Chandler bikeway will get sculpture

CITY HALL — A second piece of public art is headed for the Chandler Bikeway after receiving the full support of the City Council.

The art piece, called "Family Outing," was created by Utah-based artist Gary Lee Price and depicts three bronze figures riding bicycles. A young child, with training wheels on his bike, leads the trio, followed by father and his daughter.

The piece is about 11 feet long, 7 feet wide and 5 feet in height, Parks Recreation and Community Services Department Director Eric Hansen said.

The council's choice portrays an ideal subject for the bikeway, said Councilman Jef Vander Borght, who in August posed the possibility of a second art piece for Chandler. The council backed Vander Borght with a unanimous vote at its Nov. 21 meeting.

"I'm elated and ecstatic," he said. "I think that the piece will fit the whole theme of the bike path perfectly. I think it's something that 99.9% of the people will love."

The piece presently is at the artist's studio in Utah and shipping plans have not yet been finalized, but the sculpture's installation probably will take place within three months.

"Family Outing" was chosen from a list of eight other options, which city staffers generated at request of the City Council, Hansen said. As a part of the process, some art concepts and pieces were taken to members of the Friends of Chandler, a community group, members of which were also supportive of the project.

The Parks and Recreation Department is recommending that the piece be installed on the northwest corner of Chandler Boulevard and Hollywood Way, which is about a mile away from the first art piece on Chandler and Keystone Street, which was installed in December 2005.

"What we tried to do is spread them out," Hansen said.

The city's Art in Public Places fund will cover the costs of the $65,000 project, which includes installation and shipping from Utah, he said. The fund is comprised of money from developers who chose not to install public art as a part of their own projects, opting to put 1% of their total project cost in a public fund to satisfy the city's public art requirement, he said.

"To meet the Art in Public Places art obligation … their financial obligation then would go to the public art fund," he said. "So all of this is just basically funds that have been provided by developers."

The quick and mounting popularity of Chandler Bikeway has made it a priority location for public art in Burbank, Vander Borght said.

"The success of the Chandler bike path has brought it to the forefront as really a linear park that needs as much attention as possible," he said. "And art is one of those components that brings a personality and brings life to an otherwise somewhat static landscaping."

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