KING CITY — Local streets may soon be adorned with wind sculptures after the City of King received the go-ahead to place them in public places, taking advantage of the region’s strong gusts while continuing an effort to beautify the area.
King City Council approved the Wind Sculpture Art in Public Places Plan last month based on recommendations from RRM Design Group as part of the city’s Downtown Streetscape Conceptual Plan. One of the ideas developed by the consultants was to install wind sculptures in the Broadway Street medians.
“The recommendation represented a way to provide more substantive aesthetic features in the medians since trees cannot be planted due to the sewer line and to capitalize on the city’s winds that are normally viewed as a detriment,” said City Manager Steve Adams in his July 11 report to the council.
According to Adams, the wind sculpture concept — three-dimensional sculptures that move naturally with the wind, also known as kinetic or mobile art — could become an attraction for visitors in the area. He said other communities have developed themes to their public art programs that resulted in increased interest in the arts.
“As a result, staff recommends a plan of encouraging, facilitating and funding art pieces on private and public property featuring wind sculptures at strategic locations throughout the city over time,” Adams said. “Once a number of the sculptures are in place, it will encourage people to visit and travel throughout the community because it will create an experience.”
Potential locations for the sculptures are: southeast corner of Broadway Street and Mildred Avenue; Broadway Street medians; northeast corner of Broadway Street and Vanderhurst Avenue (proposed downtown plaza); southeast corner of Broadway and Second streets (vacant lot); Broadway Street and San Antonio Drive (new city entrance sign); City Hall; First Street entrance sign; Canal Street landscaped area; Broadway Circle landscaped area; San Antonio Park; City Park; Salinas Valley Fairgrounds and San Antonio Drive medians.
Other locations could be added to the list for the future, if deemed appropriate.
“The plan would be to begin with installation of reasonably priced, commercially available pieces and then advance to raising funds for original and more unique pieces in the future,” Adams said. “The program would compliment rather than replace other efforts to also install murals at key locations.”
Wind sculptures range in cost from $2,000 to $20,000 for commercial pieces and $40,000 to $200,000 for original artworks. Adams said the goal is to fund the program over time through a combination of city, grant, private business and community funds.
Each art project will return to the council for final approval on an individual basis.
The first project is being planned at the site of the new O’Reilly Auto Parts store on Broadway Street. Adams said the sculpture should be installed within a couple months.
