‘FIRE BIRD’ SCULPTURE TO ROOST AT ARTS CENTER

New York sculptor Richard Lippold, known for his mammoth architectural structures, on Tuesday unveiled a model of a 60-foot-tall stainless steel and aluminum sculpture that the C.J. Segerstrom family has commissioned him to create for the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

The silver, red and gold work, dubbed “Fire Bird” by Renee Segerstrom, will be 120 feet wide and 100 feet deep. Wings of the birdlike structure will pass through glass walls in the building, making the piece simultaneously an interior and exterior work.

The sculpture is the latest contribution to the center by the Segerstroms, who already have given more than $11 million toward construction and operation of the $70.7-million facility, including the center’s site.

Segerstrom declined to reveal the sculpture’s price tag, but said it is separate from the center’s funding.

“This sculpture realizes a longtime desire on my part to create a work which relates to both the interior and exterior of a building,” Lippold said.

The “Fire Bird” will be installed in time for the scheduled opening of the center on Oct. 1, 1986, he said.

Among 70-year-old Lippold’s best-known works are his 120-foot tall Ad Astra at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, “Orpheus and Apollo” sculpture at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, New York, and “The Sun,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.