GARDEN GROVE : City Delays OK for Art Title, Expense

The City Council this week delayed approval of a new title for an unfinished seven-foot sculpture and a $550 expenditure for an accompanying inscription of verses until it gets more information about the project.

In February, 1991, the city approved an agreement with artist Guy Angelo Wilson of Diamond Bar to sculpt two seven-foot figures--one male, one female. The sculpture, initially entitled “Archway,” is part of the city’s Arts in Public Places program designed to spread culture and aesthetics around the city.

The artwork, which is expected to be dedicated in a Civic Center park around the end of the year, shows the two figures leaning over and clasping arms, forming an archway.

Wilson wants to change the title of his work to “Union Passage,” believing that “Archway,” is redundant, according to Cal J. Rietzel, manager of the Department of Community Services.

The artist has also submitted two verses about the sculpture to be etched on two nearby marble benches.

The council was asked Tuesday to authorize expenditure of $550 for the etchings and a dedication plaque.

Councilman Mark Leyes called the benches “a silly place for an etching.”

“I don’t read with that end of my body,” he said.

Councilman Bruce A. Broadwater, who took office last fall, urged the delay, saying he wanted to see drawings and sketches of the artwork.

Councilman Robert F. Dinsen said in an interview later that he opposes the project because “it sticks developers” with an additional fee.

The council in 1987 approved the Arts in Public Places program, to be funded by fees from commercial and industrial developers. Residential developers subsequently were included.

Dinsen said a resident recently had to pay a fee to the arts program when he repaired the roof of his home.

“He doesn’t think it’s right, and I don’t either,” Dinsen said.

Money for the park sculpture, expected to cost about $47,000, has been set aside from the development fund. The matter will come up again for council action on June 15.

One of Wilson’s verses reads:

When the day for one ends,

then another begins,

and struggle can turn to dance

The second verse reads:

Beneath the union of our differences

woven by strengths and weakness,

lies a passage to transcend ourselves