Live Oak Community Resource Center
The Live Oak Resource Center (informally knows as the Volunteer Center) is the home of two synergistic social service agencies in Santa Cruz County; the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz and the Live Oak Family Resource Center. Commissioned to create public artworks honoring the vast and varied work of these two community service organizations, Santa Cruz sculptor Marilyn Kuksht chose to symbolize two elements fundamental to their success but not always visible: networking and reciprocal reward. In each of three inter-related artworks, long graceful arcs symbolize the extensive and intricate networks among people and organizations that are needed for fundraising and delivery of the many services offered by the center’s resident agencies.
The large piece hanging in the light well is ’14’ x 14’ x 5’ (‘Network Strength’)
The interior wall relief is 13’ x 6’ x 6” (‘Working Together’)
The exterior wall relief is 7’ x 11’ x 5” (‘Reaching Out’)
SculpTOUR
In an effort to beautify the downtown area and nurture a long term vision for Santa Cruz, CA as a west coast arts and culture center, numerous large outdoor sculptures were installed along the city’s main downtown prominade. The sculptures are part of a rotating public art program called SculpTOUR, where “Virgin Moon” by Marilyn Kuksht serves as a figurehead artwork at the entry to the downtown mall. The SculpTour program is modeled after a similar program in Grand Junction, Colorado and is a collaboration between the City and the Santa Cruz Rotary.
Virgin Moon 7’ 5” x 5’ 10” x 5’ 5″
Santa Clara Housing Authority
As an ‘in-the-trenches’ community service agency, the Santa Clara Housing Authority is extremely sensitive to the stressful family and economic circumstances that often prompt their clients to seek housing assistance. When the Housing Authority completed a major refurbishment of their main building in 2008, sculptor Marilyn Kuksht was commissioned to create thematic artwork that was not only germane to the agency’s mission, but created a very warm and welcoming atmosphere for their clients. Kuksht’s large steel wall sculpture ‘Neighbors’ does just that. It’s abstract house icons convey an intimate sense of community that includes divergent notions of a home; it’s soft earth-tone coloration is almost universally pleasing and reassuring to nervous visitor
Neighbors 11’ x 9’ x 7’
Los Gatos Civic Center Plaza
Portals and Passages 9’ x 6’3” x 3’6”
Telltales
“Sculpture San Mateo 2003” brought three new sculptures to the city for prominent display in public locations. Marilyn Kuksht’s ‘Telltales’ is situated near the Marina Lagoon at the Lakeshore Recreation Center and evokes the spread and movement of a boat’s sail. The sculptures, submitted by artists in a nationwide competition, were selected by a panel of jurors on the basis of their innovative design, use of materials and originality. The jurors were Susan Hillhouse, Curator of the Triton Museum in Santa Clara; Janet Bishop, Curator of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA; and Gary Parma of the City of San Mateo Parks and Recreation Commission. “Sculpture San Mateo 2003” was sponsored by the City of San Mateo and City Arts of San Mateo.
Telltales 6’ x 5’ x 16”