By snoadmin
Two Cal State Long Beach students have recently been selected to create a sculpture for an open space in Long Beach’s East Village.
Hiep Nguyen and Julie Williams teamed up to design the art piece titled “X Marks the Spot,” which is literally a large, red “X” formed by two commercial shipping containers. Each metal container is approximately 40 feet long. Nguyen, a graduate student studying art education, describes the piece as big and bold with a certain “wow factor.”
“Hiep and I wanted to create a simple, powerful visual symbol for Long Beach,” said Williams, a graduate student studying sculpture. “We thought the ubiquitous shipping container was an interesting place to start, and then input from the Arts Council and the Redevelopment Agency led us to think about the location being a crossroads between the waterfront, downtown and the arts district.”
Because of the size, the two artists will have to work with local industrial fabricators and engineers on the project. The sculpture will be built at the northwest corner of Ocean Boulevard and Alamitos Avenue in a space measuring about 100 feet long and 25 feet wide.
The CSULB students, chosen by the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, submitted their proposal through professor Craig Stone’s Art in Public Places, Theory and Practice class. Five two-student teams submitted proposals through CSULB last semester, according to Stone. This is the first time artwork produced in his class will become commissioned public artwork, he said.
“It is very difficult for artists who do not have professional experience to be selected for one of these commissions,” said Stone. “Not only has the city supported the development of our students, it has also helped to increase the pool of artists who have professional experience in the field. The need for the infusion of young artists with new ideas and approaches to the field of public art cannot be overstated.”
The Arts Council held a national call-to-artists for citywide redevelopment areas on behalf of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, according to Leslie Markle, CSULB alumnus and director of public art and design at the council.
“I believe that the management staff at the agency agreed that this had the potential to be a very positive community partnership, which also had the added value of mentoring younger artists in the public art process,” Markle said.
According to Markle, only students who had taken Stone’s course during the spring 2008 semester were eligible to submit a proposal. After a review by the agency, the “public art staff convened an artist selection panel to review the submitted proposals according to best practices,”” he said.
The project is estimated to cost approximately $101,000 excluding installation costs. Design fees, project materials, travel, insurance, fabrication, documentation and other costs are covered by the budget. According to Nguyen, the technical aspect of the piece greatly affects the cost — the model will be heavy and must be placed on concrete for support, so the artists must enlist the help of engineers to build their project.
“It’s a collaborative process,” said Nguyen. “I look forward to learning from other people.”
Although Nguyen and Williams signed an artist agreement with the council on Sept. 16, work on the project cannot begin until the council and agency approve the final contract draft with Miyamoto International, Inc., Markle said. They expect the contract with Miyamoto International, which will be “acting as the principal on this for structural and civil engineering services,” to be executed by Oct. 1, according to Markle.
“We are optimistic that the project could be installed in a timeframe between six to nine months,” he said.
The open space the art piece will be built on is temporarily being used as a “rotating public art ‘gallery,'” said Markle. The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency purchased the area to build 400 residential units as the Shoreline Gateway Project, which is scheduled to begin construction in fall 2011, said Victoria Ballesteros, a communications officer for the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency.
“The arts foster civic engagement, stimulate economic activity and increase a community’s sense of pride, while playing an important role in sustaining thriving communities,” Ballesteros said.
Williams wants the sculpture to “help create a sense of place and foster community,” as well. When construction for the Shoreline Gateway Project begins, she hopes the city will exhibit the sculpture elsewhere, Williams said.
Stone also believes public artwork will help make Long Beach more distinguishable from other cities.
