Laguna Beach’s new phone booth artwork is a conversation starter
Laguna Beach has enlisted two of its resident artists to get conversations started, as Candice Brokenshire and Julie Setterholm have put up a new installation called “We Need to Talk” at the phone booth on Forest Avenue.
The artwork is the latest in a series of city-sponsored projects that have utilized the phone booth as a mechanism around which to place public art. Previously, an octopus had appeared to be engulfing the communication station in Jeffrey Skarvan’s “Call to Action.”
A dedication ceremony was held Thursday for the new public artwork, which the artists hope will take on a life of its own.
“For us, just even entering the competition, we had whimsy top of mind, but what’s also interesting about that is that even though [the city’s description of the proposed assignment] was imaginative, whimsical and colorful, obviously, what is art? Art’s born to make you think about something. We did think about an environmental context for that, and in creating something that would represent Laguna Beach habitats, from its ocean to its sort of canyon elements, we wanted to create a catalyst where we would work with both the art groups and all the environmental groups in town.”
While the artwork has environmental features — particularly in the form of Setterholm’s “lovebugs” — it is not intended to dictate the conversation. The title “We Need to Talk,” coupled with an Instagram profile that goes by a similar name, invites whatever discussions the phrase leads to. Brokenshire surmised that may give way to talks about family, relationships and the town.
“We’re hoping to be able to instigate some of these conversations and promote these happenings through an Instagram account,” Brokenshire added. “We do have the Instagram account weneedtotalklb. … It will become a social platform where we start talking to people in Laguna Beach, and again, asking them, ‘What do we want to talk about?’
“We’ve already reached out to people at Laguna Canyon Foundation and Laguna Ocean Foundation, and all these other arts groups. We’ll be inviting them to come and meet us at the telephone box and developing that social account out.”
Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Manager Sian Poeschl said the current installation differs from its predecessors in that it requires viewers to approach the phone booth to see what is inside. The city’s call for artists went out to Southern California residents, and 15 designs were submitted.
“This is the fifth temporary art installation that incorporates the red phone booth on Forest Avenue and the first time the installation has been undertaken by female artists and residents of Laguna Beach,” Poeschl said. “Having diversity and the opportunity for artists to take a creative leap is what makes the temporary art program so successful.
“The four previous installations could be viewed from across the street; however, this latest installation requires the viewer to investigate the phone booth to see the fiber, metal and enameled ecosystem of plants and insects. Its fantastical style met the brief for the Arts Commission, and we hope the community enjoys its addition to the collection for the next two years.”
Setterholm, a sculptor who works with copper, stone and glass, and Brokenshire, whose work often utilizes textiles, both are artists in Laguna Beach’s Sawdust Art Festival.
As part of its transformation, the phone booth is no longer red. It was repainted a shade of light green to make it more of a match with the rest of the installation, which includes “Geraldine the Dragonfly” perched on the top, protecting the box.
“I call all my bugs ‘lovebugs,’” Setterholm said. “What’s interesting to me about them is how they’re both beautiful and creepy at the same time, and completely necessary for our ecosystem. Completely necessary. Yet, we get sort of creeped out by them and swat or squish them. We’re entirely dependent on them to thrive.”
Setterholm added that the ability to coexist with nature’s creatures is not unlike navigating an uncomfortable conversation.
“In a way, … [it’s like being] able to speak with people and be with people, even in their states that you might not find attractive, and just … sitting with topics that feel uncomfortable — knowing that’s a part of it, too.”
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