ARTIST IN CALIFORNIA TURNS PASTURE INTO ENVIRONMENTAL ART BENICIA, CA (APRIL 14) UPI - Environmental artist Stuart Williams brought a world of attention to a barren hillside Wednesday with a dream and miles of fluorescent green tubing.
Williams, a part-time San Francisco resident, unveiled his ambitious "Luminous Earth Grid" - an environmental artwork whose brushstrokes are fluorescent green lights and canvas a pasture visible from busy Highway 680 about 45 miles northeast of San Francisco.
"We turned it on for the first time (Tuesday) night," he said. "It was a terrific sensation, a tremendous climax to five years of hard work.
"It's looks a lot better than I thought it would. Most artists are visually oriented so we kind of know what it will look like when we put it on paper. But to actually see it. It went way beyond my expectation."
Williams spent five years looking for the right hillside, negotiating with the landowner and getting the 25 permits needed from both the Solano County officials and the California Highway Patrol.
"My biggest problem was making this happen period," Williams said. "Getting the funding, dealing with the landowner and the local politicians. I remember the first time I met with the CHP, they said this (project) would never happen."
The project also marks the second time that the Bay Area hills have played host to a work of an environmental artist. In the 1970s, Christo ran a fabric wall through Marin County to the Pacific Ocean to grab the spotlight in the world of enviromental art.
Christo made front page news again in 1991 as he unfurled 1,760 yellow umbrellas near Los Angeles and 1,340 blue umbrellas north of Tokyo as part of a trans-Pacific project.
For the "Luminous Earth Grid," Williams and about 150 volunteers spent weeks installing the lights in a grid pattern. The fluorescent ribs are about two feet above the ground, laid out in 25 squares, each measuring 120 square feet.
There are 12 switches and miles of electrical wires. The work is also waterproof so it can be turned on even on rainy nights.
"Without volunteers this project would not have come about," Williams said. "It is about a $250,000 project, but with donations of supplies and time, we were able to do it with only $20,000 in hard cash. "
Williams is not collecting an artist fee for the project, but will attempt to collect some reimbursement for his time by selling collages of photos and sketches of the artwork.
During daylight hours, the project will barely be visible. But at 3 p.m. the lights will go on and remain lit until 10:30 p.m. Williams said the effect will peak at twilight with the skies golden and the field glowing green.
"It's amazing at sunset," he said. "Truly a poetic blending of nature and art."
The artwork will be displayed through May 5 and then it will be disassembled and the parts donated to the local school system.
