The statues stood on the pedestrian bridge over I-80 for 12 years. It will take 3 days to remove them.
Public art
Posted inCity
Berkeley has started removing the Big People statues on the I-80 pedestrian bridge
The ‘”love-em” or “hate-em” art pieces will be gone by Tuesday.
Posted inCity
City hits pause on removal of Berkeley Big People sculptures
The artist, Scott Donahue, has asked for a halt so he can search for a third-party buyer. He still believes Berkeley mishandled the process.
Posted inArts
The slated removal of I-80 bridge sculptures proves to be polarizing issue
There are more pressing issues in our community, but something about the decision to remove the city’s most expensive piece of public art got Berkeleyside readers riled up.
Posted inCity
Berkeley arts commission votes to remove controversial sculptures on I-80 bridge
While the artistic merit of Scott Donahue’s Berkeley Big People artworks remains a point of debate, the commission says its decision to “deaccession” was based on the cost of maintaining the work.
Posted inArts
Quick fix: Red Baron artwork saved from the bay, but its future is uncertain
An iconic piece of art — Tyler Hoare’s Red Baron sculpture — was saved from the bay Thursday after it collapsed into the waters in Emeryville recently.
Posted inCommunity
How Quirky is Berkeley? Fredric Fierstein’s gifts to the city
Fredric Fierstein is responsible for two quirky gifts to the people of Berkeley, the Guardian statue at the base of University Avenue and the Buddhist shrine in front of his house on Arch Street. Fierstein is an electrical contractor. His business employs a fleet of white 1952 Chevrolet delivery sedans. In 1986, he plopped the massive […]
Posted inArts, City, Housing & Development
Berkeley looks at public art fee for private developers
The city of Berkeley is crafting a new law to require private developers of many buildings to spend 1% of their construction costs on public art. Under a recommendation put forth by Mayor Tom Bates and approved in concept by the Berkeley City Council at its March 17 meeting, the “private percent for public art” legislation would apply to all […]
Posted inCommunity
How Quirky is Berkeley? Benches!
Conny Bleul-Gohlke’s Marin Avenue bench honoring her parents on their 50th wedding anniversary is an exceptional example of an almost-only-in-Berkeley tradition – benches placed in front of houses for pedestrians to sit on. It is a charming feature of life in Berkeley, and one that is not common elsewhere. Competing with the Marin Avenue bench […]
Posted inSponsored
At first Bay Area Book Festival, a temple made of books
Berkeley, it’s been said, is a book town. But never before has it had an actual temple made of books. Rising in Civic Center Park this June will be a public art installation made out of 50,000 books. The walls and ceiling will be constructed from books, the circular ceiling will be alive as pages […]
Posted inObituaries
Celebrating the life of artist and curator Susan O’Malley
By Christian L. Frock/KQED Many people far and wide are reeling from news of the sudden passing of beloved Bay Area artist and curator Susan O’Malley (1976-2015), who collapsed on Feb. 25 and never regained consciousness while in her last week of pregnancy with twins, who survived only briefly. It is a catastrophic loss that […]
Posted inCommunity
How Quirky is Berkeley: Bowling balls as garden art
I find the use of bowling balls as lawn art to be undeniably quirky. For me, that starts with the premise that bowling itself is whimsical — an antithesis for the social isolation of our era. Today, Berkeley has only one bowling venue, one which must be seen as at least a bit eccentric. Thus it […]