Whatever happened to ... the light garden at the Pavilion?

VIRGINIA BEACH

It was a garden of reflected sunlight, epoxy and neon, and for nearly two decades the abstract sculpture graced the rear of the Pavilion.

When the facility came down three summers ago, city officials had a problem.

The sculpture's array of 31 diffraction panels wouldn't work at the new convention center. So the work was dismantled, crated and put into storage until a suitable site could be found. The search is still under way, according to Emily Spruill, director of the city's Office of Cultural Affairs.

"It hasn't been forgotten, really," she said. "I'd love to install it."

The garden, designed by Dale Eldred, was unveiled in 1988. The artist, chairman of the sculpture department at the Kansas City Art Institute, designed public works that are on display across the world. They employed a similar motif, the use of materials to manipulate light, breaking it into different colors that changed as the sun or viewer moved.

Eldred fell through a floor and died in his studio in 1993 while trying to save equipment from an approaching flood. His wife and collaborator, Roberta Lord, finished a number of projects that had been commissioned.

The Beach's Light Garden is described in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's art inventory as an "abstract sculpture composed of thirty-one diffraction panels enclosed in glass and stainless steel frames.

"The panels are arranged in alternating and staggered rows of four and five panels each, for a total of seven rows. Each panel is supported by a square steel column with square neon tubes mounted on the back."

At the Pavilion, the work spanned an 18-by-38-foot area. It might be different in its next location, Spruill said. She said the city contacted Lord about putting the garden in a new site. Lord told her that the original design was narrow to complement the old Pavilion. She said it could be expanded if there is more room at the new location, so long as the rows remain offset, Spruill said.

It also will need a southern exposure, so the elements are exposed to light throughout the day. The city's Public Art Committee will recommend where to install the work, perhaps within the year, Spruill said.

"The funding is the holdup now," Spruill said.

The work originally cost about $100,000. Reinstalling and refurbishing it will run about $132,000 because the garden requires a thick concrete base with electrical connections for the neon elements.

The committee is exploring sites around the Higher Education Center in Princess Anne Commons Academic Village, Spruill said.

That's part of an effort to ensure that all sections of the city have public art, she said.

"It's a symbol of Virginia Beach for lots of people," Spruill said of the garden. "It's a piece of Virginia Beach history, a piece of art everybody should be able to enjoy."

Tony Germanotta, (757) 222-5113, tony.germanotta@pilotonline.com