Second of a five-part series exploring public art sculpture in the city of Santa Clarita.
In 2009 the Santa Clarita City Council demonstrated its commitment to public art when it founded the Santa Clarita Arts Commission.
In a further vote of commitment to the arts the Santa Clarita City Council approved the Arts Master Plan in 2016 which has become the Arts Commission’s guiding document to provide arts, entertainment and cultural development throughout the city.
As part of the plan the following vision statement was issued:
“The city of Santa Clarita will be recognized as a ‘city of the arts,’ where the lives of residents, artists and visitors are enriched through artistic and cultural experiences.”
The plan mandated that public art planning and selection utilize peer review and community input to ensure that public art pieces meet the goals of providing enjoyable and attractive public spaces that reflect the character of the community.
Susan Shapiro, a member of the Arts Commission, said the implementation of an Arts Master Plan was a milestone for the commission.
“The Master Plan made it possible to show the city’s commitment to public art,” she said. “In addition, the Arts Master Plan is an important way to show support for artists in the community.”
Focusing on Sculptures
This five-part series will mostly focus on public art sculptures which reside within the city limits of Santa Clarita. Many of the sculptures are located in city parks.
Public art sculpture in Santa Clarita includes 46 installations, some include more than one sculpture piece, listed on the city of Santa Clarita Public Art Tour, of which five are temporary sculpture installations.
To see the full tour visit https://scpublicart.goodbarber.app/art-pieces/c/4.
This second exploration of public art sculptures in Santa Clarita starts in north Valencia at the northwest corner of West Creek Park and ends on Newhall Ranch Road at Heritage Park. You will visit seven public art sculptures on your journey.
Along the way you will visit two of the six “art bears” that grace sites around Santa Clarita.
The California Bear Project, developed in August 2004 by the city, installed life-sized fiberglass representations of the famed California Grizzly Bear from 2005 to 2018 throughout Santa Clarita.
Each life-sized replica is more than 10 feet in length and more than 5 feet tall.
Many Santa Claria residents have heard stories of a large grizzly bear killed in the Santa Clarita Valley in the 1800s.
The grizzly was reportedly killed by John Lang in 1875 near Lang Station in Canyon Country.
The model for the bear on the California state flag was a bear named Monarch, a grizzly, captured in an 1889 publicity stunt orchestrated by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. The 1,100-pound bear was captured in Ventura County, or the San Gabriel Valley, according to conflicting reports. He spent his remaining 22 years in captivity on display for thousands of Californians to see in Woodward Gardens, Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco Zoo.
Monarch is the model used not only for the bear appearing on the state flag of California, but also the blank model used for all the bear sculptures in the California Bear Project.
To begin the second public art tour visit:
Endangered Fossils
24247 Village Circle Drive
Valencia, CA 91354
Artist: Judith Modrak
Date: 2022
Material: Aqua-Resin Cast
Placement: Northwest Corner of West Creek Park
Endangered Fossils represent an imagined archaeological excavation and the discovery of a new organism. The sculpture pays homage to our beloved mother earth at a critical time requiring everyone’s involvement.
Meet artist Judith Modrak in this video from SCVTV:
Street Gates is located at Fire Station 156. The artist currently resides and works in Berkeley, where he was commissioned by the Berkeley Arts Commission to create the Mandala Gates for the city of Berkeley Corporation Yard. His work has been featured in various museums and galleries and he is well known for his metal gates which he says “are among the most noted and public aspects of my work. I have made gates for cities including Madison, Wisconsin, Oakland and Berkeley, California and also for many historical buildings and private homeowners.”
Fire Pit
24525 Copper Hill Drive,
Valencia, CA 91354
Artist: Matt Dehaemers
Date: 2011
Material: Concrete, glass (material), stone (rock)
Placement: Fire Station 156
“Fire Pit” is located at Fire Station 156. The fire pit is placed in the station’s exterior courtyard. The surface is richly colored and patterned in lithocrete and the “pit” is a carved-out boulder. Dehaemers projects were recognized four consecutive years (2004-2007) by the Public Art Network’s “Year in Review,” a prestigious, annual selection of the best new public artworks in the nation.
Transit Bear
28250 Constellation Road,
Valencia, CA 91355
Artist: Mike Burton
Date: 2007
Material: Fiberglass
Placement: Transit Maintenance Facility
The Transit Bear depicts the various forms of transportation that can be found in the Santa Clarita Valley.
This trailside art piece by local sculptors Idelle Tyzbir and Dianne Foderaro serves as the focal point of the entrance to the trail, greeting trail-goers as they enter the area.
The 15-foot-tall monument showcases three vertical steel beams, each with two arms pointing in the general direction of an assortment of historical landmarks around the Santa Clarita Valley, including The Oak of the Golden Dream, Newhall Ranch, Mentryville, Lyons Station and the Golden Spike.
Basics #56
San Francisquito Creek Trail
Parking and restrooms for the San Francisquito Creek Trail are available at Valencia Heritage Park, 24155 Newhall Ranch Road, Valencia, CA 91355 and West Creek Park, 24247 Village Circle Drive, Valencia, CA 91354.
Artist: Matthias Neumann
Date: 2022
Material: 2×4 Wood
“Basics #56” is part of an ongoing series of temporary public art installations realized throughout the country over the past nine years.
While each sculpture within this series is unique to its site, all installations share certain features, such that they are made from 2×4 dimensional lumber, that they are located within a public setting and that they are conceived to be temporary.
Beyond its formal beauty, the work may ask: What does it mean to live in time? To participate in public space? And to be part of the most basic material culture that surrounds us?
Birds of Valencia
24061 Newhall Ranch Road,
Valencia, CA 91355
Artist: Douwe Bloomberg
Date: 2008
Material: Aluminum
Location: Bridgeport Marketplace
Featuring 65 cast aluminum birds, each with a wingspan of more than five feet, this sculpture rises above a lake surface to over 17 feet in the air. Set amongst several sails, the piece was a unique engineering challenge.
The Heritage Bear
24155 Newhall Ranch Road,
Santa Clarita
Artist: Scott Groller
Date: 2005
Material: Fiberglass
Placement: Heritage Park
The Heritage Bear features a photographic collage of Santa Clarita history and events. Half of the bear is covered with historic pictures, while the other half is covered with pictures depicting modern day Santa Clarita.
More than 400 photos were used to create the Heritage Bear.
Meet the artist Scott Groller and learn about the Heritage Bear in this video:
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On Sunday, Dec. 15, nearly 2,000 people dressed in their favorite holiday outfits attended the Metrolink Holiday Express Train at the city of Santa Clarita’s Vista Canyon Multi-Modal Center in Canyon Country.
The City of Santa Clarita invites the community to come together for a Unity Walk in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Central Park, 27150 Bouquet Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91350, on Monday, Jan.20 at 8 a.m.
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Marianne Paris Sneider, a beloved long-time friend and patron of the Roar Foundation, died on July 21. Her generous spirit is reflected in her estate plan, which provides for a gift of $100,000 to the Roar Foundation in honor of Tippi Hedren, provided that the Roar Foundation receives $100,000 in matching grants within one year of her death.
More than a dozen Val Verde and Castaic residents and community leaders came together on Tuesday, Dec. 17, to decry the “inaction and lack of concern” of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors around the public health emergency in the "diverse" community around the Chiquita Canyon Landfill operated by Waste Connections.
The Gibbon Conservation Center in Saugus is offering the 2025 Gibbon Calendar for $15 plus $5 shipping. Purchasing a calendar or other items from the Gibbon Center Gift Shop helps support the care and feeding of the endangered small apes living at the Gibbon Conservation Center in Saugus.
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The City of Santa Clarita invites the community to come together for a Unity Walk in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Central Park, 27150 Bouquet Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91350, on Monday, Jan.20 at 8 a.m.
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Established in honor of the late Edward G. “Jerry” Gladbach, a past Association of California Water Agencies president, Santa Clarita Valley Water vice president and longtime local, the 2025/26 Edward G. “Jerry” Gladbach Scholarship application is available.
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