Project Description

Cliff Garten worked directly with the Preliminary Engineering Design Team to research, analyze and creatively interpret environmental and historical resources in order to identify relevant, prototypical artwork opportunities. His contributions included a conceptual approach to the overall design continuity of the alignment, opportunities for individual station artists, and a design project that references the historic physical context of the E Line (Expo) Right of Way. Garten envisioned a transit parkway that weaves functional and aesthetic aspects of the project into a distinct visual vocabulary as it travels through the diverse neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

Cliff Garten, “Weaving a Transit Parkway: An Urban Allegory”

Artist Statement

“The art program is essential because it provides for unique moments through artworks by individual artists, but more importantly, it seeks to transform aspects of the integral, system wide elements into engaging and beautiful forms which effectively perform their intended functions. The idea of weaving, binding or interlacing is meant as a positive urban metaphor for joining communities and disparate parts of Los Angeles.”

About the Artist

CLIFF GARTEN is the recipient of two Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bush Foundation Fellowship for Individual Artist and the Jerome Foundation Traveling Artist Grant. The American Society of Landscape Architects has cited many of his works for design excellence. He has a Master of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has served as a visiting critic at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, UCLA School of Architecture and the Southern California Institute of Architecture.