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Orange County continues to express a strong appetite for art in public places, according to the latest month’s Public Art Inventory by longtime Arts Orange County public art specialist Ashley Bowman. Included in the inventory are sculptures, murals, functional elements (e.g. artist-designed benches, bike racks, utility boxes), and building elements (e.g. artist-designed facades, gates). Some were acquired by cities and placed on city-owned property, while others were commissioned and installed by private property owners—often the result of ordinances requiring the installation of art whenever there is new construction. While most sculptures are permanent installations, some are temporarily installed, such as Newport Beach’s popular Sculpture Exhibition, which exhibits 20 large-scale works in its 14-acre Civic Center Park, with ten rotating in and out each year. That program, managed for the City by Arts Orange County, is now in its ninth year. And murals are not generally considered permanent installations because their materials often have a limited lifespan of durability.
OC Cities where the largest number of works can be viewed are: Santa Ana (265 works), Brea (199), Laguna Beach (136), Costa Mesa (123), Dana Point (78), Fullerton (76), Huntington Beach (64), Anaheim (58), San Clemente (56), Irvine (48), Newport Beach (40).
In recent years, Arts Orange County has consulted with the cities of Brea, Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Moorpark (in Ventura County) about their public art programs, and it is currently guiding a new Public Arts Plan process for Irvine. Also, Arts Orange County’s SparkOC.com has a Public Art Inventory section [https://www.sparkoc.com/public-art/] where users can look up information about hundreds of artworks, including locator maps to assist in visiting them.
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