San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Scripps Park to get art installation
A group of artists commissioned by the city of San Diego will display an installation in Scripps Park in La Jolla for two weeks in June.
The exhibit, called “Reflexion” and planned for next to the La Jolla Cove Bridge Club overlooking Point La Jolla, will consist of three mirrored columns with rotatable segments. Each of the triangular segments will contain a flat, convex and concave mirror.
“Reflexion” is part of a larger series of temporary art projects launching around the city in May, according to Lara Bullock, civic art project manager for the city’s Commission for Arts and Culture.
Bullock described the project to the La Jolla Parks & Beaches board at its virtual meeting March 28.
The series, called “Park Social,” is “the city’s first temporary public art commissioning initiative focused on city parks,” said Chuck Miller, senior public art manager for the commission.
Under the initiative, 18 artists and artist teams — two for each of the city’s nine council districts — were commissioned “to produce innovative, socially engaging temporary public artworks within the city’s park system,” Miller said.
A San Diego-based collective of artists called Art Builds, which Bullock said creates large-format temporary installations that “make people stop, smile and engage,” developed “Reflexion.”
The “Park Social” organizers “called on us to change the ways that people experience parks,” said Gordon Hoople of Art Builds.
With “Reflexion’s” mirrored columns, “you can dynamically change your view based on how you’re rotating these segments,” Hoople said. “You can line them all up and get a perfectly flat reflection or do something very, very different.”
“We’re particularly excited about the ways these reflections will change how people both see themselves and their surroundings in this beautiful park,” he said.
The mirrors are made from acrylic plastic and are shatterproof to prevent becoming a hazard, Hoople said. They also have robust frames to guard against tipping.
The installation may move to La Jolla Shores for two more weeks after Scripps Park.
The city already has approved the project, which went before LJP&B as an information item. The presenters asked board members for feedback.
Many board members expressed support for the project, though some said the installation might do better toward the front lawn of the park, where it would be visible from the street.
“If it were placed closer up to Coast Boulevard ... across from the new restroom, (it) might get more traffic and more attention and then kind of relieves that corner (next to the Bridge Club) from all the congestion that it already has,” trustee Ken Hunrichs said.
Diane Hoffoss, an artist with Art Builds, said the location was chosen because “we love the idea of being able to have reflections of the ocean.”
Also, the group is working on a way to illuminate the installation at night, and Hoffoss said the Bridge Club is the only place that would provide access to a power source.
Board member Sally Miller opposed the project, saying the installation resembles vendor displays often disparaged by residents.
Trustee John Shannon agreed, saying that although he is “not against art, I am against congestion . ... It seems we already have so much going with the vending.”
LJP&B Vice President Brenda Fake said: “I can understand why you might look at this as a possible vending thing, but I think the intent here is completely different. It’s about an interactive opportunity within the park.”