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HomeMy WebLinkAbout19 - Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park - Phase XQ �EwPpRT CITY OF s NEWPORT BEACH `q44:09 City Council Staff Report January 13, 2026 Agenda Item No.19 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: Melissa Hartson, Library Services Director - 949-717-3801, mhartson@newportbeachca.gov PREPARED BY: Rebecca Lightfoot, Library Services Manager — 949-717-3819, rightfoot@newportbeachca.gov TITLE: Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park — Phase X ABSTRACT: At its December 11, 2025, meeting, the City Arts Commission approved 10 sculptures and four alternates for the exhibition within Civic Center Park, as selected through a survey of Newport Beach residents. The City Arts Commission requests the City Council's consideration and approval of the selections and alternates. If approved, the 10 Phase X sculptures will be on display for a three-year period, with installation commencing in June 2026. RECOMMENDATIONS: a) Determine this action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) and 15060(c)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines because this action will not result in a physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly; and b) Approve 10 sculptures and their placement and four alternate sculptures within Civic Center Park as selected by the public and recommended by the City Arts Commission for the temporary sculpture exhibit. DISCUSSION: The Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park (Exhibition) is an integral feature of the Newport Beach Civic Center. Civic Center Park, which turned nearly half a million square feet of undeveloped land into a new public park, was designed by renowned landscape architectural firm Peter Walk and Partners (PWP). PWP developed a master plan for art in the park, and identified various spots in the park where art, particularly sculpture, may be exhibited. The City Arts Commission (Commission) determined that a rotating exhibition was an optimal approach to bringing sculptures to Newport Beach in a cost- efficient manner. In August 2013, the Newport Beach City Council authorized the Commission to implement an inaugural rotational sculpture exhibit in Civic Center Park. The acquisition program developed by the Commission for the Exhibition created a model in which pieces are loaned for a two-year period (or phase). In 2025, this program was Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park — Phase X January 13, 2026 Page 2 modified to a three-year exhibition period. The artists are provided with a small honorarium to loan their work to the City of Newport Beach. The City is responsible for installing the art, while the artists are responsible for the maintenance and repair of their work. Admission is free and the Exhibition continues to be enjoyed by residents and guests of all ages and sensibilities. In essence, the Exhibition has become a "museum without walls" that offers the temporary display of public art in a unique, natural setting. Moreover, the City can exhibit a well-balanced representation of public art, with artistic merit, durability, practicality and site responsiveness as criteria in the selection of work. The rotational nature of the Exhibition ensures that residents and guests are exposed to a variety of work. Borrowing the pieces remains a cost-effective alternative to owning and maintaining permanent public art. Since 2014, the Commission has presented nine phases of the Exhibition, with the installation of Phase IX occurring in June 2024. The City entered into a professional services agreement with Arts Orange County (Arts OC) for $135,080 for Phase X of the Exhibition. This amount includes project coordination and management fees, in addition to installation and de -installation fees. Arts OC was established in 1995 as the nonprofit, countywide arts council of Orange County, California. Arts OC has been recognized by the California Arts Council as a model agency based on the quality of its work and has served as the officially designated arts agency and state -local partner of the County of Orange since its inception. The Arts OC project team successfully managed all previous phases of the exhibition and has strong working relationships with the Commission and City staff. Community Input Since the Exhibition's inception, the Commission has increased public engagement by offering residents opportunities to become part of the selection process. For Phase X, the CAC included the following elements in the process: a) As in previous phases, the CAC did not utilize an ad hoc subcommittee for Phase X. The entire Commission reviewed the submitted pieces for inclusion in the Phase X Exhibition online survey, during City Arts Commission regular meetings. b) For Phase X, the Commission turned the selection process over to the public. Through an online survey, Newport Beach residents voted for their favorite sculptures and voted for the pieces for inclusion in Phase X, resulting in 10 sculptures and four alternates selected by the public. Prior to launching the public survey, the Commission, along with a curatorial panel, consisting of arts professionals Genevieve Williams and Virginia Arce, evaluated all Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park — Phase X January 13, 2026 Page 3 submissions for Phase X at the October 9, 2025, City Arts Commission meeting. Pieces that met the following criteria were included in the public survey: 1. Artistic Merit — the artist has strong professional qualifications, and the artwork is of high quality and demonstrates originality and artistic excellence. 2. Durability — the artwork is made of high - quality materials, requires minimal maintenance and can withstand the outdoor elements of coastal Orange County. 3. Practicality — the artwork is appropriate for audiences of all ages and does not exhibit unsafe conditions that may bear on public liability. 4. Site Appropriateness — the scale of the artwork is suitable for the environment, and the artwork is suitable for viewing from all angles. Using these criteria, the Commission approved 30 submitted pieces for the public survey. The online public survey launched on October 15, 2025, and closed on December 5, 2025. The survey was publicized through Stu News Newport on multiple occasions, included in the City Manager's Week in Review, and posted to social media and on Arts OC's website, SparkOC.com. In addition, the survey was disseminated to the 35,000+ subscribers to the Library and Cultural Arts email distribution list and the City's email subscribers for current news and topics of interest. Survey flyers and Library website banner advertisements rounded out the survey marketing. Survey participants were required to provide a valid email address, report the ZIP code of their residence and complete a CAPTCHA security step to affirm that they were not a bot. Arts OC deleted any entries that did not provide a Newport Beach ZIP code. The poll also captured the IP address, time of voting and type of device used to vote. Arts OC used these tools to identify potential cases of double -votes. For example, if two votes from the same IP address happened within minutes, voted for the same works and had similar enough email addresses, Arts OC deleted one of them. If the email addresses were different enough, Arts OC deferred on the side of permitting them, since it could have been the product of multiple people voting on the same computer from the same household. After these steps were completed, the Commission had a validated total of 230 voters, casting 1,736 votes. The results are ranked in the following table. Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park — Phase X January 13, 2026 Page 4 Artist Ten Final Selections: Work Votes Public Ranking CAC Ranking Daley, Catherine Cosmos: Starry, Starry Night 132 1 it Harris, Diego Wind Tree 126 2 7t Linke, Harold Spiral Dance 101 3 24t Knecht, Zan Coming Through 99 4 16t Robertson, Tamara Open Heart 94 5 5t Martinek, Clark Intended Destination 77 6 24t Gall, Alex Voyage of a Giant 71 7t 10t Plaisted, Chris The Wave 71 7t 24t Bassoff, Solomon Joy Ride 65 9 10t Banks, John Art in Old English 63 10 10t Four Alternate Selections: Meyer, Nicholas Emergence 54 16t 1t Seese, Kirk Dragonfly 62 11 5t Idelchik, Ilya Reaching for Life 61 12 16t Muzzarelli, Aldo The Butterfly Enchanter 57 13 21t Behan,Sonny Abhaya 56 14 24t Johansen, Nathan Germination 55 15 41t Pettit, Michael Escargot 54 16t 21t Reinertson, Lisa Wolf Rider-Ophelia's Return 53 18 7t Bannon,John Drop 52 19 4 Kimball, Tyler Celestial Gates, Lunar Gate and Solar Gate 51 20 41t Nelson, John Randall Yip, Yip, Yip 47 21 21t Vogel, Patrick Dragon's Tail 44 22t 7t Rench, Chris Caught Up 44 22t 16t Elliot, Marguerite From Earth to Sky 36 24 10t Benefiel, Joan The Space Between 25 25 19t Litman, Adrian Susnes FRUTTI DI MARE 23 26 19t tal, lee Blooming Reflection — Purple Clematis 22 27 10t Barrett, Alex TOOTHFAIRY 21 28 10t Wise, Jess Glode Focused Anomaly 15 29 3 Mang, Tiimo Warning Beacon 5 30 24t Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park — Phase X January 13, 2026 Page 5 At its December 11, 2025, regular meeting, the Commission received the public survey results. The 10 pieces that received the highest number of public votes were recommended for installation, and four alternate sculptures were selected. The motion to approve the full slate of 10 sculptures passed unanimously (7-0). Chair Heather Ignatin noted objections to two pieces —Clark Martinek's Intended Destination and Solomon Bassoff's Joy Ride —but voted in favor of the overall package. Subject to the City Council's consideration and approval, installation of the 10 pieces will commence on June 1, 2026, and continue through June 19, 2026. FISCAL IMPACT: The adopted budget includes sufficient funding for the Phase X installation. It will be expensed to the Exhibition's Phase X Project Account No. 01060603-811059-L2601. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Staff recommends the City Council find this action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly. NOTICING: The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the City Council considers the item). ATTACHMENT: Attachment A — Newport Beach Civic Center Sculpture Exhibition Phase X Recommended Selections PROCESS TO DATE: Submissions: • From Aug. 1st through Sept. 29, artists, gallery owners, artist reps, etc., were invited to submit eligible works through the Call for Entry (aka CaFE) platform • After review for eligibility and suitability for outdoor installation, 79 submissions were presented for review Jurying: From Sept. 30 through Oct. 5, the jury, consisting of all active Arts Commission members and two outside guests, had the opportunity to review application materials on CaFE and score each application from 1 to 7. At the Oct. 9 Arts Commission Meeting, the jury reviewed the results of scoring and, after discussion and consultation with Arts Orange County representatives, 30 works were chosen for presentation in a public poll Public Poll: • Poll was published on a dedicated page on ArtsOC's website SparkOC.com, which is built on the WorclPress platform. A Word Press plugin called TotalPoll generated the poll and collected votes • Poll was open to Newport Beach residents for voting from October 5 through December 15. • Public poll results were tabulated and presented to Arts Commissioners to guide process of finalizing Recommended Selections and Alternates PUBLIC POLL SUMMARY: • Participants could vote for up to ten favorite works • Security measures include: • Users required to complete a CAPTCHA form designed to catch bot behavior • Users required to submit a valid e-mail address and provide their ZIP code and city of residence, only votes from Newport Beach ZIP codes will be counted • Users required to provide a valid E-mail address • For each work, a single image judged to be the best to represent the work was placed on a slide with identical dimensions and plain black background, with the work's title and artist's name below • The order of the works in the poll were randomized for each visitor; so that no single work gains advantage from their position • Raw vote logs of both accepted and declined voting attempts were examined to detect any patterns or voter behavior which, in Arts Orange County's judgment, may give rise to a misleading interpretation of the "voice of the community". • Public poll results are non -binding and advisory, to be used in final jury discussions for selecting slate of Finalists. • After concerns expressed by Arts Commissioners and Library Staff, ArtsOC made updates to the poll including the following: • Graphic design tweaks to increase the visibility of the circle to be clicked on under each work • The security setting which locked out IP addresses for 24 hours after multiple votes was reduced to 1 hour to increase participation at Library PCs • After review, a total of 230 voters cast 1,736 eligible votes SAMPLE VIEW OF POLL : PUBLIC POLL Newport Beach Civic Center Park Sculpture Exhibition ce c�h INe pw h. neaa or Np.,poa eeam cr,�,ce�«. aan, m. an,�xmn. mw�ae i�.aan�ai saiuwre NOR �..�o�are �m.m �s Fna�,aa a ��, � m eaami.. �ame:t au,a r. •ara+v.am mce.ramrs. ��r �a,a�aana arms can and —a, tide N�ai.naa ao aaa� ma Wname�aaon. ��..�.0 has msNn aew.na. ID-1—a,m her. zany s—ie m prz.ma m a ear—.1 re mr 1 mar e� Haapo,t eeaon oay.v�momzw wade oaa;'aa aN—aeaaan mfl 11-Wunice. . ��a��a� g�me�s�wms Pd�m�,cereaa�o� ��e.,m.�are,s�avme,maE Here are �o aam�a��.a, �a,aam,���anm anao, a.rar.aw aaa:a 1,ceamn.mn.akanaanal aa. .mceaa�aliaa. s tin a� ein cmn eerie Paa< N aeaby n,ao wC.-Y. menmwnm �ang.fae:��n�a�ni. nar�J;arxo a i ce ci ode � �an�a�r�wremme.An,rnea aav,ne^r rymmiame awe �.,mao=enn.rain.ae ono an a ma vai. nroa.;anmaAom�naaaa,. roe aan mad onva vnonaaaaka aa.W rwa@�ama,.n�+a naaam nsm.za and sare�ce �maea man onan �a mom mn� ., ��.ia �a �r� e� aa, a�a mm a ao.Aaz ra,,.amnkemsee o�a:�parw.oa,a ce,. q�imaa m.m�a canna O E �. n�an 3s =�_;, �-na�n as O iF Via. tire-,maa�:�a O eaten. sm�-amara O e�a.��.me-sw� Individual Slide enlarges when clicked Daley, Catherine (Windsor, CA) Cosmos: Starry, Starry Night Size: 10' H x Tx 30" Weight: 200 lbs. Medium: Aluminum, Plexiglass, Stainless Steel Harris, Diego (Upper Lake, CA) Wind Tree Size: 8'8"Hx7'2"WxTT' W Weight: 250 Ibs. Medium: Corten Steel over Steel Rebar Linke, Harold (Lake Oswego, OR) Spiral Dance Size: 144" x 40" x 50" Weight: 75 Ibs. Medium: Advanced composite with a polychrome white finish, climate resistant, round steel plate for mounting �'"� fix`-~ �Z4 Knecht, Zan. Coming Through Robertson, Tamara. Open Heart Martinek, Clark (Mitchell, SD) Intended Destination Size: 14' H x 22" x 22" Weight: 350 lbs. Medium: Steel, Iron Gall, Alex (Vista, CA) Voyage of a Giant Size: 72" x 84" x 80" Weight: 230 lbs. Medium: Steel, Corten Steel, Solar LED If p Plaisted, Chris (New Milford, CT) Wave, The Size: 7.5' H x 6' W x 4' D Weight: 500 Ibs. Medium: Steel, Stainless Steel Bassoff, Solomon (North San Juan, CA) Joy Ride Size: 80" H x 136" W x 63" D Weight: 1,650 Ibs. Medium: Concrete, Steel Glass Banks, John (Henderson, NV) Art in Old English Size: 82" H x 60" W x 60"D Weight: 360 lbs. Medium: Steel Meyer, Nicholas. Emergence Seese, Kirk. Dragonfly Idelchik, Ilya (San Diego, CA) Reaching For Life Size: 13' Hx2'Wx2' D Weight: n/a Medium: Metal Mash, Fiberglass Resin, Epoxy Paste Muzzarelli, Aldo (Mauldin, SC) Butterfly Enchanter, The Size: 78" x 15" x 15" Weight: 80 lbs. Medium: Steel, Resin, Stoneware Paste RECOMMENDED INSTALLATION SITES Including Phase IX works SSL � wi PHASE IX lz'' MACARTHUR BLVD CIVIC GREEN O I 0 Y, © �0� AVOCADO AVENUE PHASE X m o©© o © o 0 0 o m �,T6 i