Coming About Fountain Sculpture

One of my favorites. Constantly changing sounds in the wind.

Love it.
There’s a delicious design flaw, however… possibly. It could be deliberate, but when a slight breeze hits it, it makes a loud, crass, undignified slapping sound. It’s quite inappropriate (this is tongue in cheek people)

Elegant, graceful and fluid Coming About exudes strength and balance… take a moment to enjoy some real art next time you are strolling in Tiburon.

PUBLIC ART. We really do not have enough of it in the greater Bay Area. Yes, we have some, but really not that much compared to other major cities in the US. How come we don’t have the art? Where are the dollars going?
I was pleased to see the new fountain sculpture — COMING ABOUT — installed in the downtown Plaza of Tiburon in October of 2006. But it gives me mixed feelings. It really is quite beautiful, but OMG did it cost us way too much.
Titled «COMING ABOUT,» it is a set of steel sails coming out of a fountain. Steel sails that move «with the wind.» (Actually they are mechanical, but don’t tell anyone. It took an extra 3 months to get the underground wiring and transformer installed and upgraded to make «Coming About» perform properly.)
Some folks say it represents a REGATTA; some say it is a SHARK’S FIN; some say it represents a BIRD’S WING.
Me? Oh, I am sure. It represents the SAILS from the many local Bay area sailboats. Stand back, take a look. See if you don’t agree with me. Especially when they start to change position. You can almost feel the wind as it whips through the sails!
Designers and installers were the husband and wife team of Jeff Reed and Jennifer Madden. They spent the better part of a year of their lives on this Public Art.
It is beautiful. No question about it. It does brighten up the Plaza area. Come down and have your holiday photos taken here. There’s a Christmas tree in the background.
Installed at a final cost around ½ a million dollars. Yikes!
Think of all the hunger kids in the world we could have fed!
Houses we could have built to replace the ones lost in Katrina!
Or southern California?
Health care options for children who don’t have any!
Medicine for folks in Africa with AIDS. .. . or San Francisco!
½ a million dollars!
I do love Pubic Art, but I sure wish it didn’t cost so much. There are so many better ways to spend our money. Ways that will truly make our world more livable. I would sleep better at night knowing that we helped more children go to bed with full tummies and warm blankies and the medicines they need, rather than Public Art that costs so damn much.
And yet all we could do was squabble over what kind of benches to put in the Plaza.