Picked by Hand. An orange finds a home.

I was out in Riverside last Saturday, meeting with a group touring orange's on display. It's a project I participated in last June. Now, some of my local Downtown LA art friends snickered with good humor when I told them about my painting an orange for a public art project as a fundraiser for the Riverside Art Museum. That's not public art, they said, "So kitsch." And it can be. But not this time.

You know the story. Chicago brought in fiberglass cows for artists to paint and then displayed all over the city. Other cities now do the same with different iconic figures, like LA's angels a few years back. The Riverside Art Museum called me after the deadline to ask if I interested in doing one. I said yes, as long as I don't have to do something just decorative and keep it as close to public art as possible. I sent in an idea I didn't think would find a sponsor. Someone did select it. The Riverside Junior League.  Opening day comes. Nice debut in the park with 31 other oranges. Cindy Mosqueda posted it on LAist.  Good regional press. And the art museum raised more money than any other fundraiser. Other then some early vandalism on some of the oranges (mine wasn't touched) it's a smooth ride thanks to the Riverside Art Alliance.

My completed orange has names of former citrus grove workers written on it and as I wrote then: "Just as artists get to sign their work; the names of people who built a neighborhood by volunteering to build churches, schools and libraries in the early history of my neighborhood, sometimes after working all day in the groves, now have their names signed on an orange by an artist." The names circle around a figure of a worker walking home in a Riverside summer sunset. The organizers found a good place for it's summer public display. On a corner in front of the Main Library next to a church. You can see it coming up toward the Mission Inn from the 91 freeway.

Most of these oranges will be put up for auction after the summer. My sponsor, the Riverside Junior League, wanted to do something different. They want to donate this to the new Casa Blanca Library that's in the community of where some of the families of those named on the orange still live. The Friends of the Riverside Public Library, with plans to build a courtyard next to the Casa Blanca Library, wanted to see what was being planned with the orange. They met for lunch, and to the surprise of both, had the same idea. So this orange, called "Picked by Hand", will be part of the new plaza near the groves where many of them worked.

Kitsch will have to wait another day.

Photo: Riverside Art Museum tour of the Orange Project next to "picked by hand."