New Urban Trees Celebrated on San Diego Bay’s Waterfront

Friday, 29 October 2010
Contact: Dale Frost (619) 686-6461, Allan Tait (619) 686-7247

Love and art bloomed along the San Diego waterfront on Thursday, October 28, 2010, when the latest crop of Urban Trees 7 artworks was presented.

After the dedication ceremony one of the artists, Franklin Lee Cota, walked out to his sculpture of a dancing woman, dropped to a knee and asked his girlfriend, Nicole Moreno, to marry him. She said yes, right in front of her fiance's creation, titled "Bayside Dance."

"It was the perfect moment," said Nicole Moreno's father, Luis Moreno, a painter at the Port of San Diego.

The Port's Public Art Department couldn't have painted a better opening for its seventh edition of the Urban Trees. There are 30 new artworks on display for pedestrians to view along San Diego's North Embarcadero.

The "trees" include a sculpture of an eight-foot-tall man balancing on one hand, titled "Handstand," and one titled "Precision," an artwork of a dolphin jumping through a hoop while balancing a ball on its nose.

The art series is called trees because the fanciful creations extend skyward from heavy planter boxes.

Urban Tree artists, downtown residents, port officials, art lovers and others, gathered in the B Street Pier Cruise Ship Terminal to mark the dedication of Urban Trees 7.

"Thank you to all of the artists who contributed their time and talent this year," said Port Commissioner Lee Burdick. "Once again, we have an extraordinary exhibit."

The "trees" will remain on display for a year. They were installed by the Port's General Services Department days before the dedication.

"It's an exciting moment," said artist Anne Oshman last week as a crane lifted a large mosaic bloom she created onto its tall stem. Titled Nature's Berth, the flower is topped with a mosaic butterfly.

"There is so much detail to each sculpture," said Johan Parry, a pedestrian who was visiting from Scotland. "This is the third time today I've looked at each piece."

Local residents and visitors from throughout the world, including thousands of cruise ship passengers who embark and disembark from the B Street Pier Cruise Ship Terminal, find the trees engaging.

"I come every year to see the Urban Trees," said San Diegan Elizabeth MacLeod.

She was photographing "Liberation," an Urban Tree that actually looks like a tree. There is a birdcage on the trunk, but all the blue birds are free and perch on the leafy tree limbs.

The 30 Urban Trees were selected by the Port of San Diego's Public Art Committee from 82 sculpture models submitted after the Port Public Art Department sent out a national call for entries.