Where the air and the art are fresh

Past huge cargo cranes and docked ocean liners, the wind rushes through the Port of Los Angeles on its way to Douglas Hollis’ sound and motion sculpture “Telltales.” Then the wind speaks. It flows through the sculpture’s organ vanes, and an oboe’s voice sounds. It brushes on harps; an ethereal choir exhales. It nudges lures. They lift and turn -- up, down, around -- like whales swimming.

Hollis’ ensemble piece and a series of ceramic tile works installed on concrete benches are part of the Cruise Ship Promenade, a 1,200-foot boardwalk that opened earlier this month at the port’s main channel at San Pedro. The boardwalk is the first phase of the From Bridge to Breakwater development, planned for 400 acres of port property along eight miles from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to the federal breakwater at San Pedro, with the goal of transforming the waterfront into a thriving shopping and entertainment district.

“Telltales,” which occupies a small field at the west end of the promenade, consists of 30 free-standing stainless steel and aluminum poles, each 20 feet tall. Seventeen of the poles sprout elongated fin-like lures that catch the wind and move with it. Eleven bear wind-organ vanes that make the earthy, oboe-like sounds. And two, at opposite ends of the field, are affixed with wind harps that use strings as sound elements.

“I like to think that the work has a contextual aspect,” said Hollis, a San Francisco-based environmental artist who also created Santa Monica’s “Singing Beach Chairs” sculpture. “It talks about San Pedro, not in a literal way, but certainly referring [to] its history, the fishing industry. I also wanted to make something on a more human scale, as a kind of intermediary between people and the massive infrastructure ... that surrounds the ensemble. I wanted to do something that had some intimacy and delicacy to it, with a focus on the natural elements.”

In keeping with that concept, dozens of long-blade grass plants have been placed around the piece. When mature, they also will sway in the wind, a natural accompaniment to the sculpture’s motions.

Stacey Jones, the port’s director of engineering development who coordinated the project, said that public art is a major part of the From Bridge to Breakwater program “in part because it reflects the growing community of fine art galleries in San Pedro.” She said that as the first statement of the project, it was important that the promenade’s design, materials and public art display be of the highest quality.

The boardwalk -- made in two parts, one slightly higher than the other -- is made from high-quality Brazilian timber, although not from the rain forest, the port’s public relations department assures. It’s outfitted with lookout terraces furnished with teak deck chairs and chaise longues.

Fine Arts Services of Los Angeles, hired by the port as art consultants, commissioned the Hollis sculpture and organized a competition from which six individuals and one collective were chosen to create the tile works for the promenade’s 23 benches. The artists are Veralee Bassler of San Pedro; Stuart Bender, Los Angeles; Roberto Delgado, Los Angeles; Trace Fukuhara, San Pedro; Frank Charles Dante Minuto, San Pedro; Adrian de la Pena, Wilmington; and Slanguage, a Wilmington-based collective.

Placed on the sides of the benches, many of the tiles use the imagery of the harbor, sea and shore; others celebrate San Pedro and neighboring Wilmington’s diverse population, workplace and cultural institutions.

Delgado photographed San Pedro’s downtown and waterfront areas, transferred his pictures onto the tiles and then layered lines of blue and red over them. Fukuhara used common beach and seaport imagery, but in an interlocking graphic pattern. Minuto’s tiles bear his paintings of Pacific sea life. Bender used photos of automobile parts juxtaposed with those of a Japanese tea ceremony.

“The art program articulates the waterfront promenade and gives a more intimate, human perspective of materials, textures and senses that connect visitors to the dynamic realm of the port environment,” said Jody Rassell, a partner in Fine Arts Services.

The promenade, she added, is the first step in creating a “signature West Coast address” at the water’s edge that will mirror innovative programs elsewhere, such as New York’s Battery Park City, as well as the efforts of Creative Time, the New York nonprofit that presents temporary public artworks throughout the city.

Rachel Campbell, a port spokeswoman, said the entire From Bridge to Breakwater project is estimated to cost about $700 million. Funding sources are still being identified, but significant funds are expected from the port, she said.