Lemonade: Day 13 - Bixby Park Art Under the Umbrellas

We're making Community Lemonade in Long Beach, CA.  Come and make lemonade with us!

!  I'm on a 100 day odyssey for community and creativity in Long Beach, CA.  We've got such an amazing city, and I'm a huge fan!  I want to share it with you!  I'm seeking out the creatives and the facilitators of creativity.  The art and the locations that inspire art.  Bringing them to you, here in this blog, and to others, on the streets of Long Beach.

I call it .

Today was Day 13 of Making Lemonade.  I visited the Art Under the Umbrellas event put on by the Friends of Bixby Park.

I met up with Art Under the Umbrellas organizers Nancy ONeill and Claudia Schou, who belong to a group known as the Friends of Bixby Park.

Bixby Park

Bixby Park is the park bounded on the north by Broadway, on the west by Cherry, on the east by Junipero and on the south by the beach.

Bixby Park has an amazing location on the bluff overlooking the beach.  There are not too many park spaces that have this sort of location.   Bixby Park is subdivided into four green spaces, each occupying a city block.  Bixby Park is also on the west end of Bluff Park, which runs for about a mile along the ocean front.  Long steps lead down from Bluff Park to the beach.  Good for a run and some steps... a workout on the beach.

You can sometimes see a soccer game, sometimes a craft fair.  Yoga on the green, warm ups and warm downs.

Memories

I'd visited the Bixby Park facilities before, as a guest of .  It was a few years ago, when she was more agile.  We attended a yoga class that was delivered for seniors in the park community center.  She spoke frequently - and fondly - of those classes.

I'd also taken my then pre-school aged child over to the children's playground space.  I do recall having been somewhat impressed by the playground, especially the geometric dome that the children could climb on.

I remember reading about the historic bandshell, when a tree fell onto it.  I recall visiting the location at that time.

Friends of Bixby Park

Some time after the bandshell was repaired, the Friends of Bixby Park was formed.  Why does a park need an organization of friends?  Well, often the nearby residents have a vision different from that which is implemented, and it takes funding that exceeds the city's ability to meet.  Caring is the first step.

The Friends of Bixby Park is working to raise funds to replace the fountain at the far North parcel of the park.  The vision is to restore the fountain area, relandscape, add a park bench and turn it into a Spanish revival planter.  Friends of Bixby Park is almost 1/2 way to its goal of $200K for this effort.  You may help by sponsoring a specific item for the fountain project.

Art Under the Umbrellas

I stopped by the Art Under the Umbrellas event early this AM, arriving as the artists were setting up their tables.  The artists chatted with each other, bicyclists stopped and inquired about pieces.  Someone came looking for Reverend Sunshine Daye.

Jewelry, portraiture, garden art objects, ceramics were represented.  Dog portraits painted to your puppy's image.  Mosaics.  Metalwork, a quilter with her piece that was displayed at Harvard.

The artists:

• Christine Haenen, portrait artist and designer
• Doug Walker, muralist (Doug is a product designer in his other life.  His work varies from medical equipment to umbrellas and toys.  I asked him what CAD program he uses.  Solidworks)
• Catherine Gamble - Mosaics - and her lovely daughter, Bridget
• Ronnie Lynn Damico Cole, metalsmith, garden totems and plant jewelry
• Barbara Wurden,goddess portraits
• Quilter Deborah Yeboah with her quilted art cloth, including an Obama image that was displayed at Harvard.  A family booth with handmade soaps and candies made by her grandchildren as part of their empowerment non-profit for girls.
• Bethan Clayton, pet portraits, muralist and interior design
• Roz Walker, designer, fashion, graphic design with her art photography
• John Scott of JBS Designs, Ceramics.  The edges of the pieces are extremely thin, fired clay.  To prove their strength, the artist did a demonstration which I recorded.
• Reverend Sunshine Daye who authored several inspirational prayers was there with beads and CDs
• Anne Alais, designer

And tomorrow...

Day 14: A visit with Paul Yoshida and his Kickstarter Project

Tomorrow I will speak with Paul Yoshida, who's working to get his art project off the ground.

Want more lemonade? 

Items Needed

Nothing!

Need to contact me?  info@handmadepenguin.com

Trish Tsoiasue writes as herself about creative and maker topics for the Belmont Shore Patch and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin Blog.