Story Published:
Apr 7, 2010 at 7:45 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Apr 7, 2010 at 7:45 PM PDT
BELLFLOWER — A traveling art exhibit will be erected on vacant, city-owned land at 16400 and 16412 Bellflower Blvd., June 24 to Aug. 31.
The City Council March 22 agreed to lease the lot, south of the Historic Train Depot, on land slated for a future fire museum. No fee will be charged but a private group which will sponsor the placement of the art must handle maintenance, under the agreement.
The request comes from Kingdom Causes Bellflower, a group composed of churches which has provided community activities in the cash-strapped city under the title Bless Bellflower.
Based at 9881 Alondra Blvd., Kingdom Causes is a state-registered nonprofit group which seeks to help in the community with activities, such as the Easter egg hunt; a homeless outreach and other services.
Kingdom Causes representative Ryan VerWys said the sculpture by Romanian artist Liviu Mocan, consists of 10 16-foot high fiberglass pillars arranged in a circle about 25 feet in diameter. The pillars represent both the 10 fingers of God and the Ten Commandments. They were commissioned in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Reformation Wall to mark the 500th birthday of Protestant leader John Calvin.
VerWys said the pillars are to stay in Switzerland until this spring, then be moved to various sites around the world. The art work has space between the pillars to encourage visitors to interact with them and touch them, he said.
The pillars will be secured by a metal base just below the surface of the ground and should withstand most wind and rain, he added.
Plans are to use the art work for Kingdom Causes’ second Art Walk in August before they are removed.
Brian Lee, director of the city’s Community Development Department, said the public sculpture would be another attraction to downtown Bellflower, which is Bellflower Boulevard between Alondra an Artesia boulevards.
Kingdom Causes, in 2006, opened the Our Place Neighborhood Resource Center on Alondra Boulevard in the heart of a densely populated, low-income apartment area.
The site is a community center for the Eucalyptus and nearby Cornuta Avenue neighborhoods. Programs there include after-school tutoring, counseling and community-based social development, Lee said.
Good Soil Industries, a subsidiary of Kingdom Causes, provides landscape and gardening services.
In addition, Kingdom Causes has formed Our Place Housing Solutions, a community housing development organization which is currently using federal funds to rehabilitate homes in the community, Lee said.
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