Sculpture Sales Help Preserve Avian Art

About 30 steel pelicans are helping to save all of the avian artwork at the Seacliff Shopping Center this month.

The birds, which the city is selling for $1,000 apiece, will help officials reach the total of $250,000 needed to relocate the artwork, Mayor Shirley S. Dettloff said.

The rush to find a new home for the collection of murals, mosaics and dioramas depicting coastal birds began last year, when developers said they would demolish most of the center’s buildings at Yorktown Avenue and Main Street for a renovation.

A Save the Birds Committee sprang to life to find a new home for the work, created by artist Edward Carson Bell in 1976.

In June, the developer, Walnut-based Shea Properties, donated most of the relocation funds with a check for $210,000.

Dettloff said the fund-raising has gone well enough that the city will vote Monday on agreements with curators to remove the artwork.

Once the documents are signed, the art should be moved to its new home at City Hall within two months, she said.

A few pieces will go to Huntington Beach High School, which held its own fund-raisers, and to the city’s Interpretive Center when it is built.

Dettloff said the art is worth millions of dollars and is priceless to the city.

“It’s part of our history, part of our culture and a very valuable example of public art,” she added.

Anyone interested in buying a bird should call Michael Mudd, manager of the Cultural Services Division, at (714) 536-5258.