“The Spring” aka “Swimming with Sharks” Dedicated in Hollywood

Due to the pandemic, the dedication of The Spring occurred virtually in September of 2020. Installed in 2019, the sculpture was completed just days after the death of Corinne Wise Weitzman, the public art consultant who helped commission and smooth the path for this sculpture over the span of several years. Without her tireless dedication and commitment to the project, it would not have been created. Over the course of the project, we became close friends; Corinne and her family swam for me in their backyard pool so that I could use the underwater video footage to create the swimmers embedded in the lobbyside of the artwork.

She was a champion of the arts – advocating for female artists who are under-represented in general in the public realm. She promoted my work by including my portfolio in selection pools whenever appropriate. She was fun, cheerful, and optimistic to the end… even making sure that yacht rock played at her funeral – bringing a smile to our tear-stained faces one last time!

SEE PRESS RELEASE below or download press release: LINK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 04, 2021

Hollywood, CA A permanent public art work that can be viewed safely indoors and outside has sprung up in Hollywood: its called The Spring, it is a 50’ long x 10’ tall continuous band of blue steel, and as one walks by, colorful graphics embedded in the sculpture move and flicker. Located at 1601 N. Vine on the NW corner of Vine and Selma (a block south of Hollywood and Vine), the artwork anchors the entry of the new WeWork Hollywood campus. Participating in the 1% for Art program through the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, Jh Snyder Co. commissioned the artwork from Los Angeles-based artist Jenna Didier. 

CONCEPT: Didier wanted to create a sculpture on this busy street corner that would respond to passersby. While researching ways to create movement from static images, Didier remembered this optical effect from a book she had as a child. Many months of tinkering ensued – culminating in a full-scale mock-up with stand-in graphics to dial in the geometries and the lighting of this multi-layered work. Double sided graphics housed within the tightly spaced steel bands of the sculpture animate as pedestrians walk/ drive/ scoot past on the street or through the lobby of the WeWork campus. Dark blue sharks flick their tails and glide through red and yellow waves along the street side of the sculpture, in the lobby, a family of people swim through colorful bubbles. The animated effect is analog – using an early optical technique that was the forerunner of modern animation to activate graphics screen printed on steel panels embedded in the sculpture. 

CONSTRUCTION: The sculpture sits atop the 5’ deep stormwater catchment basin that processes stormwater for the building. It is full of soil and plants and captures rainwater that lands on the 8 story building’s roof. The plants sequester heavy metals in their roots, cleaning the water as it seeps into the storm drain gradually in the 24 hours following a storm event. Didier recognized an opportunity to call attention to the nearly-invisible process performed in the basin. Her work often incorporates environmentally-responsible techniques and promotes awareness of the reciprocal relationship of humans to their natural and built environments. For The Spring, Didier embedded a soil moisture sensor in the dirt that fills the basin. Depending on moisture levels that span from dry to saturated, the color changing LEDs that illuminate the interior of the sculpture change color – popping some graphics to the foreground and causing other layers of graphics to recede.

In this way, daily visitors to WeWork get a sense of what is happening in the functioning of the storm basin, raising their awareness of their environment and its connection to the sea.

About Jenna Didier: Seeking ways to engage viewers with forces and processes that are not immediately perceptible, Didier thinks of her artworks as machines that embed in the landscape or inhabit a building. Emerging from the Machine Art scene in San Francisco in the mid-to-late nineties, Didier founded a nonprofit organization nearly twenty years ago, Materials & Applications(M&A). Under her direction, M&A pushed the boundaries of the built environment via socially-engaged programs that experimented with materials and techniques. It continues to be a testbed for art, architecture, and public engagement. M&A projects have received much media attention and many awards including six AIA Design awards, grants from The Graham Foundation, the NEA, and the Andy Warhol Foundation. 

Didier’s civic artwork binds art and technology as she creates large-scale explorations of water, ecology, geology and meteorology. Focusing critically upon issues and techniques that respond to scarcity and ecological sensitivity – she strives to demonstrate our role as stewards of water within our cities and on our public lands. The concepts for her work are often driven by intensive community engagement at the outset of a new project. Her work is site-driven and socially-responsive: revealing subtle environmental factors at a site while celebrating its rooted histories and connections to the natural world. Rather than beginning with a preconceived vision, Didier makes space for and invites creative input from stakeholders during the conceptual design of a new work. Her work has won awards including the American’s for the Arts Public Art Network (PAN) award for best public artwork of the year and has received support from the Durfee Foundation and the NEA. 

LINK TO ARTIST’S WEBSITE: www.Responsive.Art

LINK TO ARTWORK PHOTOS/ VIDEOS

Project credits:
Client: Jh Snyder Co.

Public Art Consultant: Corinne Wise Weitzman

Engineering: NOUS Engineering

Fabricators: Ramirez Iron Works, KVO Industries

Installation contractor: PlasTal

Installation team supervisor: Roo Kraut

Electrical: O’Bryant Electric

Construction Documentation: Esmi Rennick

Graphic support and renders: William Reid

Optic engineering support: Simon Flory, Rechenraum

Lighting controls: Larry MacDonald

Brief description: 

The Spring 

Dedicated 2020

Jenna Didier

American, 1969-

Steel, paint, enamel, LED lighting, moisture sensor, electronics

50′ x 10′ x 5′

The Spring is a responsive sculpture mounted on the  vegetated stormwater catchment basin that collects, filters, and slowly releases rain that falls on the roof of the office building at 1601 N Vine. Passing by the sculpture, your shifting perspective animates its embedded graphics. Lighting in the sculpture responds to moisture levels in the basin: colors change subtly with routine irrigation and dramatically with heavy rainfall, mimicking color indicators from weather radar and hiding or revealing different layers of graphics. Water ultimately flows out through a storm drain in the basin, like an urban spring to the sea.

Rating: 1 out of 5.

The Spring

2019

Hollywood, CA

Materials: steel, porcelain enamelled steel, LED lights, soil moisture sensor, electronics

Client: Jh Snyder and Company

Architecture: Gensler
Engineering: Nous Engineering, Rechenraum e.U.
Electrical Design Engineering and Controls: HB Abrams Company
Fabrication: Ramirez Ironworks Group, KVO Industries
Installation: Plas-Tal Manufacturing Co.

(c)Jenna Didier 2019

The Spring displaying high-moisture conditions via hot-hued lighting.

(c)Jenna Didier 2019
The Spring displaying low-moisture conditions via cool-hued lighting.

Double sided graphics housed within a continuous band of steel animate as pedestrians walk/ drive/ scoot past on the Selma Avenue or through the lobby of the new WeWork campus. The animated effect is analog – using a barrier grid animation technique to activate processed graphics screen printed on panels embedded in the sculpture. LEDs change color and bring different graphic layers to the foreground depending on the soil moisture levels of the catchment basin beneath the sculpture. Water levels vary depending on storm events – dramatizing the function of the catchment basin as an “urban spring” that slowly releases water into the watershed.

The sculpture sits atop the 5’ deep stormwater catchment basin that processes stormwater for the building. It is full of soil and plants and captures rainwater that lands on the 8 story building’s roof. The plants sequester heavy metals in their roots, cleaning the water as it seeps gradually into the storm drain following a storm event. The lighting embedded in the sculpture changes color as soil moisture levels rise and fall to call attention to the nearly-invisible process performed in the basin. Didier’s work often incorporates environmentally-responsible techniques and promotes awareness of the reciprocal relationship of humans to their natural and built environments. For The Spring, Didier embedded a soil moisture sensor in the dirt that fills the basin. Depending on moisture levels that span from dry to saturated, the color changing LEDs that illuminate the interior of the sculpture change color – popping some graphics to the foreground and causing other layers of graphics to recede.

In this way, daily visitors to WeWork Hollywood get a sense of what is happening in the functioning of the storm basin, raising their awareness to their environment and its connection to the sea.

All images/video by Stephen Linsley

The Source (Forest Portal)

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2018
Materials: municipal potable water, steel, stone, concrete, native willows, flowering vines, native milkweed

Client:  

The City of Carlsbad

Guidance:
Esmi Rennick, Tonantzin Rennick, Jimi Castillo, Pete Matisis, Adam Uribe, Ryan Krieger, and Lisa Roop and the Carlsbad Community Garden Collective

Technical support:

Su Kraus, Moosa Creek Nursery
Glen Kinoshita, botantist and habitat restoration specialist

Engineering:
Elite Engineering Consultants

Fabrication:
Steel Craft

Installation:
DelMar Builders
American Fence

Photography:
Stephen Linsley

The generous Indigenous People who advised me in the construction of this project call water “The Source” – it is the origin of all life. For this project, I did extensive community engagement at each critical phase of the project from inception through completion, gathering as I went the stories, ideas, insights, knowledge and resonances of the people who have lived in and around Carlsbad, California for anywhere from 6 months to thousands of years of ancestry.

The permanent public artwork anchors a city block-sized new park for the City of Carlsbad designed by Spurlock Landscape Architects. There had been houses on it, and some fruit trees, but these were raised in order to create an artificial “garden” and much desired public green space. The City of Carlsbad has sprawled well past the coastline that it originally occupied into land that once was inhabited by the Luiseno and the Kumeyaay.  First the ranches, then the citrus groves displaced these indigenous people, now houses and urban sprawl have paved even the orchards, eliminating native habitats and the people and animals who once lived there. The public artwork seeks to balance the stated desires of the community that will use the park, while acknowledging the native people who still live in the vicinity and in its own small way, bolstering the pollinators who may be passing through by offering them native willows and milkweed to eat and nectar from flowering vines. At its center, a child-sized drinking fountain springs up between two locally-sourced boulders, offering even the smallest child the opportunity to drink and play in municipal drinking water with the hope that early memories of the importance of this water will encourage them to grow up to protect and champion their own local drinking water and the watershed that should replenish it. Runoff from the drinking fountain seeps into a dry well at the center of the artwork irrigating the surrounding willows so that they might flourish.

The inspiration for the willow dome structure emerged from the goal of encouraging cyclical thinking regarding our natural resources. Initial inspiration drawn from European-style willow domes led to the discovery of regional Native American willow structures. Kumeyaay, Nawat, and Wirarika advisers guided the approach, methods and materials used in sourcing and harvesting the Arroyo willlow (Salix lasiolepis) used to construct this dome. The willows were planted by the artist and a community of 40 locals during a ceremony led by an indigenous guide. Preparation and planting was assisted by a local botanist who specializes in native habitat restoration.

The design reflects the input of community members responding to questions I posed regarding their city and what makes it unique, what resonates with each of them. Answers ranged from the beauty of the sunsets to the abundance of flowers and (historically) fruit and citrus trees. A large community garden is part of the new section of the park and is within 100 feet of the public artwork, therefor the artwork also seeks to support and nurture the efforts of the gardeners. Each component of this project is built from materials sourced as close to the job site as possible.

2022 Update: The willow dome is thriving!

Genius Loci

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Genius Loci

San Francisco, CA

2018

Materials: corten steel, aluminum, LED lights

Client: Avalon Dogpatch

Architecture:

Pyatok Architects

Kennerly Architecture

Engineering:

KPFF Consulting Engineers

Rechenraum e.U.

Fabrication:

Niche Creative

Installation:

Neon Works

 

The artwork for Avalon Dogpatch in San Francisco is sited at the corner the southern and western facades of the southernmost block of the residential complex. It extends along 40 feet of the western facade and the entire 20 feet of the southern facade at varying heights along the top of the building. It is visible primarily from the 280 freeway (Northbound or Southbound) near the Mariposa exit. The artwork is comprised of two layers: a segmented barrier made out of corten steel and an underlying graphic cut out of aluminum and painted cyan blue. An architectural-scale optical illusion, a portion of the artwork presents an animated gesture that moves as one travels past in response to the shifting perspective of the viewer. The animation invites multiple interpretations and rewards repeated viewings.

Working from the idea that there is an a priori spirit of place – a genius loci – that inhabits a site like the one on Indiana Street in the Dogpatch, the artwork captures and reveals this spirit. The genius loci has literally burst from under the skin of the building. The outer layer of the artwork, mounted about one foot off the building, is made of corten steel like the skin of the building itself. The inner layer, mounted directly onto the corten cladding of the building, is painted aluminum. The outer layer of corten creates a barrier with gaps that correspond to the vertical sine-waves of the corten cladding beneath it. The painted aluminum graphics mounted under the barrier grid are visible in stages as one passes by.  For maximum visual impact, the color of the interior graphic is a cyan blue that is the complementary color to the oxidized corten steel.

In places along the edges of the barrier and along the south facing facade, the underlying graphic spills out – emerging from behind the barrier of corten to reveal the segmented graphic below – the revealed graphic loses the fluid animated gesture when exposed without the segmented barrier. Similar to ikat weavings, the “blurriness” or fragmentation of the escaped graphics opens the opportunity for further readings and impressions.

At night, LED strips mounted on the back of the corten barrier illuminate the underlying graphics providing maximum legibility of the animation.

 

All images/ video by Stephen Linsley

The Gateway to Los Angeles

Main street city hall sm photo by Oliver HessLA street city hall sm photo by Oliver HessGateway to LA dusk-photo by Oliver HessLA-Pergolas-LA-ST-close-photo-by-Oliver_HessLA-Pergolas-distant-photo-by-Oliver_Hess

The Gateway to Los Angeles (Twin Dragons)

2015
Steel, aluminum, LEDs, electronics, concrete, stainless steel cablenet
Pergolas across two bridges: Los Angeles Street and Main Street, spanning the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles 100′ feet each
Commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and CalTrans

LOS ANGELES STREET PERGOLA: The gateway grows the visual language of highway infrastructure into an organic form at the scale of natural phenomenon. Aluminum “nodes” embedded with LEDs fixed to the canopy illuminate at night reviewing data collected of the daily vibrations along the bridge.

Envisioned as a responsive infrastructural element, the sculpture provides shade as well as electrical power and seismic data to those in its proximity. The fluid form of the canopy and its nodes simultaneously evoke the classic waves along Southern California beaches while taking cues from the New Year’s Dragon that parades annually through the streets of nearby Chinatown.

MAIN STREET PERGOLA: Steel pergola designed to sway overhead in response to footfalls from pedestrians below – creating a wave that travels before and behind them as they traverse the 101 freeway. This physical response from the city infrastructure signals to pedestrians that their actions have impact even in this automobile-centric city. 

Once in motion, this pergola too may be experienced as a dragon of another kind: the Plumed Serpent (Quetzalcoatl), a tribute to the nearby historic El Pueblo, the birthplace of Los Angeles.

Collaboration with Oliver Hess and Ned Kahn

Photos by Oliver Hess

Photo by Unicorns of Jupiter

Live Forever

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Firestation 94 facade installation 2011

Live Forever 

2011

Origami sheet brass, LEDs, electronics, environmental sensors. 35’ x 18’ x 12’

Location: Firestation 94, Baldwin Village, Los Angeles

Commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

Networked light-embedded brass origami sconces inspired by native cliff-dwelling Chalk Dudleya “Live Forever” plant, so-named because of its drought tolerance. This monitoring and alert system exploits the surface of the building in the way nature finds uses for voids.

Moisture-responsive lighting is an environmental monitoring system clinging to the facade. The rate lights scintillate across the building in response to ambient humidity is linked to fire risk. An ambient clue to fire danger levels to raise awareness.

Collaboration with Oliver Hess

Images by Mayoral Photo

Wilmington Waves

 

Wilmington Waves

2014

Stainless steel rod and hardware, LED programmable lights and anchors, electronics

Three bridges: Dimensions: 15′ x 100′ each.

Location: Wilmington Waterfront Park

Commissioned by: Port of Los Angeles, Wilmington, CA

Design, fabrication, and installation by artists Didier and Hess

Interactive lights bring a surging tide to the landlocked park. Imitating bioluminescent tides, these light assemblies are held in tension with cables; the strands are strong but quiver with the wind. The system synchronizes its display to real-time tidal data from the nearby port of Wilmington.

Topmost image by Oliver Hess

Orit Haj

Orit Haj

2012

Monumental rammed earth, community token “artifacts”, concrete and bronze.

20′ x 6′ x 3′

Location: Vasquez Rocks State Park. LA County

Commissioned by Los Angeles County Art Commission

Using earth from the site excavation, the monument erodes revealing impacts of natural forces and humans. Residents rammed the earth and added artifacts in each layer of this slow-release time capsule. An embedded bronze sculpture will emerge last. Orit Haj, the title of this artwork, are words from the indigenous Tataviam language which translate to ‘river’ and ‘mountain’. Much the way the Tataviam culture and its language have dissolved into time leaving behind artifacts and legends in and around Vasquez Rocks, so too this artwork will transform and dissolve with time.

Collaboration with Oliver Hess, Rammed Earth Consultant / Contractor: Andreas Hessing

Awarded five signature scroll by Los Angeles County Commissioners for Orit Haj and “demonstrated service”.

Recognized as one of the 50 best public art projects in the 2012 Public Art Network Year in Review by Americans for the Arts