Since Brea’s public art program began back in 1975, outdoor, public space sculptures and installations have dotted the city’s landscape.
From Harold Pastorius’s stainless steel “Cactus Garden” installed at Imperial Highway and Randolph Avenue in 1980 to Cheryl Ekstrom’s bronze “Brea Angel” erected in downtown Brea in 2002, the city is a literal open-air gallery with 195 pieces on view for all.
“Brea is only 12 miles long,” said Katie Chidester, gallery director at Brea Gallery. “So that is a lot of sculpture.”
The robust public art program is the result of what Brea Mayor Blair Stewart calls a “visionary initiative” in which private developers commission the sculptures that — once they’ve gone through the city’s review process — are installed outdoors and maintained.
In order to commemorate the 50 years since the public art program began, Brea Gallery and Brea’s Art in Public Places program present an exhibition titled “Mapping the Landscape: A 50 Year Dialogue with Art + the Community.”
“As Mayor, I take pride in how this program distinguishes Brea,” Stewart stated in the program that accompanies the show. “Our commitment to public art enriches our city in ways that go beyond aesthetics. Public art is proven to enhance culture identity, attract visitors and stimulate economic growth.”
“Mapping the Landscape: A 50 Year Dialogue with Art + the Community” on view now at the Brea Gallery features the work of 11 artists.
(Courtesy of Brea Gallery)
On view now through Sept. 19 at the Brea Gallery at 1 Civic Center Circle, the exhibition features 11 artists, all living, who have contributed to city’s open air gallery. Rather than being a historic look back, Chidester hopes visitors will view the show as an ongoing conversation between the past and the future.
“We are a contemporary art space, we show contemporary art, so this is less of a retrospective of the public art program; it is more a look at the living artists that are continuing to make art that you get to see in the space,” said Chidester.
It was equally important to Chidester and the Brea Gallery team that the exhibition bring the outside indoors in mediums beyond photography of the sculptures around the city. That ambitious approach meant moving in some very heavy installations from the likes of Márton Váró, Laddie John Dill, Gerard Basil Stripling, Marsh Scott, Bret Price, Susan Zoccola, Dixie Friend Gay, Marlo Bartels and Christopher Puzio.
“Sakura Love Seat” (2022) by Marlo Bartels, with a painting of Sally Russell’s boldly- patterned totems at Brea Gallery’s “Mapping the Landscape.”
(Courtesy of Brea Gallery)
While not all participating artists entered work that necessarily reflects the work they have on display in the city, their individual style is certainly apparent. Sally Russell’s ceramic totems, for example, are not unlike her “Trade Totems” installed in 2012 at Central Avenue and Berry Street. But there are also paintings from Russell that demonstrate a similarly powerful clashing of bold patterns.
There is also city-owned art, like Carlos Terrés’s painting, “The Beautiful Brea,” commissioned by Brea for its centennial in 2017. In it, Terrés, depicts an ethereal woman with a basket of oranges lofted over her shoulder. The artist incorporated elements from around the city into the bodice of her dress as well as in the space surrounding her. A peeled orange skin in her hand curls into the number 100.
Carlos Terrés’s painting, “The Beautiful Brea,” was commissioned by Brea for its centennial in 2017.
(Sarah Mosqueda)
Black angular shapes with sharp tips from Laguna Beach artist Gerard Basil Stripling titled “Point of Inspiration” (2005) has been displayed in different ways in the past, adapting to the public space it is installed in.
“It has always been outside, and sometimes it has been partially buried in the dirt,” said Chidester. “It is a great reminder to the community that art can always look different.”
An interactive piece of the exhibit called “Beyond the Gallery” features a map of the city with place cards marking each of the 11 featured artists’ installations in the city.
“One of the staff hand painted this and we just wanted to give people a sense of place,” said Chidester. “So if you saw Carlos’s paintings here at the gallery, you could find where you could see his sculpture.”
On Aug. 30 and 31, visitors can watch artists at work during the Fresh(AIR) artist-in-residence program, from noon to 5 p.m. both dates. Admission to the gallery will be free and visitors can ask questions, take photos or just observe the process.
“Mapping the Landscape” on view now at the Brea Gallery features the work of 11 artists from Brea’s Art in Public Places program.
(Courtesy of Brea Gallery)
The city has more public art planned for the future, including an installation from artist Susan Zoccola featuring sculptural trees that will provide shade in a courtyard and serve as reminder that the open-air gallery collection is still growing.
“Public art is important because of the accessibility; it is not within a wall which you may feel intimated to enter,” Chidester said. “It is out in the space, it is placemaking for a city and gives it a sense of identity. It is a reminder of the creativity that exists in the community.”
The aim to help people view the public art the city has to offer in a new light.
“My hope is that when people pass a sculpture going to the Yard House on Brea Boulevard they are reminded of seeing a piece like that here in the gallery,” said Chidester. “It adds context to something you might drive by every day.”
“Mapping the Landscape: A 50 Year Dialogue with Art + the Community” is on view now through Sept. 19 at the Brea Gallery, 1 Civic Center Circle. Hours are from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. For more information visit breagallery.com.
