“Community Canyon” celebrates the diverse community of Wilmington, adjacent to the Port of Los Angeles, CA. The stone form is inspired by the fossilised rocks one might discover in the surrounding beaches and the magic of scaling up such a “discovery experience” to human scale. The revealed “fossil” is a cluster of 3d portraits of community members, chosen at random from a pool of over 200 participants.
Conceptually the sculpture is about people recognizing themselves, or people they know and the embedded community stewardship that can grow from that. We worked with the Port Of Los Angeles, Los Angeles DCA and the project team to integrate opportunities for 3d portraiture at various community events over a 2 year period of outreach.
Material for the project was Carnelian Granite, chosen for its unique ability to weather well in a marine environment. The stone slabs were cut as 2 parts from one larger slab, providing a visual correlation between the positive and negative sides of the sculpture. The offset between each piece provides a zoetrope effect as one moves around the sculpture, appearing as a large boulder from a distance and an intricate array of shapes up close.