Well, it’s interesting, but is it art?
The newest sculpture in the Sebastopol Sculpture Garden is a giant, metal, magenta monolith called “Wedge,” by Artist David McGraw, also known as Davingy. The piece was selected by the Public Arts Committee this spring and installed at the beginning of August. (See our 2025 article on Davingy’s work here.)
“It may not look like art, but it sure looks interesting,” said Lynn Deedler, the Design Review Board representative on the Public Arts Committee. “The purple color of it is just exceptionally deep and engrossing to look at. I voted for it. It was pretty, and it is pretty when you walk around it.”
He’s right. There’s something almost mystically attractive about the piece. À la the opening of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” you just want to reach out and touch it—ergo all the handprints on its glossy surface. Whether these interactions will result in a leap in human evolution is yet to be determined.
“The City of Sebastopol has long embraced public art as part of its civic identity,” Davingy said of the installation. “I’m honored to contribute “Wedge” to a sculpture garden that encourages people to encounter art as part of everyday life. My hope is that the piece creates moments of curiosity and discovery for everyone who visits.”
All of which answers the question posed by the title. Yes, of course, it’s art.
History Talk today on Cnopius Field, Sebastopol’s first airfield
Sunday, August 30, 2 pm to 4 pm, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. Main St., Sebastopol.
Did you know that in 1925 Sebastopol had its own nationally recognized airfield? Learn about this piece of unique history at a free talk at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts this afternoon at 2 pm. The airfield was the first in Sonoma County, long before the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport. It played a major role in the barnstorming era of the 1910s-1930s and was a lively hub for early aviation events, stunt flying and community gatherings.
Gary Greenough will share the colorful and fascinating history of when Sebastopol was a flying hub. This one-hour talk is a project from the Western Sonoma County Historical Society. It will be preceded by a short update by the society board about what is happening at the Historical Society, Luther Burbank Experiment Farm, and West County Museum. The event is free and open to the public.
Sebastopol celebrates Women’s Equality Day
You may have wondered about the flags lining Main Street on August 26 last week. I knew I recognized them—but at first, I couldn’t quite dredge up the memory. Ukraine? No, that’s not it. Aha! It was Women’s Equality Day! At noon at the crossroads of Highways 116 and 12, there was a what Sebastopol Times reader Rebecca Dwan called “a peaceful, yet determined” group, bringing attention to the return of the Equal Rights Amendment, which is back in the news again as activists and some lawmakers push for its adoption as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. That night, statewide and local representatives from the National Organization of Women appeared at Rialto Cinemas for a showing of a documentary about E. Jean Carroll and a panel discussion.
The flags, as usual, were set out along the street and then collected by Sebastopol’s Scouting Troop 27.
Update on the Occidental Road closure
After reading our piece about the increase in traffic in Sebastopol due to the temporary closure of Occidental Road, Sebastopol Times reader Jerry Newman wanted more details about the closure. Here are the answers from Vanessa Garrett, Deputy Director of Engineering and Maintenance for Sonoma County Public Infrastructure:
Q: Do you know if the whole road is being repaired at once or are they taking it in sections?
A: Occidental Road is being repaved from the Santa Rosa city limits to High School Rd. The repair has phases: first performing road base work on the road and then the second is an asphalt overlay. The overlay will take place in sections, with local traffic being allowed but not through traffic. The scheduled completion date for the overlay is 9/3.
Q: Do you have a timeline for the sections—also from where to where?
A: The first phase will wrap today, 8/27. The second phase (overlay) is planned to take place until 9/3. The sections day to day are difficult to gauge since it depends on how much progress can be made each day. After the overlay is complete, the contractor will need to complete paving of driveway aprons, place culvert delineators, re-stripe the road and clean up. We are currently planning to have all items of work completed by 9/14.
Q: A reader said a sign at Occidental Road now says the road will be under construction until Sept. 14th, not the 3rd. Is that correct?
A: The full road closure is expected to be complete on 9/3. The road will then be open, but still expect delays, since the contractor will still be performing work on the roadway until 9/14, with intermittent closures with the exception of local traffic.
1,338 players in youth soccer in Sebastopol
A few weeks ago, when the Sunday Roundup featured the opening day of recreational soccer leagues at Ragle Park, we wondered just how many kids are playing youth soccer in town? The Sebastopol Times got an answer this week from Wesco’s Kathryn Walkely: “We have 988 Rec players on 92 teams this year who all had opening day on August 15th.” In addition, there are 350 players on the Select (or travel) teams.
When you see the number of parents and grandparents there to cheer on the players, you’ll know why Ragle is packed and the parking lots are full by 8 am.
Said one of the parents to another: “These games are better than the World Cup final!”
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It's only a matter of time before "wedge" causes an accident. The decision to allow for the placement of such an object to block the view of motorists exiting onto a street would surprise me for any other city than Sebastopol.
I’m sorry I won’t be able to make the airfield lecture this afternoon but if somebody does, it would be great if you write it up somewhere! It’s such a delightful piece of history and I would love to know more about it…