By FRANCES SHARPE | Editor-in-Chief
MacArthur Park Lake has been alive since August with thousands of floating, hand-painted colorful spheres as part of a major art installation.
Conceptualized by artist Ed Massey, who owns a home in Pacific Palisades, and his brother Bernie, the installation is dubbed “The Spheres at MacArthur Park.”
The project has been so successful, Mayor Eric Garcetti, The Department of Cultural Affairs and The Department of Recreation and Parks have requested an extension. Massey and his team are granting the request and the installation will now remain through Oct. 22.
Photo: Felix Massey
“The community has embraced this project like no other project I’ve ever done,” Massey told the Palisadian-Post. “We’re there every day and people from all walks of life are stopping by and offering to volunteer to help.”
Two years ago, when Massey was first conceptualizing the project, people warned him there would be challenges due to the location. But Massey said there have been no issues whatsoever—no theft, no graffiti, no “tagging.”
The Spheres project is the latest in a long line of eye-catching art installation projects for Portraits of Hope, which Massey and his brother launched in 1995 as a creative therapy program for children with serious illness or disabilities.
The program is known for creating large-scale, national projects that have visually transformed and enlivened public settings and symbols.
Palisadians may remember Massey’s 2010 ‘Summer of Color’ art installation, which involved wrapping brightly colored panels around 156 Los Angeles lifeguard towers, including 14 towers at Will Rogers State Beach.
Children from all across L.A., including about 40 Calvary Christian School third grader, participated in the Spheres project. Volunteers are still needed on a daily basis at the installation site.
For more information, visit portraitsofhope.org.
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