This evening my route home included a meandering stroll through downtown San Diego’s Civic Center Plaza, which is home to the City Administration Building, the San Diego Community Concourse and the San Diego Civic Theater. I observed that the extremely popular musical comedy The Book of Mormon is playing at the theater tonight. I hope the arriving theatergoers watched their step. Because I also noted a large ship’s bow was splashing water right into the center of the plaza!
But seriously, the iconic bronze water fountain called Bow Wave, created by Malcolm Leland in 1972, was looking beautiful as dusk fell and the lights of surrounding buildings began to glow. It seemed the mysterious ship was arriving just in time for the performance!
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Took the future Mrs. Tyler to see KISS perform at the Civic in 1975. Fabulous show in a great venue!
And to think KISS is still rocking! (Not in rocking chairs–yet.)
That statue is a beauty.
It really is! When the water is flowing, it comes alive!
It is remarkable how a couple of lines can visualize a whole ship.
Wow, that’s a great sight! What a clever design. Lovely photos of the bronze water fountain, especially how it catches the light in some of the pictures 🙂
I love how the water produces an optical illusion of forward movement!
Its so clever how its done, the way the water goes flows over the edges, it really looks like the bow is moving through the water 🙂
Malcolm is a dear friend and his work is throughout San Diego and beyond. Those beautiful bronze finished gates, columns and trimming at the Sculpture Garden addition to the Museum of Art in Balboa Park are some. He lived and worked in Potrero for many years and is now residing in Oregon. He’s 92!
Does he still create art?
At this point, he is pretty burnt out. The last pieces he did or a series of small relief plaques. I sell them in my shop, Boomerang for Modern in Little Italy. He also did amazing pottery for architectural pottery in the 1950s.
Very cool! Maybe I’ll swing on by and check out your place!
Love the sculpture – so cool – especially head on
Head on it looks like the boat’s coming in!
I love this sculpture. The colours of the metal especially. The whole concept!