|  A
new public art project, commissioned by the
City of Richmond, CA, commemorating the everyday
experiences of men and women who labored in
Richmond's WWII shipyards has been installed
on the city's waterfront.
| 
"Shipyard Stories"
artwork in Vincent Park with Ford Assembly
Building in background.
|
Artist
Ray Beldner has designed stainless steel panels
combining historic photos and oral histories
that tell stories about life on the Home Front
from the worker's perspective.
"It
is important that we keep the memories of
the WWII-era alive. I wanted my project to
show the next generation how different this
area looked, how important the shipyards were
during the war effort, and how much this area
has changed in peacetime," says Beldner.
Exploring
themes of coming to Richmond, the search for
housing, work, race relations, and the closing
of the shipyards, the interpretive plaques
are affixed to a replica of a Liberty Ship
smokestack in Richmond's newest shoreline
open space, Vincent Park.
Dedicated
last summer, the six-acre park commands breathtaking
views of San Francisco and the entire Bay.
It is one of a series of public recreational
spaces interspersed with housing, office,
and other uses that now occupy most of the
former Kaiser Shipyards site in Richmond's
Marina Bay neighborhood.
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