Woven Stories (Small Artwork Commission 2021)

At the October 28^th 2021 PPAC meeting, staff presented the Public Art Committee (PPAC) with top-scoring proposals as ranked and reviewed anonymously by the Committee prior to the presentation. The Committee selected two (2) artist teams to be invited to further develop their proposals by working with staff and an assigned subcommittee for each team. These two selected teams were Rough Edge Collective from Santa Rosa, CA and Calderón-Delgado from Los Angeles, CA. Both artist teams were invited to work with the City to develop a final proposal for an awarded contract and were paid an honorarium to complete this work over the next few months. The artists presented their proposal to the PPAC at the March 24, 2022 meeting and were unanimously approved for a $25,000 contract to commission the artwork as proposed and have the final design, fabrication, and installation complete within twelve (12) months of signing the contract with the City.

Calderón-Delgado, comprised of artists Rude Calderón and Roberto Delgado, proposes a sculptural structure entitled Woven Stories for Kenilworth Junior High School at 800 Riesling Road. Though a final artwork placement has yet to be determined, the school has agreed to collaborate with the artists and City to accommodate the permanent public artwork somewhere on the campus that accommodates public access. Woven Stories will be a site-specific sculpture made of natural calcite and travertine stone as well as ceramic tile inlaid into the stone base. The maximum dimensions of the artwork are approximately eight (8) feet tall by four (4) feet wide and four (4) feet deep.

The hand-carved sculpture consists of a onyx travertine form in the shape of a woven basket, a translucent calcite “flame”, and a sandstone pedestal with tile inset shapes that follow the theme of the woven baskets created by the Miwok and Pomo peoples, who are the first communities of the region now referred to as Northern California and the Petaluma Valley. The region’s Miwok and Pomo art of basket weaving is world renowned for its beauty and highly developed craftsmanship, which has endured hundreds of generations into the present. In the sculpture, the colorful earth tones of the layered onyx travertine resemble the woven reeds of the baskets while the calcite flame provides an interactive element, allowing to be turned and directed at the sun as it travels across the sky which is an astronomical lesson of the sun’s different positions according to the seasons. Additionally, the calcite flame is representative of knowledge, memory, and hope for an enlightened society.

Rude Calderón and Roberto Delgado are a professional mix-media artist team that specialize in hand-brushed acrylic, fired ceramic tile, stone, and metalwork techniques that strive to complement the built environment and show the culture and history of the community they work with. All their projects include community engagement where they can develop a sense of participation in their projects, giving youth and their families a proprietary interest in the artwork. Upon interview with the subcommittee, Rude and Roberto expressed their favorite past community engagement was with middle school students, which was an added reason to the team’s site selection.

Additionally, the artists have been recommended by staff to include a land acknowledgement in their public art signage as an important respect to Petaluma’s indigenous community. Staff has recommended consultation with the local tribal community to further discuss and develop interpretation materials for the artwork and produce educational resources for the public and the students that interact with the public artwork.