New art sculptures installed on Vallejo’s Mare Island

VALLEJO – The Mare Island Artyard outside of the Coal Sheds received a new selection of sculptures last week made by artists from around the world.

The exhibit has been produced by Local Edition Creative in partnership with the Mare Island Company for the last five years. This year’s installation includes five new sculptures and the return of two previous favorites, “The Knight” by Matt Burney and Joe Mross, and “Coralee” by Dana Albany. They were chosen to remain a while longer for being “especially magnificent with the backdrop of the newly arrived Tall Ships,” which are visiting from San Francisco, according to Sage Loring, cofounder of Local Edition Creative.

While none of this year’s artists are from Vallejo, Loring said that the selection criteria involve engineering, safety, size and aesthetic requirements which limit the art eligible for display. In past installations, there have been featured sculptures from Vallejo-based Obtainium Works and the Flaming Lotus Girls and Loring invites more local artists to apply next year.

“I’m really proud of this, because we’re not commodifying the art,” Loring said. “It's for the people to come enjoy it.”

“Coralee” by Dana Albany

“Coralee” was created in Chatsworth, England, as part of a communal art project led by San Francisco-based artist Dana Albany and built with the help of local children. 

In an interview, Albany said that the mermaid was based off of a myth of landlocked mermaid from near Chatsworth, “which is why her hands and fin are roots going into the ground,” she said.

After a year in England, Coralee sailed back across the sea in a cargo ship to arrive at Mare Island.

“I feel like this little mermaid, Coralee, has her voice. She has her bells and whistles, she's very wild and unruly, but also stately and regal,” Albany said.

The glass scales were made using recycled water bottles, which were tumbled in a cement mixer to dull their sharp edges, placed into molds and fired overnight in a kiln. The stainless armature was recycled from a local playground and the decorating accessories, like the many spoons, were donated.

Albany said that making art “collectively with a community enriches it so much more,” adding, “the more times you touch something, the more spirit you imbue in a piece of art.”

Albany said she is thrilled that Coralee gets to be in the company of the Tall Ships and feels honored to have her displayed. “It fits perfectly on Mare Island,” she said. “I love the history, I feel like, because this mermaid is from the people, and because all this industry is for the people, it fits perfectly.”

“The Knight” by Matt Burney & Joe Mross

The Knight was a collaboration between Joe Mross of Archive Designs and Matt Burney of SO Metal, both from Oregon. It is inspired from the chess piece, and pays “homage to the horse as a sort of human super power,” Burney said.

“Fire, electricity, hydraulic power... all these play a massive role in civilization,” Burney said. “The horse is sometimes viewed as obsolete, but you look at how the horse transformed human life, and it is RADICAL. All of these elements have been used for war, but also for the benefit of arts and culture. The horse is a symbol of majesty and power.”

“The location fit the piece so perfectly, we needed to display it there,” Burney said of the Artyard. 

“The naval history, the riveted trusses of the coal sheds, even the name ‘Mare Island.’”

Each individual piece is mild steel that was hand shaped using a hydraulic press, drilled and hot riveted together using a 50-pound bucking bar. “Shaping the plates was a big challenge, as well as fitting them all together,” Burney said. The whole piece was covered in linseed oil to protect the steel from further corrosion. 

A form was built for the head, with which the smaller details like ears and nostrils were made. The portholes are custom castings through which one can spy pieces of treasure hidden inside of the sculpture. 

The project used over 2,000 rivets which had to be cut to length and riveted in place. “I would contort myself into position inside the horse and run the rivet hammer,” Burney said.  “It was pretty hot and loud in there.” 

“Beacon” By David Oliver

Ventura-based artist David Oliver describes “Beacon” as a personal evolution. A culmination from past work, it merges the precision he applies as a cabinet maker and the spontaneity he enjoys with painting. 

The stained glass corolla that garnishes the top of the sculpture is an assemblage of hand-cut glass pieces set in a lead frame, similar to the vitrails found in cathedrals. He said each individual piece of glass took an hour to cut and assemble. “These techniques have been around for centuries, it matches the kind of work that built this island,” he said.

Oliver said that as an artist “I’m like an antenna, a frequency collector.” “Beacon” is an extension of that belief and represents a sort of auto portrait, he said. 

“It’s a real special thing to have my piece seen by so many people,” he said.

“Rhino” by Barry Crawford

Barry Crawford has been building things since he was a kid and learned a lot from his father who is also an artist. Now self-employed as a metal fabricator in Silver City, Nevada, he “quickly learned that making art was a lot more interesting than making more practical things,” he said. 

He chose to build a mechanical Rhino inspired by the animal and his fascination with robots and gizmos, saying, “it's also a lot of fun for people to try to identify all the parts in my sculptures.”

Its parts are for the most part recycled, picked up from junkyards or donated. He said the horn was one of the biggest challenges, requiring extensive welding. The process took several days to complete and breaks were needed to prevent the welder from overheating.

Crawford explained that all of the major leg joints used to articulate, which was needed to change the rhino’s pose until he got it just right, then finally welding the legs solid. 

“Unsafe to Swim” by Oleg Lobykin

Oleg Lobykin is originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, and trained as a traditional stone carver. He now works in Silicon Valley and has been building conceptual sculptures for decades using a wide variety of materials.

“Unsafe to Swim” is modeled after a shark fin. Lobykin wants to bring attention to human activity and our impact on the environment. It is made of mixed materials using fiberglass, steel and recycled aluminum cans. The shark fin, Lobykin said, represents danger, fear and hope for tomorrow. 

“Abhaya” by Sonny Behan

“Abhaya”, which is Sanskrit for “fearless,” is the name of the tiger sculpture built by Sonny Behan from South Africa. The sculpture was originally unveiled at the United Nations Headquarters in 2021 for the species conservation efforts. 

While Behan started out as a painter, this sculpture was cast out of bronze in several pieces using the lost wax method, to be then welded together and painted.

“Mare Island has a powerful industrial and military legacy, but it’s also a place of renewal and creativity,” Behan said. “Placing Abhaya here reflects that duality; strength and vulnerability, power and protection.”

“Duality” by Giuseppe Palumbo

Giuseppe Palumbo from Richmond, California, built the piece “Duality,” which displays two figures balancing on an I-beam perched on top of a circle. The Mare Island Artyard website states that, “Duality reflects on the two sides we all have in our lives while also trying to achieve a balance.”

The characters seen on the beam are made of cast bronze, while the rest of the structure is made of steel.