Design Drool: The Most Colorful Lifeguard Towers

Filed under: Color, Fun Stuff, Crafts & Projects, Design, etc, News & Trends

A public art installation on Southern California beaches is a lesson in creative therapy.

A lifeguard tower on a sandy beach is a picturesque sight to behold, mix in a strong dose of colorful paint with a good cause, and you've got some of the most cheerful coast guarding stations imaginable. Summer of Color, a public art project by the non-profit organization Portraits of Hope, has transformed Los Angeles County's lifeguard towers into colorful, beachside art installations. They will remain on view until the end of the summer.

Based in California, Portraits of Hope is a non-profit organization that plans and executes motivational art projects that merge the "production of dynamic public art works with creative therapy for hospitalized children and civic education for students of all ages."

Thousands of children -- many of them physically and medically challenged -- in schools, hospitals and social service programs (including The Braille Institute, Special Olympics, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitative Center and Program for Torture Victims) lent their artistic touch to the colorful panels that are installed on the walls and roofs of the lifeguard towers of Summer of Color.

Stretched over 31 miles of beach, created by 6,000 children and more than 2,500 adults, and potentially viewed by 45 million So Cal beach visitors, this is thought to be the largest public art project in the United States to date.

 

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