NEWPORT BEACH : Artist Chosen to Do Highway Wall Mural
Tom Van Sant, a Santa Monica artist well known for several outdoor murals in the city, has been chosen to design and execute a mural on the 260-foot retaining wall planned for West Coast Highway.
Van Sant, whose work includes the nautical designs on the outside of the Coast Highway Bank in Corona del Mar, was the top choice for the wall, according to Public Works Director Ben Nolan.
The wall will surround and protect Rocky Point, an inland roadside bluff along Mariner’s Mile, and will allow the city to provide a sidewalk on the north side of West Coast Highway. The height is expected to vary from 6 to 16 feet.
Designs for the bas-relief mural have not yet been chosen, but Van Sant said his memories of Newport Beach as a child may influence the theme he chooses.
“The first step is to meet and discuss the subject matter and the kind of things that the folks down there would like to see,” Van Sant said, explaining that he will work with a community group and the city staff to design the wall. “Newport Beach is very close to my heart; as a kid, I spent all my summers down there.”
The work is expected to cost the city about $100,000 and was included in the current year’s budget. Designs should be complete by February, 1991.
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