Newest “Urban Trees” Invite Walk Along the Embarcadero

By Priscilla Lister

Make like a tourist in your own hometown and head to the North Embarcadero’s newest crop of “Urban Trees.”

The latest series in the Port of San Diego’s public art project along San Diego’s downtown waterfront, Urban Trees 6 is this year’s selection of 30 sculptures by 30 artists. The public art project is in its sixth year, with a new crop “planted” each year so far. This crop will be up through next summer.

Many of the sculptures are kinetic, moving with the wind. Many others reflect the sun that so often shines on this picture-postcard view. And they’re all for sale, once their year-long exhibition here is completed.

“Being a part of previous Urban Trees exhibits has helped my art career phenomenally,” said Amos Robinson, who has participated for five of the six years. His latest, “Sweet Music,” is a polished metal piece of a musician on bended knee serenading his graceful partner who responds by dancing. “As love is said to make the world go ‘round, it’s the wind that sets this kinetic artwork in motion and the sun and sky that enliven its polished surfaces,” says the port in its online listing of the latest Urban Trees and their locations along the North Embarcadero.

Robinson’s sculpture is listed for $30,000. His “My Bike,” from a previous year’s crop, was recently bought by the port district to be sited on the tidelands next to Coronado’s bike path.

The Port of San Diego has purchased several Urban Trees from each year for its permanent public art collection. They’re being relocated to parks and public spaces around the bay. An anonymous benefactor bought 10 and donated them to sculpture gardens at Scripps Memorial Hospitals in La Jolla and Encinitas. Others have been permanently planted at Chula Vista Library Civic Center Branch, Chula Vista Nature Center and on Imperial Beach’s Palm Avenue where the Silver Strand begins.

Near the Maritime Museum is Cathy Ann Janes’ “Thank You,” this year’s most expensive sculpture, listed at $45,000. U.S. military dog tags are the feathers on the seven-foot wings of this American eagle. She says it’s a tribute and remembrance to those who have served and a thank-you to soldiers returning home.

At least one asks you to participate in its movement. David Thefeld’s “On Board,” also near the maritime museum, consists of three whimsical reptiles on a checkerboard that swirls skyward. This 17-foot-tall kinetic sculpture can be spun by turning the lavender wheel at its bottom.

Cathy Coverley’s “Wind & Shadow” features a blue and yellow powder-coated canopy holding several colored glass disks; it rotates slowly in the breeze, casting colored patterns and shadows on the pavement below.

Mitchell Gaul’s “Formula 2 – Overturn 3” is an aluminum and steel sculpture that moves in three dimensions with the wind. The shiny steel elements seem to float. The artist said he named it after a fabrication process used to manage three-dimensional complex objects.

“My Ocean Is Your Ocean, Mi Mar Es Tu Mar” by Avra Michelle Strauss and Brent Sumner features real sand in the base of this sandcastle-like piece that depicts two mother mermaids back to back, representing San Diego’s and Tijuana’s shared responsibility for preventing human pollution, according to the port district’s listing.

The 30 sculptures are located from the cruise ship terminal to a little bit north of Hawthorn Street. It takes just about 45 minutes to walk up and back, but give yourself at least an hour to ponder the pieces and their artists’ intentions.

Before you go, download the listing of the pieces and their artists’ intentions at the port district’s web site: http://www.portofsandiego.org/public-art/urban-trees-6/1710-urban-trees-6-gallery.html.

It makes for a delightful short urban hike in a place usually traveled only by tourists — or downtown workers jogging on their lunch hours.

Along the route, you might notice some other interesting facets of your own city’s waterfront that you may have missed, including the fascinating and growing collection of ships that make up the San Diego Maritime Museum.