A Mixed Bouquet

If all is running smoothly on Orange County’s freeways--an infrequent occurrence--you should be able to glimpse them just for a moment.

They are bright, colorful representations of wildflowers on plastic squares, an attempt to make Orange County freeways more than miles and miles of drab brown sound walls.

And although seven groupings of panels have been installed and five more are planned, the idea remains almost as controversial as it was five years ago when several cities called it a $1.3-million waste of taxpayer money.

The federal grant that is paying for the project is about $900,000--scaled back from $1.3 million once San Clemente and Costa Mesa declined to participate.

“I had no idea we were in store for art on the walls,” said Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau. “I was driving down the I-5 and looked to my left and there it was. It’s a nice change, pleasant. What I thought was, ‘Gee, this is sort of contemporary. It’s sort of fun.’ ”

Then again . . .

“Aren’t they ugly?” said Marilyn Bruce Hastings of Seal Beach, who was the city’s mayor in 1995 when the council initially protested getting involved in the project. “Gaudy gold. Yuck. I just think it’s terrible-looking.”

Caltrans officials hope the vibrant panels, which wipe clean, will make graffiti vandals think twice before defacing them. Caltrans spends $8,000 to $10,000 each month on graffiti removal in Orange County, with the bulk going to clean sound walls.

Beyond that, the panels, which went up in August, will give Orange County a “sense of identity,” officials say.

But that identity, in the opinion of some in the county arts community, represents a bland and generic setting, with its renderings of the California poppy, Matilija poppy and brodiaea.

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“Obviously they shot for the middle ground here,” said Laguna Art Museum Director Bolton Colburn, who said he found it ironic that freeway art would pay tribute to the very plant life it paved over.

Colburn and others cited the murals along sections of freeway in Los Angeles as examples of more thought-provoking public art--although those too have been controversial.

But although Colburn and others say there is little exciting about the artwork, it has stirred up strong emotions on the part of some local politicians and residents.

“Let me tell you I’m very proud to say I was not on the board when they were approved,” said Supervisor Cynthia Coad, who is the biggest supporter of beautification efforts on the Orange County Transportation Authority’s board.

“I’m not impressed with them at all,” she said.

The panels were created by Janet Inez Adams, an Orange County artist whose work was selected by an OCTA committee. A total of 2,430 panels, which cost $200 each, will be installed. The 1-meter squares are made from a composite plastic with the artwork imprinted on them.

The project has been hailed by Caltrans Director Jose Medina as “innovative,” and when it was first proposed the project was ranked as the No. 1 priority out of 39 proposals before OCTA. The funding came from a federal program earmarked for transportation enhancements that cannot be used for road work.

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Some frequent critics of government spending say they see nothing wrong with making freeways a little easier on the eyes.

“If they’re going to build a highway, they are under some obligation to make it as attractive as possible,” said Reed Royalty, president of the Orange County Taxpayers watchdog group. Still, Royalty said that “when you decorate them with art you get into a matter of personal taste, and that’s tricky.”

Colburn, the art museum director, said that for most people, it comes down to what they think is important.

“Do people think we should be funding public art, or do they think it’s inappropriate?” he said.

In this instance, Colburn said he thinks $900,000 is a lot of money to spend on one concept--wildflowers--that will be repeated in various patterns throughout the area.

“I think in an interesting way it mirrors how freeways develop and how our government works,” he said. “Thoughtless bureaucracy at work grinding out more generic things.”

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O.C. Freeway Art

More than 2,400 meter-square plastic panels are being strung along parts of the county’s freeways at a cost of $900,000.