Bella Vista Park Gate
Title: Bella Vista Park Gate
Year: 2005
Media: Steel, Cast Iron, Patina, Clear coat
Size: 20” x 84” x 4”
Location: 1025 E 28th St, Oakland, CA
Client: Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission, Oakland, CA., and Trust for Public Land
Bella Vista Park Gate is composed entirely of historic iron objects, many of which were collected in the immediate neighborhood and donated by neighbors. The students at the adjoining Bella Vista Elementary School were brought into the design/concept process through a series of workshops. This included passing the objects around the classrooms and discussing what could be surmised about the object (‘A horseshoe was found when a neighbor was digging in her garden…There were horses here before there were cars!). The gate includes the busts of two local luminaries: Gertrude Stein and ‘Borax’ Smith, both of whom once lived in the Bella Vista neighborhood. The gates also serve as a popular photo-op stop…