Discover Art Right Under Your Feet with the … City’s Sidewalk Poetry Project

Art comes in all forms, shapes and sizes and is presented in various ways. It can be painted on a canvas, played on a guitar, sung from a choir or danced on a stage. The City of Santa Clarita’s newest public art project called the Sidewalk Poetry Project creates art right under your feet!
The new public art project is part of the City’s Public Works Department’s sidewalk rehabilitation program and aims to bring literature to the streets by stamping poems written by community members into wet cement.
In 2018, the City posted a public art call inviting residents and individuals with a connection to Santa Clarita to submit an original poem for a chance to get it stamped on sidewalks within the City. The poem could be of any style – Free Form, Haiku, Distich, etc. and had to be written in the theme of “Poetry of Place”, focusing on both landscapes and the built environment, and reflecting on shared spaces in the community. After a review of more than 280 submissions, nine poems were selected and the winners each received a $150 stipend.
All nine poems have been stamped into cement on sidewalks near schools, parks, bus stops, trailheads and shopping centers. This summer, head out to the streets for some poetry inspiration. Visit all nine poems this summer! To learn more about the Sidewalk Poetry Project and other art galleries and projects in Santa Clarita, please visit www.SantaClaritaArts.com.

The sky, so pure, untouched
A lake without a swimmer
Clouds pass, slowly waltzing
Other days a furious tango
A mirror reflecting the ocean
… Katherine Kihiczak

A country home, once unknown.
Streets grow like rivers breaking ground.
People come like rain.
Small town at heart, we still feel it beat.
We remember.
… Katherine Ward

Grandmother sends me dandelions
Where the grass meets the road
They remind me of her hair
Done in soft yellow curls
Coming home from the salon
… Abby Kirby

eyes drink in myriads of colors
shrub mosaics cloak mountains
exquisite light adorns edifices
fitful winds rustle wizened oaks
holistically ethereal
… Hailey Rutter

I make home here.
I see the onion field because I planted bulbs in mud last spring.
Beyond my pitch tent, my pan
in the water, I see the future.
… Linda Ravenswood

Consider:
Your feet, pens.
Our city, poetry
Alive.
… Amy Hough-Dugdale

“I touch the tree,” he says,
this tiny palm soft
against rugged centuries,
tiny feet newly rooted
in our shared golden earth.
… Abi Wurdeman

Thousands of leaves
fluttering in trees
like little hands
waving at me
… Valerie Swanson
LOCATIONS INCLUDE:

• 26441 Robert C Lee Parkway, Nr. Golden Valley High School
• 19439 Soledad Canyon Road, Canyon Country
• Rockwell Canyon Road, near College of the Canyons
• 20755 Centre Pointe Parkway, near The Centre
• 28508 Westinghouse Place, Valencia
• 28382 Seco Canyon Road, near Meadows Park

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