Playing Chase, Concert for the Wind, and Urban Totems

1:49pm | The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA), 8th District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine, and the Arts Council for Long Beach has announced three new art installations in North Long Beach.

“Public art is a wonderful revitalization tool,” Mayor Bob Foster said. “Public art helps shape our identity as a city, while building culture and fostering a sense of pride in the community.”

The three installations are:

  • Playing Chase, by artist Rob Neilson, is located in Chace Park at the corner of East Market Street and Dairy Avenue. The installation features colorful figurative sculptures of running children, playing on the namesake of this pocket park.
  • Concert for the Wind is located at Grace Park, on the corner of Elm Avenue and Plymouth Street. The artist team of Alber and Luna De Matteis crafted this imaginative metal canopy that covers a bench ornamented with tile mosaics, creating a unique gathering space.
  • Urban Totems, also created by Alber and Luna De Matteis, is located in the median on Atlantic Avenue south of South Street. This pair of free-standing, totemic sculptures create a distinctive pedestrian gateway for the corridor.

“We are thankful to the RDA for its commitment to sponsoring public art in North Long Beach,” said Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, 8th District. “Playing Chase, Concert for the Wind, and Urban Totems are fun, whimsical, visual displays that brighten our neighborhoods and help bring people together by encouraging a sense of community.”

The installations were selected by a Citywide Selection Panel consisting of art and design professionals, members of the Arts Council’s Advisory Committee for Public Art and local community members convened by the Arts Council for Long Beach. The call-to-artists received 84 submittals and 19 were short-listed by the panel to create proposals for various locations around the city.
 
Since the Percent for Public Art program was established in 1989, all new projects over $250,000 in Redevelopment Project Areas are required to contribute 1 percent of construction costs toward funding public art.

For more information, please visit www.LongBeachRDA.org.