For artist Mia Tavonatti, an opportunity to create the “connective tissue” between Dana Point Harbor and the Lantern Streets above was a challenge she couldn’t pass up.
So when an opportunity from Dana Point’s Arts and Culture Commission to create public art on a 118-step staircase that climbs from the harbor up a steep hillside in Lantern Bay Park to just under the Laguna Cliffs Mariott Resort & Spa came about, Travonatti had an immediate vision.
“I wanted to do something organic; I wanted to defy the steps and make them disappear,” she said. “It was this crazy difficult challenge.”
City officials celebrated Tavonatti’s work on Wednesday, Aug. 16, with a ribbon-cutting for “Stairwave,” a mosaic made from thousands of high-fired, individually handcrafted ceramic pieces and fused glass tiles. The artwork begins with a sandy beach and moves through a typical ocean cycle, including foamy shore break, mid-sized waves and cresting breakers.
“The city could not be more thrilled with the installation of the beautiful mosaic,” said City Manager Mike Killebrew. “The project, several years in the making, enhances a busy intersection with a one-of-a-kind work of art.”
The public art project was part of the commission’s Art in the Park master plan, drawn up in 2017. The idea, officials said, was to create something inspirational that would provide a highly visible artistic expression and point of pride for residents, businesses and visitors.
Inspired by mosaic staircases in San Francisco, the arts commissioners decided Lantern Bay Park — popular with locals and tourists who use the stairs to work out or access the harbor and its many amenities — would be the best visible spot.
“I’d seen the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps in San Francisco,” said Karin Schnell, an arts commissioner. “Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to take to a focal area of our city?”
Dana Point has several other mosaic pieces — including some depicting…
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