Umbrellas Viewed With Eye to Future : Tejon Pass: Many who see the installation area think that the structures could provide shelter long after their artistic mission is finished.

Advocates for cows, dogs, students, artists and the homeless are eyeing the 1,760 umbrellas along Interstate 5 in the Tejon Pass--to no avail.

All say the 20-foot-tall umbrellas erected as part of an international art project by environmental artist Christo are just what is needed as protection from the sun or rain. But Christo decided years ago to destroy the umbrellas for artistic reasons and recycle the material--and, if he changes his mind, he would be liable for $350,000 in U.S. customs duties.

That hasn’t stopped the many applicants who think that their causes are worth an exception.

“We have a dog park in Berkeley that these would be perfect for,” Steve Sweifel, 32, a Berkeley artist, said as he admired several umbrellas near Lebec. “Christo is very socially conscious. Do you think he would donate a couple?”

More than a year before the umbrellas were unfurled in the Tejon Pass last week, Christo’s employees said they had already been inundated with queries from people and groups who wanted umbrellas after the exhibition.

“I have yet to talk to a person who has not wanted an umbrella afterward,” said Tom Golden, project director for the U. S. segment of the project. In Japan, 1,340 umbrellas were erected.

Requests have come from farmers, ranchers, schools, museums, collectors, artists and nonprofit groups, Christo employees say. Schools from around the country--including in Los Angeles--would like some umbrellas.

“The school district is interested in asking Christo if he would donate some of those to the district in lieu of destroying them when he is through,” said Pat Spencer, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District. “We thought they could be used for outdoor lunch shelters in some of our elementary schools. We could use as many as they would like to part with.”

The questions by Spencer and Sweifel are typical of those fielded by employees of the umbrella project.

“We had a rancher who wanted to use them to provide shade for his livestock,” said Jane Gregorius, an employee in the project’s information office. “He told me, ‘They’re just the perfect size to keep cows cool.’ ”

Saskia Bory, another project employee, said a man walked into her office last week offering to distribute the umbrellas to homeless shelters. “This guy wouldn’t take no for an answer,” she said. “He said it was the least we could do for the homeless.”

A park district in the San Diego area offered to buy several hundred. Shasta High School in Redding wants several dozen for a student lunch area.

But most requests have been for only one or two umbrellas.

“An arts group in San Luis Obispo wanted us to donate one to them so they could auction it to raise money for their project. . . . A nursery school wanted a couple to cover their sandboxes,” Gregorius said. “Lots of people came in this week saying, ‘They’re beautiful. How much for one?’ ”

Sophie Norinder, another project employee, received three requests Monday. “There was one guy who wanted some for a nursing home he owned, and there was a museum in Sacramento that wanted either an umbrella or at least a sample of the material,” she said. “One guy from Florida wanted to put one in his back garden.”

“Christo decided long ago that he wanted to recycle the umbrellas from both the United States and Japan,” Golden said.

“It’s an aesthetic decision. It’s a misrepresentation of his work to have one or two of his umbrellas in a museum or sitting by someone’s swimming pool. The art is only temporary. The only thing that will be left is the landscape and the beauty in your mind,” he said.

“You can’t save it.”

Christo wants the umbrellas’ nylon fabric, which was imported from Germany, to be recycled into bags to hold soil to prevent erosion, Golden said, but that would have to be done outside the country.

The artist is bound by restrictions imposed by the U. S. Customs Service, which won’t let him reuse the fabric here, Golden said. The Customs Service insisted that he pay an import duty of $350,000 if he wanted to keep the fabric in the country permanently, Golden said.

The artist instead posted a $2,400 bond as a guarantee that he would destroy the fabric or take it out of the country when the exhibition is over, Golden said.

“We were treated like any other importer of fabric,” Golden said. “We don’t have this problem in Japan, where the umbrellas were classified as works of art.”

Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield) has sponsored a bill to allow Christo to donate the fabric to nonprofit groups in the United States, Golden said.

Other parts of the umbrellas were made in the United States and caused no such problems, Golden said. The aluminum stems will be melted down and reused, and the plastic bases will be used to anchor satellite television dish antennas, he said.

Although the fate of the umbrellas was decided long ago, that hasn’t prevented rampant speculation among people who live and work in the Tejon Pass area, where the umbrellas are the dominant topic of conversation.

“We’ve heard that a millionaire in Texas is offering $1 million to anyone who could swipe one for him,” Gregorius said. “It’s probably not true, but who knows?”

Umbrella Update

Artist Christo’s latest temporary outdoor art project, “The Umbrellas,” is on display through Oct. 30. Here is some help in viewing:

Where: Along Interstate 5 for 18 miles north from intersection of California 138 to the bottom of the Grapevine in the San Joaquin Valley.

Directions: Take I-5 north from Los Angeles, about 60 miles from downtown.

Turn-arounds: At Quail Lake Road, Gorman, Frazier Park, Lebec and Ft. Tejon exits.

Viewing areas: Designated along the freeway and on Gorman Post, Lebec, Digier and Grapevine roads.

Traffic report: Traffic volume was moderate along Interstate 5 through the Grapevine and along county roads Monday, a little higher than normal because of the Columbus Day holiday, according to California Highway Patrol officials. There was no slowing due to congestion, although traffic on the Gorman off-ramp backed up briefly. Traffic is expected to be lighter today.

Additional details: Available at an information center in Gorman.