A 30-foot tall, moving sculpture now greets motorists south of the San Luis Obispo downtown area.
Installation took place June 9 on “Olas Portola-Fuente Seca,” which means “Waves in a Dry Fountain.” The City commissioned kinetic sculptor Jeffrey Laudenslager and “light sculptor” Deanne Sabeck, both Southern California artists for the long planed public art location in the defunct Portola Fountain base at the intersection of Higuera and Marsh streets.
The original fountain, built by the San Luis Obispo Monday Club in 1967, has become dated and minimized by the activity around it, said the City in a press statement. The addition of “Olas Portola” will be the first kinetic sculpture in San Luis Obispo.
“The kinetic sculpture is sort of serious play,” Laudenslager was quoted as saying. “Serious in the sense that I will create it in a truly monumental scale. And playful by nature, using the wind to move its elements gently, like a perpetual and elegant Tai Chi.”
Created on CAD software, Laudenslager’s pieces are described as kinetic sculptures that consist of geometric shapes, joined and balanced so that wind alone will activate them. Sabeck, meanwhile, uses dichroic glass, which divides the light spectrum, transmitting one color while reflecting its opposite to create a sculptural light painting.
This public art project dates to 2009, when an art jury reviewed over 150 proposals and recommended a single public art design for the fountain location. The conceptual art design was supported by the Architectural Review Commission and approved by the City Council in 2010. The design was modified slightly in 2014, and construction permits were issued in 2016.
