New sculpture unveiled at Lancaster intersection

Andi Campognone (from left), manager of arts and museums for the city of Lancaster; artist Joseph O’Connell; Councilman Darrell Dorris; Sonya Patterson, director of Parks, Arts, Recreation and Community Services; and Councilman Ken Mann cut the ribbon Wednesday morning on O’Connell’s Superbloom! art piece at the southwestern corner of Lancaster Boulevard and 10th Street West.

LANCASTER — The brilliant blue, green, orange, red, purple and yellow disks of various sizes carefully arranged on sturdy aluminum stalks at the southwest corner of Lancaster Boulevard and 10th Street West is the city of Lancaster’s latest public art piece.

The Superbloom! sculpture by artist Joseph O’Connell is part of Lancaster’s Art in Public Places program. The aluminum stalks are held together with bolts and rivets reminiscent of the aerospace industry. The varying heights of the disks symbolize the organic growth of wildflowers as well as the continuous progress and development of the community.

O’Connell, who lives in the desert city of Tuscon, Ariz., was inspired by the wildflower super blooms that occur occasionally in the desert when the right amount of rainfall and temperatures combine for a brilliant but brief spring display of color.

“The other is the aerospace industry,” O’Connell said. “The reason they’re schematic like this isn’t because I’ve forgotten how to draw flowers; it’s I wanted to make that connection to the diagrams of hydraulic systems in airplanes and the semaphore-like signs that line runways and guide airplanes, to make a connection between nature’s exuberance and human creativity and the things that we make.”

The art piece is also rejuvenating. The disks cast colorful shadows on the tan decomposed granite ground as the Wednesday morning sun shined through them.

“The idea being if you’re going through a bad period you could be reborn at some point,” O’Connell said. “It happens even when you think all hope is lost.”

O’Connell then stepped in the shadows of orange and green disks to demonstrate how the sculpture can affect you beyond just looking at it. The colored shadows cast an orange and green hue on O’Connell.

The artist was in town for a Wednesday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony conducted by city officials.

Councilman Ken Mann said the city will add a plaque to the corner to recognize O’Connell’s work.

“I think it really adds to this corner,” Mann said.

“Superbloom! holds a deeper meaning for us as a community,” Councilman Darrell Dorris said. “It symbolizes our resilience and our capacity to heal and to grow even in challenging times. It reflects the strength we find in unity and collaboration emphasizing the importance of supporting one another.”

Representatives from the offices of Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita; state Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita; and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and the Antelope Valley Chamber of Commerce presented certificates to O’Connell.

“The parks department is so very excited to add to our latest public art with this installation of Superbloom!” said Sonya Patterson, director of Parks, Arts, Recreation and Community Services, who also thanked everyone who helped make the art installation possible.

Andi Campognone, manager of arts and museums for the city of Lancaster, recalled that in 2018, Mayor R. Rex Parris and the City Council decided it was important to have a public art plan. The plan was approved in November 2018; since then the city has produced 57 murals, three roundabout sculptures, four crosswalk murals and a census poster project during the COVID-19 pandemic where the businesses along the boulevard turned their front windows into a gallery.

“We also have more sculpture and more murals coming,” Campognone said.

The upcoming sculptures include a large project at Columbia Way (Avenue M). O’Connell was the runner-up artist for the Columbia Way project.

“It’s a very large project that’s going to have two very large installations and roundabouts and also the winner of that call will also design some of the signage and parts of the freeway,” Campognone said, she added that O’Connell’s work does better with pedestrian interaction.

The art for the roundabouts would not lend itself to the same interaction that O’Connell’s work encourages, she said.

The city didn’t forget about O’Connell or the desire to do something with the southwest corner at Lancaster Boulevard and 10th Street West, which at one point was designated for a plane on a stick.

“I think at one point Sonya was talking about this corner spot and what are we going to do with it and we need to engage the community,” Campognone said. “It was so obviously a perfect pick to have Joe’s Superbloom! here on the corner.”

O’Connelll encouraged people to interact with the sculpture.

“My hope is that you’ll use the art like you use the rest of the art in Lancaster to revive your lives, to reflect and come with kids and dance in the colored shadows,” he said. “But use it; don’t leave it in a museum.”

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