Just yesterday the city put the finishing touches on a new park on Anapamu St. between the gallery and Coffee Cat – just across the street from the public library. The park, entitled “Jardin de las Granadas” (Plaza of the Pomegrantes), was finally completed with the installation of four wonderful new sculptures by our very own Aristides Demitrios. On February 5th (First Thursday), at 4:30pm the City of Santa Barbara Redevelopment Agency and the County Arts Commission will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Jardin and the permanent installation of the Solstice Murals next door on the Granada Garage. So before heading to the gallery to attend the opening of our Hassel Smith and Strange Clays exhibits on the next First Thursday, take a minute or two to visit these new additions to the city’s collection of public art. Then come back to the blog and make sure to comment to let us know what you think.Below you can see a sneak preview of the sculptures provided by our friend George Spitzer.

And the following are from San Diego photographer Christopher Payne who happened to be walking by during the installation. Christopher was gracious enough to volunteer to take some time to help us document the event.