Artist: Robin Brailsford
Location: Stearns Avenue, Long Beach, CA
District: District 4
Description: You have turned to the right page, if you see large colorful sculptures of parrots perched on poles. The birds invite the community to recreated fables on the north and southeast corners of Stearns Street and Bellflower Boulevard, and on the north and southwest corners of Stearns Street and Marwick Avenue. Large steel sculptures and colorful mosaic medallions of common animals used in fables and an engraved sidewalk illustrate these stories. Some of the characters include two gigantic steel profiles of a blue cat and a yellow dog. The two animals face each other on either side of Sterns Street. In the center street divider, hides a snake. This slithering snake occupies most of the divider and is composed of several steel panels, similar to the cat and dog. Three tiled benches surround both the cat and dog, so that one could either read the conversation between these animals or the animals on the sidewalk. Engraved onto the sidewalk are bits of a fable that involve a yellow finch, an eagle, a coyote, and a snake. Scattered between each saying are colorful tiled medallions of animals, such as a birds, bees, and butterflies. Brailsford reminds us of the many children's stories that have taught us many lessons, as engraved on Sterns Street, "Even the wisest can always learn one more thing," Snake said.
Funding: $40,000
Completion: December, 4 1996
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