Heavy Metal : Answer Sought as Copper Curtain Weighs on Residents’ Minds

THOUSAND OAKS — It has long been a truism among this town’s unimaginative developers: When in doubt, go with the oak.

From the shopping malls to mom-and-pop shops to the housing tracts that blanket this city, no logo is more widespread in Thousand Oaks than the oak tree--for obvious reasons.

Now a growing number of Thousand Oaks residents are apparently pointing to the oak treatment as the most reasonable solution to one of the city’s more public dilemmas: what to do with the copper curtain.

Nearly everyone seems to have an opinion on how to beautify the curtain, the dull-brown artwork hanging lifelessly on the east side of Civic Arts Plaza.

And tonight, when the city’s Arts Commission holds a public workshop to ponder its fate, those who think they have the answer to the “refrigerator’s backside” will have their day.

Commissioners, who have been charged by the City Council with the difficult task of finding a way to fix the curtain on a $10,000 budget, say Thousand Oaks has become synonymous with the Civic Arts Plaza’s abstract artwork--and that is nothing to brag about.

“That building and that curtain is an icon,” said commissioner Bonnie Roth. “No matter what you say, it is something the community is known for, and it should represent the community better.

“Right now, it has no identity, and it is very controversial. As an icon for this community, the copper curtain does nothing.”

Thousand Oaks has received about 30 suggestions on how to alter the static collection of 2,000 copper strips, the significantly scaled-down result of a concept by Civic Arts Plaza architect Antoine Predock.

Not surprisingly, most of the suggestions involve superimposing an oak onto the $200,000 artwork with paint, high-tech foams or other materials.

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That, some critics say, would at least identify the city to the thousands of commuters who cruise past the Civic Arts Plaza every day on the Ventura Freeway. The boxy, $64-million City Hall and performing arts venue has no freeway signage.

“There are many of us out here who feel the building and the copper curtain are both a monolith without personality,” wrote Ronnie and Cynthia Patterson of Thousand Oaks, who proposed taking part of the artwork down and transforming it into an oak. “The building we are stuck with. But if there is a chance to correct the copper curtain, let’s go for it!”

Commissioner Jane Brooks is not crazy about the oak suggestions, however, calling them an unimaginative answer to a problem that calls out for a truly creative solution.

“It’s so, so provincial,” Brooks said. “Do we want an oak on everything in town? That’s the most oversimplified solution I’ve ever heard. There are so many things it could be.”

Among the other suggestions that Thousand Oaks has received are planting vines through the copper curtain; projecting an array of graphics onto it; superimposing the Exuberant Muse, the Civic Arts Plaza’s unofficial logo; and simply leaving the artwork alone.

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Commissioners acknowledge being frustrated by their task. Their $10,000 budget would not even cover the cost of the scaffolding needed to reach the curtain, much less pay for the improvements. And some commission members openly question whether the City Council really wants to make a change.

Roth, for one, said that if citizen participation is the goal of the workshop, she cannot understand why it will not be televised, or why it would be held at 6 p.m., the same time as the City Council meeting.

“It is on the same night as the City Council, and that’s probably the highest-rated comedy program in the Conejo Valley right now,” Roth quipped. “That’s some fine television entertainment. It’s hard to compete with that.

“My biggest fear is that this is a dance of futility, that we’re doing this for nothing,” she added.

Moreover, some commissioners are strongly at odds with a legal opinion by City Atty. Mark Sellers that the curtain is not a work of visual art but an architectural feature that Thousand Oaks can change at will, without Predock’s consent.

“I think he could sue the Arts Commission and the City Council, I really do,” Brooks said. “I don’t think [Sellers] did his homework. It’s a flagrant error as far as I’m concerned.”

Predock, who was never contacted by Thousand Oaks regarding the possible changes to his artwork, has written a letter to Arts Commission Chairwoman Karen LaFleur stating his desire to have the curtain left alone.

The New Mexico-based architect is not expected to attend tonight’s workshop, but one of his associates may show up on his behalf, Brooks said.

The copper curtain was initially supposed to flow down from the top of the Civic Arts Plaza’s eastern side, fluttering in the breeze and serving as an abstract representation of the drama taking place inside the performing arts center. The copper strips were supposed to weather with age, picking up a verdigris patina much like old Mediterranean buildings.

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But instead of blanketing the building’s side from top to bottom like a curtain would, the city officials opted for a more conservative representation of Predock’s concept, making the artwork a rectangle on the wall.

City officials, concerned that the metal strips would fly off during stiff winds and strike unsuspecting motorists below, fastened them down tightly, eliminating the swaying motion Predock had intended.

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And the weathering that Predock envisioned was later determined to be scientifically impossible in Thousand Oaks’ desert-like climate, and will never occur without chemical treatments, city officials have since learned.

In short, Predock’s artistic idea has become what many consider a mess--a highly visible one that many residents would like to see cleaned up.

“It has been an extreme embarrassment to me to have to explain this object to anyone who is new to the city of Thousand Oaks,” wrote David Leung, who advocated removing the entire artwork until the issue is resolved.

“If this object represents art, then I must be the crudest person.”