VENTURA : City Selects Artist for Pier Project

San Francisco artist Ned Kahn has been chosen by the city of Ventura to incorporate artwork into the $3.5-million Ventura Pier restoration project, city officials said Tuesday.

Kahn, 30, is the exhibit designer for Exploratorium, a hands-on science museum in San Francisco, and has worked on several public art projects in such locations as Pierce College in Washington, the new Phoenix Airport terminal, Chevron Corp.’s office building in downtown San Francisco, and the San Francisco County Jail.

In Ventura, he will work with project architect Eric Lassen during the next several months to design and fabricate artwork that will blend with the design of the pier, said city Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Sonia Tower.

Kahn said he hasn’t decided yet what to do with the $55,000 art budget allocated for the pier project. “I’ll have to go down there and see what’s going on,” he said.