Previous Installations at the Station
ARTIST: Michelle Montjoy
INSTALLATION NAME: A Dime to Call Home
LOCATION: Archways along the North Promenade
INSTALLED: October 2019 – October 2024
DESCRIPTION: A collection of sea bags cast in cement, revealing bits of soft clothing and “arms” knitted from nautical rope reaching up from each bag, this installation represents the transformations new recruits experience upon entering the military and its contrasts to home life. The artist would like to add a public engagement element to the installation by knitting on tabletop looms or casting a small time capsule of sea bags with school groups.
ARTIST: Brad Howe
INSTALLATION NAME: Afoxe
LOCATION: Next to Building 176
INSTALLED: July 2016- July 2024
DESCRIPTION: One of America’s wittiest and most versatile makers of public art, a direct stylistic and spiritual inheritor of Alexander Calder and Joan Miro, a sculptor of broad formal range but consistently expansive spirit. Special thank you to Betsy Lane who played an instrumental role in helping ARTS DISTRICT LS secure this piece.
ARTIST: Jeffery Laundeslager, Encinitas, CA
INSTALLATION NAME: Fuji San
LOCATION: Near Building 175
INSTALLED: April 2011-April 2024
DESCRIPTION: The graceful kinetic pieces have been described as visual tai-chi. The artist’s work is in many private collections as well as numerous public sites. Special thank you to Betsy Lane who played an instrumental role in helping ARTS DISTRICT LS secure this piece.
INSTALLATION NAME: Reflexion
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH: ArtBuilds
LOCATION: Barracks 16
INSTALLED: June 2023- March 2024
DESCRIPTION: Mirrored columns and rotatable prisms create lenses into our perception. Amidst distortion and clarity, it empowers us to take control, change perspectives, and rediscover what’s overlooked. Multiple viewpoints help reveal the extraordinary and reshape the impossible.
INSTALLATION NAME: Here Comes the Sun
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH: Sing for Hope
LOCATION: Building 202 North End
INSTALLED: August 1- September 1, 2023
DESCRIPTION: From the Bronx to Beirut, the Sing for Hope Pianos program is a global arts initiative that creates artist-designed pianos; places them in public spaces for anyone and everyone to enjoy; then transports and activates them year-round in permanent homes in schools, hospitals, transit hubs, refugee camps, and community-based organizations. Sing for Hope has provided more pianos for under-resourced public schools than any other organization in the world.
ARTIST: David Krimmel, Normal Heights
INSTALLATION NAME: Sky Mosaic
LOCATION: Barracks 14 & 15
INSTALLED: April 2018- January 2022
DESCRIPTION: This 30’ x 8’ foot installation on an arcade rooftop walkway was created using 1,200 colored transparent tiles that “fluttered” in the wind. Inspired by the original tiles in Liberty Public Market, the piece cast colorful shadows depending on sun and season.
ARTIST: Jeremy Nuttall, Poway
INSTALLATION NAME: Rolling it Forward
LOCATION: Roof of Building 202 above the San Diego Watercolor Society
INSTALLED: July 2018- December 2021
DESCRIPTION: This structure represented a boat and rolling waves made entirely of community-painted skateboards. It built on the concept of “Pay It Forward” and required the support and involvement of the community to be completed through public painting events. The project referenced two important histories of San Diego both the Naval and Maritime histories along with the influence San Diego has had on the progression of skateboarding and the communities they connect.
ARTIST: Niki de Saint Phalle(1930-2002)
INSTALLATION NAME: Nikigator
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH: Mingei International Museum
LOCATION: Adjacent to Dick Laub NTC Command Center
INSTALLED: July 2019- September 2021
DESCRIPTION: Mingei International Museum’s beloved Nikigator was moved from her original home while the museum was being renovated. The large-scale sculpture had been restored by Lech Juretko of ArtMosaic Inc., who assisted Saint Phalle with her later work. While on vacation at Liberty Station, Nikigator was truly enjoyed by guests and was returned to her native Balboa Park habitat in the fall of 2021.
ARTIST: Lauren LeVieux, San Diego, CA
INSTALLATION NAME: Walk the Labyrinth
LOCATION: Barracks 15/16 Plaza
UNVEILING: November 2019- March 2020
DESCRIPTION: Artist Lauren LeVieux’s Walk the Labyrinth, was selected as the 2019 Illuminate the Night temporary light installation. It is a digital interactive art installation featuring the interplay of technology and ancient form. Labyrinths have been used for centuries as tools for problem solving, self-discovery, community connection and for ceremonies as well. This walk-able projection will was a temporary light Installation that corresponds with longer nights between November and March.
ARTIST: Karl Alex Roesch, Long Beach
INSTALLATION NAME: twineline
LOCATION: North Promenade
INSTALLED: June 2018 – May 2019
DESCRIPTION: A braided rope bench that brings together cultures past and present with its design concept. The interwoven rope lines will reflect styles from the Kumeyaay Native tribes to the Navy and modern day sailing.
ARTIST: Nico Meyers
INSTALLATION NAME: Toying With Lights
LOCATION: Dick Laub NTC Command Center
INSTALLED: November 30, 2018- January 6, 2019
DESCRIPTION: Nico Meyers, the creator of “Toying With Lights” , through art, Meyers, explores the beauty of contrast, simplicity versus complexity and uniformity versus randomness. “Our brains are pattern-making machines,” says Meyer. “Individuals and communities actively create and alter patterns. This piece represents shared experience, a quality that makes the holidays special,”- Nico Meyers.
ARTIST: Lissa Corona, Oceanside and Marina Grize, San Diego
INSTALLATION NAME: Rest Easy
LOCATION: Barracks 16 & 17
INSTALLED: June 2018 – September 2018
DESCRIPTION: This light installation relates to the US Navy and its reverence for camaraderie, protection, love and support. REST EASY is a phrase commonly used by the Navy as an assurance to those they protect. “Rest easy tonight, U.S. Navy has the watch” was tweeted by the Navy in 2012 and the artists are using the text to invoke a variety of emotions and interactions with the viewer.
ARTIST: Jay Newington
INSTALLATION NAME: Snow time! Like the present?
LOCATION: Pump House
INSTALLED: November 9, 2017- January 7, 2018
DESCRIPTION: San Diego got the largest holiday gift ever. Each year, as part of the annual Salute the Season holiday event programming, the NTC Foundation commissioned local artist Jay Newington to create a holiday-themed art installation with lights. With additional support from the Liberty Station Community Association, the historic former Naval Training Center Pump House from 1923 was transformed into a giant holiday gift complete with LED animated snowflakes, a giant bow and festive ribbon.
ARTIST: Smadar Samson
INSTALLATION NAME: Ice
LOCATION: Dick Laub NTC Command Center
INSTALLED: 2015
DESCRIPTION: Ice in San Diego – Usually only floats in our drinks, but this shimmering structure which could be associated with the traditional holiday season, actually represents the chemical properties of ice and water. The water molecules, made of one oxygen atom (red) and two hydrogen atoms (white) bonded together, are floating freely in the pool.
Liberty Station Public Art
These projects are in partnership with NTC Foundation and organizations.
ARTIST: 
Manuel Molina
INSTALLATION NAME: Birds Without Paradise
LOCATION: North Promenade
INSTALLED: January 2019- February 2019
DESCRIPTION: A collaboration between the San Diego Unified School District and the San Diego Tijuana Smart Border Coalition, the project was presented to promote cultural and economic cooperation in the CaliBaja Mega-Region. Nearly 350 handmade birds crafted of natural materials including corn husks and painted in vibrant colors.
ARTIST: John Dupree
INSTALLATION NAME: Flowers
LOCATION: North Promenade
INSTALLED: June 2018 – January 2020
DESCRIPTION: A self-taught artist, John Dupree has always had a passion for three-dimensional works. Both abstract and figurative sculptures are included in his portfolio.
ARTIST: Spencer Little, San Diego
INSTALLATION NAME: Plastic Dinner
LOCATION: North Promenade (on Building 178)
INSTALLED: June 2018 – May 2019
DESCRIPTION: Designed out of one continuous wire strand, incorporating abstract and realistic images and kinetic sculpture. The artist’s work has been shown in fine art galleries, music festivals around the world, and he is co-founder of local artist collective, Creative Cohort.
ARTIST: The Aja Project, Shinpei Takeda
INSTALLATION NAME: UnderStand
LOCATION: Central Promenade
INSTALLED: December 2009
DESCRIPTION: This exhibit featured stories by immigrant and refugee youths at the Central Promenade in ARTS DISTRICT.
ARTIST: El Universal
INSTALLATION NAME: Arcade
LOCATION: Between Barracks 14 and Liberty Public Market
INSTALLED: August 28, 2017
DESCRIPTION: The photographic exhibition “El Universal, 100 Years in the Life of Mexico & the World” was presented in Liberty Station on Monday, August 28, 2017 as this nationally circulated Mexican newspaper celebrates the centennial of its founding, displaying many of the events that have affected our lives on this planet during this period.
ARTIST: Outside the Lens
INSTALLATION NAME: JR Project
LOCATION: Barracks 15
INSTALLED: 2014
DESCRIPTION: Thesen series, shot by members from OTL’s Youth Council and Summer Fellowship team, depicts the artists and residents working within the NTC Barracks, each demonstrating their own craft or trade. The piece as a whole aims to better the visibility and understanding of the work happening within the NTC Barracks. Outside the Lens’ Youth Council is a team of high school students from the San Diego area passionate about digital media and dedicated to being involved youth leaders in the community. The project was produced in collaboration with the global Inside Out project, established by international photographer and street artist JR. The movement began in 2011, when JR opened his technique to the public in the hope of taking individual messages of personal identity and transforming them into public works of art through group action and effort.
ARTIST: Benjamin Cabral
INSTALLATION NAME: Some Faces from Around Here
LOCATION: Fieldstone Legacy Plaza
INSTALLED: November 17, 2016 – January 17, 2017
DESCRIPTION: Benjamin Cabral used images of the Point Loma community as inspiration and subject of his public art piece. Ben was inspired by community members around Liberty Station, and sought to use the moments they shared as source material for his monumental sculpture/painting.
ARTIST: John McDavid
INSTALLATION NAME: Treevolution
LOCATION: Quarters D
INSTALLED: February 14, 2015
DESCRIPTION: Liberty Station’s new Art Encounters program features temporary installations from San Diego and Baja artists, including Treevolution by John McDavid, located near Quarters D.
ARTIST: Robert Michael Jones
INSTALLATION NAME: Runner, Mother, Ascend
LOCATION: Barracks 14
INSTALLED: January 20, 2015
DESCRIPTION: Robert Michael Jones installed three of his monumental sculptures Runner, Mother, and Ascend in the midst of the NTC Arts and Culture District, the thriving creative hub of Liberty Station.
