New public art piece in Huntington Beach is ‘a dream come true’
Lyn Semeta was mayor of Huntington Beach in 2020.
The coronavirus struck, making for a difficult year for Surf City residents along with everyone else. But behind the scenes, Semeta, a watercolor/mixed media artist, had a vision for a piece to be put in Central Park.
Three years later, that vision has become reality.
Huntington Beach officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new piece, called “To See Yourself in Nature,” on Thursday night.
The piece is the newest of more than 40 site-specific works located at beaches, parks and businesses throughout the city. This installation explores nature’s horizontal plane of reflection, a reference to the conceptional design of the library, which sits directly behind the piece.
“We started this art committee during that year, and it just continued on,” Semeta said. “It’s really just a dream come true for me. When I first went into public service, a big goal of mine was always to bring more public art to the city, and here we are. It took longer than I thought, but we’re here.”
Other members of the Huntington Central Park Public Art Committee at Thursday’s ceremony also included Huntington Beach Art Center executive director Kate Hoffman and former Huntington Beach Councilman Devin Dwyer.
City Councilwoman Natalie Moser served as emcee of the ceremony.
“To See Yourself in Nature” was approved by the City Council in July 2021, after Semeta led the seven-member ad hoc committee.
The piece, which is just east of the Secret Garden, was designed by Matt Niebuhr and partner David Dahlquist with RDG Planning & Design. It features two curved pillars, each 13 feet tall, that are crafted of etched bronze and hand-finished stainless steel.
Depending on the light conditions and time of day, the textures, planes and curves of the installation offer different reflections of light, nature and people — including viewers themselves.
“What someone might think of as a butterfly might remind me — or could remind others — of feathers,” Niebuhr said. “In a different scale, it almost looks like feathers, and in another scale all of the little squiggles almost start to look like particles of water. It was intentional, to try to to have it be open. There’s never any right or wrong answer in art, but can you invite someone to contemplate a little bit or notice something? That’s part of what we’re trying to do, just point to some of the things that are here.”
The project cost about $330,000, Huntington Beach acting director of community and library services development Ashley Wysocki said. Those funds were all restricted funds specified for public arts.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
