Client: Port Of Los Angeles

Overview

“Community Canyon” celebrates the diverse community of Wilmington, adjacent to the Port of Los Angeles, CA. The stone form is inspired by the fossilised rocks one might discover in the surrounding beaches and the magic of scaling up such a “discovery experience” to human scale. The revealed “fossil” is a cluster of 3d portraits of community members, chosen at random from a pool of over 200 participants.
Conceptually the sculpture is about people recognizing themselves, or people they know and the embedded community stewardship that can grow from that. We worked with the Port Of Los Angeles, Los Angeles DCA and the project team to integrate opportunities for 3d portraiture at various community events over a 2 year period of outreach.
Material for the project was Carnelian Granite, chosen for its unique ability to weather well in a marine environment. The stone slabs were cut as 2 parts from one larger slab, providing a visual correlation between the positive and negative sides of the sculpture. The offset between each piece provides a zoetrope effect as one moves around the sculpture, appearing as a large boulder from a distance and an intricate array of shapes up close.

Goals

1. Design a sculpture that celebrates the Wilmintington community.
2. Work with community members and the Port Of Los Angeles in the concept design phase of the project.
3. Integrate the sculpture into the Landscape and Park design by Sasaki. Consult with Sasaki on material and best location for the sculpture.
4. Design our outreach efforts to include a wide number of community members.
5. Produce an interactive and dynamic artwork that changes with view angle, season and weather.
6. Other goals were for the artwork to be dynamic, low maintenance and durable under the coastal conditions.

Process

This was a highly collaborative project that included Sasaki Landscape Architects, Nous Structural Engineers, Port Of Los Angeles (POLA) and various agencies within city government and the community.
Greenmeme Studio, worked with POLA and community members to set up 3D scanning workshops and capture local residence faces. Over 200 people contributed to the piece.
The partnership with our fabricator, Cold Spring Granite, required complete project understanding from design through installation. With a vast inventory of quarries across the United States, their experience is critical to helping us achieve a successful result.
Equally essential to the success of this project was our installer Fernando Lau and his incredibly talented team at Vision Scenery. Their ability to provide out of the box solutions to the installation of our artworks is unparalleled.