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​The S.S. Palo Alto ArtPark was proposed as an aesthetically enhanced public space on the California coast, engaging transformative education, inspiring environmental awareness and promoting ocean sustainability.

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I proposed an ArtPark at the California State Park site, focusing on the sustainability of the ocean environment. Located off of Seacliff State Beach on the West Coast of the U.S., the idea was framed around a sinking ship: one of the first cement ships built for the WWI military efforts, and since a local landmark, beloved by fishermen and joggers. At one point, it had the potential to become a rallying symbol for the precarious future of California's State Parks, and the health of the world's oceans.

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Over a ten year period, together with the University of California, Santa Cruz Art Department and State Parks, we set a precedent in social responsibility, environmental education, and ocean advocacy. As a conceptual art project, students and artists were challenged to research new processes to engage the public in creative change.  A “catalogue of ideas” offers sustainable solutions to a precarious economic and environmental situation. It is a symbolic place to visually bring together our private and public selves.

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The park is already an eco-friendly attraction to four million annual visitors, and the sinking WWI military ship, a magnet. Since the huge storms of 2022, the ship became more submerged, and the wharf removed as it cracked.  The beloved 'Cement Ship', as it is locally referred to, is still a local landmark, which for a decade was a beacon of public art. As a Fellow with the Social Practice Arts Research Center at UCSC, it was challenging to re-frame the ship into an educational ecological site.  The 400 foot long pier leading to the slowly sinking ship is now gone, removed shortly after the storms of 2022. The site may no longer be surrounded with art, but it is filled with an abundance of young great white sharks these days, as the ocean habitat thrives there.  It seems fitting that nature has triumphed over man.