The LA County Department of Arts and Culture has recently unveiled a new webpage devoted to the LA County Civic Art Collection of more than 600 artworks.
The new site (bit.ly/4vYAHBJ) allows users to search by artist, title or location to discover what’s in your neighborhood or anywhere around the county.
“Just in time to commemorate Arts Month, our LA County Department of Arts and Culture has launched a new webpage featuring its extensive Civic Art Collection,” said LA County Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
“Now, anyone can browse the county’s public art holdings from their devices, whether they’re sitting in a county park, exploring a county library, or curious about the mural outside their local health clinic, fire station, or courthouse. I encourage all county residents to make a scavenger hunt out of the collection. Head out with your friends or family, or embark on your own, to discover all the amazing art awaiting you.”
Start your art scavenger hunt in the SCV by finding the following artworks:
Orit Haj by Didier Hess
Date: 2013; Medium: Rammed earth and mixed media
Location Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., 91390.
Orit Haj, is a tribute to the Tataviam culture of the SCV. Orit Haj are words from the Tataviam language, which mean “river” and “mountain” respectively. Like the fading Tataviam culture and language, Orit Haj will also transform and dissolve with time to reveal inspiring artifacts and legends that have been left behind.
To construct Orit Haj, the artist team Didier Hess and community members used an architectural building material called rammed earth, which is a mixture of soil and cement compacted into forms to create a solid earthen structure.
Over the course of about 250 years, due to the artists’ creative modification in the rammed earth formula, personal artifacts embedded by the participants will be revealed as the rammed earth material slowly erodes.
Hidden within the rammed earth is a bronze sculpture, meant for a future generation to discover.
Something Happened on the Old Road #2 by Henk Pander
Date: 2008; Medium: Watercolor on paper
Location LACoFD Fire Station 108, 28799 Rock Canyon Dr., 91390.
Pander created a large-scale oil painting for the entrance lobby and four watercolor paintings for the interior spaces of the station. Pander spent two weeks in residence with the LA County Fire Department in the summer of 2008. His work is based on drawings and observations he made during his ride-a-longs and his time spent at fire stations.
5 Up: 5-14-138 San Andreas Break by Michael Parker
Date: 2019; Medium: Concrete
Location Castaic Skate Park, 31230 Castaic Rd., 91384
The inner face of this sculpture is a smooth surface, the shape of a skateboarder’s “quarter pipe,” that transforms the sculpture into a gravity-defying skateable feature. It is cast from a smooth, dense, integrally dyed concrete mixture designed specifically for skateboarding.
The artist chose a natural, mesa buff color for the concrete to emphasize the existence of the sculpture within a geological continuum and hand-stained the sculpture base to evoke weeping rock.
Frontier by Anne Marie Karlsen
Date: 2009; Medium: Enamel on porcelain
Location Acton-Agua Dulce Library, 33792 Crown Valley Rd., 93510.
Karlsen’s series of large porcelain enamel patterned discs are composed from local photographic imagery. The designs appear abstract from a distance, but up close you can see the history of the community.
The repetitive circular motif in the artwork is loosely inspired by the image of old western wagon wheels. The wheels spin ‘round and round’ across the wall as if moving into the future. The photomontage in each wheel is a kaleidoscopic repeat of both historic and contemporary photos that depict the Acton/Agua Dulce community.
BBUBBLES by Bob Zoell
Date: 2013; Medium: Ceramic frit on glass
Location Castaic Aquatic Center, 31350 N. Castaic Road, Castaic 91384.
Bbubbles is a 21-panel, glass window full of bubbles with Zoell’s signature stick figures hiding in the corners. The artwork dramatizes the purpose of the facility as a public pool and harmonizes with the interior color scheme.
“There is a careful balance to be struck between the location and the artwork,” said Zoell. “When the two elements work in harmony, an opportunity for positive community impact develops, giving art and architecture the power to create a dynamic and memorable urban environment.”
Cloud World (Castaic) by Aaron Morse
Date: 2020; Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas
Location Castaic Lake State Recreation Area, 32132 Castaic Lake Dr., 91384.
Castaic Lake State Recreation Area is one of California’s largest state water reservoirs. Morse created a large painting for the main welcoming center.
The artwork is a painting that depicts an expansive sky floating over Castaic Lake. Recreational boating and jet-skis share the landscape with birds and a rocky shoreline. Amid the rocks are remnants of the geological past.
The vibrant blue colors of the sky and water reflect the artist’s inspiration from the lake’s natural beauty. Morse shows a glimpse of a larger world where many things happen simultaneously: human and animal life, environmental dynamics and the passage of time.
