New sculptures for the Sebastopol Sculpture Garden
Some real beauties this time around
On Saturday, August 17, the city of Sebastopol hosted a well-attended opening reception for six new additions to the Sebastopol Sculpture Garden, welcoming works by Diego Harris, Mirka Knaster, Peter Crompton and Robyn Spencer Crompton, and Robert Michael Smith.
The Sebastopol Sculpture Garden was the brainchild of former Public Arts Committee Chair Marghe Mills-Thysen, who retired from the committee after twelve and a half years in July. From the gleam in her eye to the opening of the sculpture garden in 2022 took seven years.
Mills-Thysen took pains to explain that the money for the sculpture garden (and indeed all public art in the city) doesn’t come out of the city’s overburdened general fund.
“The Public Arts Committee was started in 2012, and it was set up with an ordinance that put a 1% public art fee on commercial construction in the city,” she said.
Mills-Thysen said that developers have a choice to either take 1% of the cost of construction and create a piece of publicly accessible art on their property or they can put that 1% into the Public Art Fund.
“I’m just delighted,” Mills-Thysen said of the six new additions to the sculpture garden.
“It’s wonderful that the city set up the art fund for public art,” she said. “And you know, even though the city has financial problems, we still have public art, and it’s wonderful.”
With the addition of six new sculptures, there are now twelve sculptures in the Sebastopol Sculpture Garden. The new sculptures will be on display for two years. They are also available for purchase, though buyers will have to wait until the two-year display period is over to pick their sculptures up.
Shell Obelisk and Cassandra
“Shell Obelisk” by Peter Crompton and Robyn Spencer Crompton is made of reinforced concrete, recycled steel, and mosaic. It is a three-dimensional version of the golden ratio. “We love the juxtaposition, the organic patterns on their shells and the mathematical beauty of the shape. Robyn added mosaic glass highlights,” the Cromptons wrote in their description of the piece they submitted to the public arts committee.
They also loaned the city another piece for the sculpture garden, “Cassandra,” which is made of fortified reinforced concrete with gold leaf and mosaic eyes and repurposed industrial materials.
In their artist’s statement on this piece, the Cromptons wrote, “When Cassandra refused Apollo’s attempted seduction, he placed a curse on her so that her predictions, although always accurate, would never be believed. The fissure between her eyes and her mouth reflects this dichotomy.”
Wheels of Peace
“Wheels of Peace” by Mirka Knaster is made of bicycle wheels, rebar, and ribbons with laminated ends bearing the word “Peace” in different languages. Each wheel has 18 ribbons. The central wheel has people’s individual wishes for peace. Knaster wrote in her artist statement, “Current political rhetoric, divisive mongering, and ‘other’ bashing have fostered a pervasive mood of negativity and fear. As a visual and kinesthetic installation, Wheels for Peace aims to counterbalance it by creating an atmosphere of peace, one in which people can feel at ease.”
New Beginnings by Diego Harris
Diego Harris’ piece, “New Beginnings,” is made of Corten steel or weathering steel, which, according to his artist statement, “is different from regular mild steel in that it has added alloys of copper and nickel that help it to last much longer while also developing a fine red/orange rust patina . . . I thought that a tree would be in keeping with the area’s orchard history, but it could also be seen as a very old grape vine in how the branches curve and spiral outward.”
Diploidal Pas de Deux and Paradise Bird Burlesque
Biomorphic sculptor Robert Michael Smith explained his work “Diploidal Pas de Deux” this way: “Within this black marble sculpture are dual exoskeletal forms mirrored and conjoined while seemingly splitting through a diploid cellular cloning process. Diploid is a term that refers to the presence of two complete sets of chromosomes in an organism's cells, with each parent contributing a chromosome to each pair. Humans are diploid. The title also refers to a ballet movement between partners as they mirror each other in a physically conjoined “pas de deux.” In ballet, a “pas de deux” (French, literally “step of two”) is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together.”
He also loaned the piece below, “Paradise Bird Burlesque,” to the sculpture garden.
The Sebastopol Sculpture Garden is located in Ives Park to the right of Sebastopol Center for the Arts.
Kudos to LHR and SebTimes for covering Sebastopol's new Community Sculpture Garden. The CSG has quickly developed into an artistic gem, a visitor destination, and a wonderful addition to Ives Park. Once the hoped-for, near-future completion of the Ives Park Master Plan is completed, including its naturalized creek, all visitors will have a beautiful amenity near our downtown!
Where is this garden located, please?