Clash of concepts

Freedom. Success. Peace. Wealth.

Those words are keystones in Linda Brunker’s City Hall sculpture, “The People’s Council.”

“Success” is no doubt the biggest wish for Brunker, who has had to modify her design several times since its inception. The sculpture’s dedication is planned for Thursday, July 6.

But there is a lot to be accomplished before that date.

The design features sculpted figures and benches around a center black sundial. At different points of day, the sundial will point toward a different wish. At lunchtime, the sundial will point to success and love; in the early evening, happiness and strength.

“I’ve always wanted to do something with the sun before,” Brunker said. “I was looking for things that people wish for in their lives.”

In addition to site difficulties, “The People’s Council” has had more than its share of contention. It was the most expensive public art project ever authorized by the city, at $80,000.

The project now includes more benches and wheelchair access, adding extra steel and expansion joints, and repaving the entire sidewalk.

Brunker learned Thursday that she will be responsible for paying for all of these additions, which were not included in her original budget.

“Now I’m in a very awkward position,” she said. “I requested a site meeting last summer with the city engineer and the maintenance department.” The meeting was never held, she said.

“The first thing you do is discuss how the sculpture is going to be integrated [into the site],” she said. She had already signed the contract, so she went ahead with the project.

The grading issues she nervously anticipated quickly became a setback for Brunker, who had to build a step on one side of the design to compensate for the change in elevation from one side of the work to the other.

The latest hiccup to the process was the need to conform to Americans with Disabilities Act regulations and to close gaps located at the edge of the stepped design.

“They didn’t want a wheelchair to fall off the edge of the step,” Brunker said.

At the June 12 Arts Commission meeting, Brunker recommended adding benches to remedy the wheelchair issue and showed the Commission where they would fit into the design.

Commissioner Dora Wexell stated her displeasure that she had not previously seen a certain mock-up presented by Brunker and suggested that she may not have approved the project had she understood the design as a whole.

“We’re going have to live with this sculpture forever,” Wexell said.

After a long debate, all but Wexell and Commissioner Mary Ferguson approved the adjustments, and Commissioner Jan Sattler commended Brunker for coming up with a solution to a tricky issue.

The following week, an Arts Commission meeting was hurriedly held June 21 to approve additional accessibility modifications. A construction team was onsite the following morning, with jackhammers and chisels, in order to ensure that the sculpture is ready for its July 6 dedication.

Although it was unexpected, “the extra seating is going to be good,” Brunker said.

The Arts Commission required that the selected piece be interactive and low-lying, as passing fire-truck drivers would need to see past it, Brunker said.

The highest points on her design are the obelisk and the three seated granite figures, which depict a woman holding a bronze bird with wings outstretched; a man in shorts, seemingly meditating with a small bronze dog at his feet; and a man wearing a bronze medal, looking down at the sundial.

In comparison, Brunker’s works have typically been lofty bronze figures whose makeup allows air to pass through them, such as her “Voyager” sculpture in Treasure Island Park.

But that type of design wouldn’t suit the project’s requirement for public interactivity.

“By its nature, bronze attracts and stores heat,” Brunker said. “I realized it would have to be another material.”

So she chose stone as her medium.

“I haven’t done anything this large in granite before,” Brunker said. She smiles. “But I was looking for an excuse to work with stone anyway.”

The figures are intentionally anonymous. “I think it’s up to the public to name them,” Brunker said.

Dubliners like Brunker have a long history of renaming public art; in particular, Brunker recalled Eamonn O’Doherty’s statue “Anna Livia,” a bronze monument that was renamed by local residents to “The Floozie in the Jacuzzi.”

Brunker debuted her first public sculpture at the age of 22. “I’ve never really done anything else,” she said.

Her works have been commissioned in this country from Hawaii to New York, and she has created many public works in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe.

She was introduced in Laguna eight years ago by Daniel Fine Art, and has since established relationships with Marion Meyer Contemporary Art and the Redfern Gallery.

Brunker’s residence and studio reside on two acres in the unincorporated community of Wildomar, south of Lake Elsinore in Riverside County.

Wildomar is about a one-hour commute from Laguna Beach, Brunker said.

The flat, open space was necessary for her work on “The People’s Council;” 40-foot trucks needed to be able to access the property to deliver quarried stone from China, and she had to roll her creations on carts to and from her studio.

Although Brunker is lithe, with toned arms, the extent of her physical strength may seem questionable at first glance.

“Who made this?” a burly male pedestrian asked, pointing at the granite figures. Another person on the sidewalk pointed at Brunker. The man’s eyebrows raised.

Aware of this stereotype, Brunker used italics to emphasize in her statement to the Arts Commission, “I’m tougher than I look!”

Other passersby, like resident Tom Slattery, constantly stop to commend Brunker on her work.

Slattery also voiced his preference to her design at meetings during the selection process.

“It’s so important for people to come here and get this instead of the other crap,” he said.

A van driver then honked his horn boisterously, leaning out to give Brunker a thumbs-up.

“I haven’t had a single negative comment out here,” Brunker said. She noted the difference between the residents’ reactions and that which she originally received within City Hall.

The Arts Commission moved to note that artist John Barber’s piece should be recognized as second place in the competition ? not typical practice in Laguna.

“I think it’s because they didn’t know me as well as the other artists,” Brunker said. “But I’m really happy with the finished project. It’s exactly how I envisioned it.”

“I’ve learned a lot about working with stone ? and a lot about politics,” she said softly.

“The People’s Council” dedication is planned for 5 p.m. Thursday, July 6, prior to that evening’s First Thursdays Art Walk.cpt-23-peoplescourt-dl-CPhotoInfoVE1S7LI520060623j18lgyncDON LEACH / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Sculptor Linda Brunker dusts off the chin of one of the members of “The People’s Council” public art installment, next to the downtown fire station.