Public Art Proliferates on Pacific Coast Highway
Parks and public gardens on Pacific Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, along with several gardens a few miles inland boast a proliferation of public art works, including finely crafted sculptures and frescoes. This verdant city, known for its natural beauty and magnificent art, is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach and Irvine.
North Laguna's Crescent Bay Park (223 Crescent Bay Drive) features a brass sculpture of sea lions, Laguna Locals by Terry Thornsley. Bluebird Park (Cress Street and Bluebird Canyon Drive) is a children's paradise with a six-foot diameter mosaic tortoise sculpture. Village Green Park in very South Laguna (Catalina Avenue and South Pacific Coast Highway) has the statuesque 10-foot-tall stonework Green Man with Red Birds by Julia Klemek.
Larry Gill, longtime Laguna artist, created Waterfall with internal illumination, installed downtown on Glenneyre Street. His two granite and steel sculptural waves, six and seven feet tall, North and South Waves, are on Forest Avenue, just off South Coast Highway.
Heisler Park
Scenic Heisler Park boasts several large sculptural pieces. These include the figurative bronze, Chasing Butterflies by De L 'Esprie, and Trio, three seating areas embossed with images of pre-historic marine wildlife by Laguna Beach artist, Jorg Dubin. Here also is Rock Pile Carve by George Stone, a rock pile sculpture created of concrete and stainless steel. North Pacific Coast Highway between Cliff Drive and Myrtle Street.
Main Beach
South of Heisler Park is Main Beach with its ocean, white sand, vast lawns, flowers, bushes and trees. Here you'll find Canyon Chess and Checkers by Laguna ceramic sculptor Marlo Bartels, a ceramic game table and chairs, shaped, formed and glazed by hand. South Pacific Coast Highway, Broadway to Laguna Avenue.
Up Broadway
Leave Main Beach, walk up Broadway and enjoy the mosaic mural, Laguna Coastline by Mia Tavonatti. Walk a few blocks to Forest Avenue and you can't miss The People's Council by Linda Brunker, three carved granite figures representing everyman, everywoman and youth, installed in front of Laguna's main fire station. (Locals have mixed feelings about this work!)
Broadway turns into Laguna Canyon Road, leading to The Sawdust Festival, Art-A-Fair and Laguna Wilderness Park, all within a few miles of the coast and its highway. At the Canyon Road tram stop for festival visitors, check out Beacon and Usher In by John Barber and Louis Longi, installed a few years ago amid controversy. The artists explain, "Beacon symbolically directs visitors with a beacon of light towards the city while Usher In reinforces the importance and value of visitors with two figures carrying them towards the arts."
South Laguna
South Laguna features Villa Bella Grotto by Leah Vasquez at 2470 South Pacific Coast Highway. She explains, "This pique assiette, or prickly seating, is composed of cement imbedded with bits of broken pottery and glass collected from local residents and beaches." The French term pique assiette, meaning to eat from one another's plates, uses broken plates and shards to create mosaic-like designs.
There is Viking Studio at 1601 South Coast Highway by Jorg Dubin. "The sculpture is a stylized construction based on an ancient Viking ship," he explains. "The remains of the once great ship are made of wood, copper and bronze."
There are two more murals in South Laguna by Mia Tavonatti: Nautilus Shell, made from hand cut glass mosaic tiles, representing the shades and luminosity of the nautilus shell at 270 Brooks Street; and Discovery, "designed to depict the galleons of the early Portuguese explorers as they sailed off the coast of Africa in search of spices," according to the artist, on the front wall of Mozambique Restaurant, at 1740 South Pacific Coast Highway.
Alta Laguna Park
With a clear view of canyons and the Pacific coastline, 1,100-foot-high Alta Laguna Park features manicured lawns and gardens, an abundance of aloes, coastal sage, wild flowers, and three wire sculptures of whale tails, called Interlude, by Peter Busby. 3300 Alta Laguna Blvd.
Montage Gardens
There are many more magnificent sculptures in Laguna Beach - too many to write about about on just one web page. Two pieces by Cheryl Ekstrom demanding special mention are Parallel Dance bronze pieces, created with the lost-wax method. These mythical creatures are part sea creatures, and part horse. Funded by the Montage Resort and Spa, they are located in the resort's Public Gardens, called Treasure Island Park. You can visit it at Wesley Drive and South Pacific Coast Highway.
See Laguna Gardens page for more information on public art in Laguna Beach.
