55:00.000-08:00

Adding color and detail to the Great Blue Heron area.

Just working away

2010-02-19T11:16:00.000-08:00

I've been spending idyllic days in the studio creating and adding elements to the surface of the vessels. The resources and characteristics of the region that Fremont opened from east to west flow from his times to ours, from nature to man made, from how the land is used to how it is abused. Water is still the essential element, as scarce and as valuable as it ever was.

Leaping salmon in process, first layer pushed into lath reinforcement.

Casting the agriculture of the region.

Making clay elements from the plaster casts.

Day three

2010-02-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

Day 2 on Vessel 1, a 2nd layer of special cement, to build up for 3rd detail layer later.

Making lots of small elements from plaster molds.

Drawing Coyote on Vessel 2, a tribute to Native Americans. Coyote, the Trickster, working overtime in the world lately. And as I live near the American River and spend a lot of time there, I've often seen coyotes.

Roughing out with special cement while listening to the news. This is fun; the news is not.

Coyote with textural details, including large, fluffy tail.

Productive week

2010-01-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

This has been such a productive week. I absolutely love building these vessels. First, we attached expanded metal lath to the rebar. Because these are such tall vessels with a narrow opening, we had to add lath in a spiral, packing specially formulated cement to the inside, around and around until we got to the top. Then we pack cement from the outside, smoothing and refining the shape. It's not unlike throwing on a wheel, except we rotate instead of the wheel.

After working the surface and letting the structure cure, we added a skin of a specially formatted cement to enable a thick, strong buildup of product. I even called the inventor who created the formulation.

The surface is really beautiful. And I'm left with an amazing surface to build upon and then add and carve away as needed, adding depth, texture and pattern.

Late in the afternoon, I drew the shape of the Great Blue Heron and began to add the cement. It's very similar to working in clay but with a looser, more fluid quality, easier to push around and manipulate. And of course, once cured, very hard.

Really back on track

2010-01-12T13:56:00.000-08:00

After a series of delays, I'm seriously, really, and I mean it this time, really back on track. The rebar structures are sitting in my studio as we speak, expertly welded by artist Bill Kuyper who also did the sculpture for various Scott's locations. I'm bidding the art pedestal and exploring various design options for the surface. I've been to the concrete store, a place I'd choose any day over normal girlie shopping. And I'm finishing research on Fremont's three main trips. But more about that later.

Back on track

2009-09-01T18:18:00.001-07:00

I've had a crazy and very productive summer. Because of the delays last Spring, I had to back-burner this project. Now that all the others are completed, I'm really looking forward to starting on these sculptures. I'm starting with molds of little cars. I also have stashes of pottery from the turn of the last century, recovered from the earth in downtown on some street excavation project.

Back on track

2009-05-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

After an unavoidable delay, I'm back on track on this project. I'm looking forward to reading John & Jessie Fremont's "Memoirs." I walk half marathons, and I can't imagine walking back and forth between Sac and St. Louis, especially as many times as he did.

New location for vessels

2009-03-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

The Friends of Fremont, Don, the architect and I met at the Park to consider options that might better meet the needs of the space, now that more neighbors are getting involved. They expressed the desire to have a small, raised platform for performances or events. Don had suggested the planter area on the East and this turned out to be an excellent choice. Ideally, funds can be found to create the platform by time the time I'm ready to install.

The platform will hopefully have a compass rose design in colored cement, though the vessels might be installed at ground level, surrounded by new planting.

Late afternoon in the Park

2009-02-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

Two members of Friends of Fremont Park Association joined Don, the architect, and I for a late afternoon meeting. We're rethinking placement of the sculptures to respond to the nature of the Park as it is now, not a year and one-half ago. I'm really happy about this. I think the Park deserves to be used by, how shall I say this... upstanding citizens. They have been reclaiming the territory, both during the day and at night. We all hope that enough money can be found to add a substantial amount of lighting so that the space can be used on lovely, warm, Sacramento summer evenings.

5:15pm

Notes on Fremont's Autobiography_1

2009-02-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

Remarkably, I was able to purchase an exact reproduction of Fremont's autobiography, Memoirs of My Life By John Charles Fremont: Including In The Narrative Five Journeys Of Western Expansion During The Years 1842-1854 V1. The title page inside explains further: "A retrospect of fifty years, covering the most eventful periods of modern American History." The original manuscript was written in 1886, and this exact copy is published by Kessinger Publishing's Rare Reprints , which has an amazing array of impressive & enticing options.
My goal here is not to provide a Cliff's Notes on Fremont and his contributions to California history, but as a lay historian and artist, to selectively pluck those events or issues that Fremont relates in his own words as they resonate with me, and how those words influence this sculpture. Perhaps you will be inspired to study Fremont more deeply than I, and have opinions that differ. If so, I encourage you to make comments.

At this point, in the beginning of my journey with Fremont, my intention is to both learn about the man and his influences, not only in his own time, but in ours. What did he do then that has informed and defined what we, who now live in this Valley, experience today?

In Fremont's introduction, "The Scope of the Work," he gives three reasons for writing the book:
1 " the geographical explorations, made in the interest of Western expansion,"
2 " the presidential campaign of 1856, made in the interest of and undivided country," and
3 "the civil war, made in the same interest,"
with an emphasis on his role in acquiring California for the United States. For the sculpture, I'm most interested in the first reason.
Further, he says that "the region between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean presents a different face from that to which these accounts relate." I've driven this land and I've flown over it on a clear day. I'm not sure it's changed much at all since his traverses, except for the status of Native Americans, of course.

to be continued...

Update

2009-02-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

The engineering plans were submitted and approved by the City Building Dept. on Jan. 29th.

Several days later, CADA , a major player in Sacramento, held a community meeting with many agenda items, including Fremont Park. Let me repeat (see below) that this blog is an excellent forum to voice your comments.

The concept of the sculpture as vessel.

I've chosen the vessel shape for a couple of reasons. First, a more voluminous, less static shape offers more surface area, and second, the vessel is a metaphor for Sacramento as a container of the great diversity of peoples and cultures contained within.

John Fremont: Visionary Pathfinder

2009-02-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

John C. Fremont was to California and Western expansion what Lewis and Clark were to Oregon. With his guide and trusted friend, Kit Carson, he led multiple expeditions for Congress, created routes for emigration that was soon to follow. Between 1842 and 1846, he lead four expeditions back and forth between St. Louis and what would later be known as California. I ordered a reprint of his memoirs.

Because I'm a very curious person, and tend to become obsessed with my subjects, I'll be doing some extra research about this very remarkable man. I'm most interested in his first four expeditions and his impact on this region.

Update January 14th

2009-02-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

With a site visit in December, the landscape architect and facilities manager raised concerns about the placement of the vessels. Large vehicles use this corner as the main entrance. So we moved the vessels more to the side, which requires pouring an additional mowing pad.

Last evening, Shelly Willlis from Art in Public Places, Don Tarnasky, Project Architect and I met with the Friends of Fremont Park, the neighborhood association. They had concerns about the project as they had just recently heard about it. They seemed happy to learn more and I'm hoping that each of them follows the process on this site. I delighted that there are engaged neighbors who care about the Park.

In the beginning of the design process, had the budget allowed, I would have planned for vessel gateways at all four entrances. Lighting at night would be ideal. Given the location and relevance of this critical urban square to the center city, perhaps some solution can be found.

Original proposal to SMAC_Nov. 2007

2009-02-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

This park site is a frequent driving route for me. One of my murals is across the street. The park has never attracted my attention. I never noticed it was named in honor of John Fremont whose role in California history is profound and I’ve never once stopped to explore the interior. This is a shame, as it’s a very sweet neighborhood retreat.

While the term “a sense of place” is lately and often used, with a degree in history, this concept has driven my work since I began creating murals in 1977. A sense of organic identity has always inspired me. As a fourth generation Northern Californian, I am passionate about this Valley, it’s natural resources and the relationship of people to this land, this earth. It’s a uniquely abundant piece of the world. These vessels will contain the concept of exploration and discovery, beginning with the mapping created by Fremont, known as “the Pathfinder.” Map symbols such as the compass rose which in turn relate to the quadrafoil in the center of the park, will unify the elements, and symbolize the concept of confluence that Sacramento exemplifies.

My concept is to create sculpture that functions as gateways at each of the four entrances to the park, to entice people to visit. The greatest visual opportunity is experienced by drivers (around 22,000 daily) with an impressive traffic count as a major north-south artery through downtown. The park has high usage. There is a Farmer’s Market every Tuesday, “ Chalk-it-up” annually and daily visitation by neighboring people and families. I will be creating a visual and sensory, cultural and natural history of the area, using representation and abstract symbols. The surface will be a colorful and textural visual feast, but also touchable, and accessible to those without sight.

Physical integration into site, as budgets permit:

Phase 1: Because of the one-way streets, all traffic faces the corners, an invitation to enter.

Phase 2: Fountain area - vessels placed on quadrafoil at center, a further enticement.

First site visit_Oct.2007

2009-01-31T21:01:00.001-08:00

This is the first time I've actually stopped at this Park, out of the thousands of times I've driven past, all my life. I've never once felt compelled to find out what was there, Now there are walkways from each of the four corners which are inviting, but not inviting enough.

The City is installing a fountain in the center of a large quadrafoil. This will be quite lovely when finished.

The center looks like it's a long way from the corner. There are traces of an annual event called "Chalk-it-up," where artists create paintings on the sidewalks. On Tuesdays there's a wonderful farmers market. There's also a fenced in area for children with climbing structures. It's an urban square more than worthy of an upgrade.