I have the pleasure and absolute honor to create two major public art installations in the Bay Area. Both public art installations are slated to be unveiled in the next couple of months, one in Redwood City and the other in Sunnyvale. Here is the story of the pieces and the inspiration to them.
Redwood City Public Art Installation - A Baby Grand Painted Piano
The first public art installation will go live this month in Redwood City. For those who have been following my blog and work, you will remember that I posted about the piano project for Redwood City Improvement Association last year... It took a while, but the installation is about to happen and go-live.
As the Redwood City Improvement Association starts to promote the piano and the installation, I am going to give you all a sneak peak at the piano and explain the inspiration for the piano.
The Inspiration behind the Piano Design
The design is inspired by both urbanization and the benefits that brings, including the community that thrives in these urban areas, and the beauty of our natural surroundings.
We are constantly reminded of the progress and transformations we and our surroundings are going through. We see demolitions of the old and construction of new buildings everywhere. Redwood City has undergone an amazing transformation over the past years.
Because of all these urban changes, and where the piano will be located, I felt this need to remind people about the beauty of nature, the lush green rolling hills that turn golden during summer as you drive out of Redwood City, with wild California poppies sprouting in a super bloom.
I wanted to couple that with the simplicity of joy and innocence of kids blowing bubbles. And as the bubbles float around, we see the beauty and enjoyment that music and dance brings us, the joy of kids in the many parks that Redwood City offers… All of these you can do by living in Redwood City and joining this wonderful community.
These are the life experiences that make us feel rich and happy. I hope this piano will remind us of that richness as people see it in the urban center of Redwood City. Maybe it will even entice some in the community to support local musicians and art, or for people and kids to just take a bike and go to the local parks...
All of that leads us to the image above, where you can see the kids blowing bubbles, the poppies and the music inspiring the community to come out and share good times together. If you look closely at the images, you also see me working on that third image showing the kids playing in the parks...
I can't wait to see the piano in Redwood City and have it unveiled and played on for the first time as a public art installation.
Sunnyvale Public Art Installation: Suns of Sunnyvale
As one public art installation is about to go-live, the creation of the other project is about to kick off. I'm thrilled to be one of 26 artists that get to design the looks of a 4 foot sun sculpture as part of the upcoming Suns of Sunnyvale public art project. These 26 artists will make some amazing art and I hope everyone will enjoy these pieces across Sunnyvale's parks.
For this project the city was looking to align with and highlight the city's branding of "Bold, Sustainable Innovation" and adhere to a vision of diversity and inclusion. For me, this instantly triggered an idea around both innovation and how children that can play outside, discover their world through their own curiosity and grow into our future innovators. And so my Sun is going to be titled "From Childs Play to Sustainable Innovation".
We'll all be picking up our suns end of October and then all the suns are ready and in the parks somewhere in December 2024...
It is really nice to be able to do a public art installation that goes into our communities, and I will be so happy to see my piano and the sun out in public spaces. Now I just hope people like these pieces and will enjoy both the visual look of the pieces and the messages they bring to these communities.
Christine
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