Behind Public Art at Pond

“The Anamorph,” the new sculpture at The Pond of Anaheim, cost $200,000, one-third of the $600,000 public-art fund established in 1991 with 1% of the arena’s construction budget. Internationally renowned artist Nam June Paik’s “Video Arch”--an entryway bank of 106 TV monitors flashing patterns of imagery--was the Citizen’s Art Advisory Committee’s first, spectacular commission for the Pond, installed in 1993. It cost $175,000.

The new piece is the result of inquiries sent to 85 Southern California artists. Eighteen were chosen to submit designs.

The winning trio represents considerable experience in public art. Turner, a professor in Chapman University’s art department and director of the Orange campus’ Guggenheim Gallery, is working on projects for a police station in South-Central Los Angeles, the Metro Green Line and a water treatment plant in San Diego.

Davis, a Cal State Fullerton master of arts graduate, is co-designing a Metro Red Line station and making works for sites in Philadelphia and Japan. Public commissions by Preston, who holds a master’s degree in fine arts from CalArts in Santa Clarita, include the Los Angeles Public Library and the Willow station of the Metro Blue Line.

The next Pond commission will be a work for the interior of the arena, commemorating its first year of operation. Solicitations to a new batch of Southern California artists will be mailed early next month, according to Julie Mayer, chairwoman of the Anaheim Arts Council and the unflappable driving force behind the art program at the Pond. She says the piece should be completed in a year.