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 Berkeley,
California (Monday, October 20, 2003)
– On Monday, October
27, 2003, the City of Berkeley will begin installing the Berkeley
Poetry Walk in the sidewalk of the Downtown Arts District on Addison
Street. Over 120
cast-iron poetry panels will be installed along the curbside edge of
the sidewalk on Addison Street, between Shattuck and Milvia. On
each 55 lb. panel is a poem selected by Robert Hass.
Special
recognition and thanks goes Mr. Robert Hass for his generous time
and dedication to this project. Mr. Hass is the former US Poet Laureate and a Professor at
the University of California at Berkeley.
Bob Hass researched, selected and edited over 120 poems that
span the history of Berkeley. Local Architect John Roberts is the
original designer of the Addison Streetscape.
Mr. Roberts donated his time to work with Mr. Hass to design
the placement of the poems in historical order on the street. A
visitor to the Downtown Arts District will be able to walk down
Addison Street and read the poetic voices of Berkeley that span from
the Ohlone Indians to present-day poets. Mr.
Hass and Mr. Roberts have donated their services with the poetry as
a gift to the community.
The
cast-iron poetry panels were fabricated using a unique blend of
materials. The
technical consultant for this project, Scott Donahue, worked with
the Civic Arts Commission, staff and the manufacturers to design
this special technique. The poems are silk-screened with a glass porcelain emulsion
onto a cast-iron plate. This
plate is then fired in an industrial kiln, which permanently affixes
the porcelain text to the iron plate, making a durable surface. Each panel will patina over time, developing a reddish coat of
rust which is designed to compliment the pale yellow hue of text. Each
letter of text is outlined by a durable black emulsion for better
clarity and read-ability. This process of
constructing the porcelain text of the panels was performed by
Cherokee Porcelain and Steel located in Tennessee. Berkeley artist David Lance Goines designed the choice of type
and the text layout of the poems.
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A sample of a poetry
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This
project was made possible by a joint effort between private donors
and the Measure S Bond Issue for downtown renovations. The
private donors along with the citizens of Berkeley will be
recognized on an “Acknowledgments” plaque that will be installed
along the poetry walk. Plans
are underway to work with Berkeley’s HeyDay Press to produce a
published anthology that documents the poetry selected for this
project.
A
series of celebrations and openings for the Berkeley Poetry Walk are
being planned and will be announced. The
Addison Streetscape is a project of the City of Berkeley, Public Art
Program. This program
is a part of the Civic Arts Program in the Office of Economic
Development and the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission.
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