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Artist Lorna Jordan has been selected by the Public Art Commission to create an arts master plan design to enhance the ecological reserve surrounding the City’s water reclamation holding ponds.
Ventura Harbor Ecological Reserve -
Harbor Wetlands Project
Project Information
Artist Lorna Jordan (www.lornajordan.com) has been selected by the Public Art Commission to create an arts master plan design to enhance the ecological reserve surrounding the City's water reclamation holding ponds. Leading an interdisciplinary team assembled for the project, Jordan was awarded a $100,000 contract to plan and design amenities that enhance environmental literacy, public access and the visual appearance of the site. The project is quite large and will be developed in a series of phases. The first phase is development of the master plan and a small demonstration project.
Contact Denise Sindelar at dsindelar@cityofventura.net for pdfs of the following documents:
The 50-acre site is adjacent to the Water Reclamation Facility between Spinnaker Drive and the Santa Clara River estuary. Located near the commercial and recreational development of Ventura Harbor, the project is called Harbor Wetlands. Funding is from City water infrastructure construction projects percent for art monies. By state law, these funds must be used for works on the department's sites.
About the Project Team
Lorna Jordan is a nationally recognized public artist with expertise in watershed landscapes and water works facilities. Her experience with landscape-scale public art projects includes Waterworks Garden, an award-winning reclamation water site at the King County East Division Water Treatment Plant in Renton, Washington. Lorna bases her practice in Seattle.
The artist's team includes AMEC Earth and Environmental, an experienced project management firm with expertise in environmental, geotechnical, material and water resources. The artist will rely on their resources of scientists, geologists, engineers, biologists, environmental planners and specialists. Lorna selected Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. a California landscape architect firm, for their expertise in recreation planning, design, and management. A national presence, MIG has created award winning water projects across the United States.
About the Site and Art Planning Process:
The Ventura Water Reclamation ponds were created in 1971 to hold clean wastewater before release into the Santa Clara River Estuary. Shaped by bulldozers, the area is an ecological reserve with volunteer native and non-native vegetation providing habitat for resident and migratory birds, fish, frogs and bobcats. School groups, birding enthusiasts and walkers can visit the ecological reserve and enjoy fresh ocean breezes along 1.1 miles of flat, wide trails. Access is by registration in the administration offices at 1400 Spinnaker Drive. Dogs, bicycles and motorized vehicles are prohibited in the Reserve.
For the first stage the Team analyzed the existing setting, vegetation, geological and hydrologic conditions, and built environment and created a Wetlands Research Report. After community engagement and her team's extensive research, the Team then submitted the Harbor Wetlands master plan, with design concepts including a circulation plan sculptural places and special plantings. The artist is currently developing vision drawings for potential enhancements that may include a dune overlook, bird blind and seating pavilion, entry gates, and/or interpretive signage. The Public Art Commission will review the drawings in the coming year and work with Lorna to decide on a demonstration project.
Bicycle Rack Project
In order to encourage more people to choose cycling as a transportation option and to weave art into the fabric of our urban infrastructure, the Public Art Commission selected five Southern California artists to design and fabricate bicycle racks that are identifiable, functional, and imaginative. The five artists, Jessica Bodner, Tyson Cline, Douglas Lochner, LT Mustardseed, and John Suttman, were chosen through an open competition. Each artist’s winning design will be produced as a series of limited editions and integrated throughout the Downtown cultural District and portions of the Westside, College District and Eastside.
California Street Project
The redesign of the California Street Bridge offers an exciting opportunity to create an iconographic pedestrian/vehicular thoroughfare for the city of Ventura. Working in collaboration with city representatives, the Arts Commission and other design professionals, artist Michael Davis has created a design that highlights the California Street Bridge’s unique vantage point while addressing key problems with the bridge in its present form. The artist’s innovative redesign also works to integrate public art in a way that encompasses functionality and aesthetics. He intends, for example, to replace the current low railing with a new bronze and steel railing assured to provide a sense of enclosure and protection, and he will address the bridge’s inadequate lighting by including nine sculptural lighting columns.
About the Artist
Michael Davis has worked successfully in the field of public art for over 25 years, creating works across the United States and internationally for national, state and city venues as well as museum and gallery installations. Davis is highly experienced in projects involving design team collaborations and research of a community and its history. Work by Davis can be found at the Los Angeles MTA Vermont/Sunset Station, the Seattle Justice Center, the Metro-Dade International Airport in Miami, and, among numerous other sites, at Heritage Park in the City of Santa Fe Springs.
