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  1. Cultural Arts
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  4. Ridgeway Road Bridge Project

Ridgeway Road Bridge

Cliff Garten Studio
Foliage, 2021
Stainless steel
Location: Ridgeway Road over West Dorothy Lane

The City of Kettering replaced the Ridgeway Road Bridge and commissioned Cliff Garten Studio (Venice, CA) to integrate artwork into the project site. Cliff Garten Studio, or CGS, designed the artwork to reflect the flowing landscape of Hills & Dales MetroPark and Kettering, particularly the view to the west. The fluid movement of the fence lines and the luminaire sculptures mimic leaves caught in a gentle breeze. Foliage demonstrates the belief that design of infrastructure to serve the needs of the public should also be visually engaging, creating a memorable place and a specific identity for the community it serves.

Foliage was commissioned by CitySites Public Art Program with the City of Kettering.

Cliff Garten Studio, "Foliage"

Ridgeway Road Bridge

Foliage was installed in August 2021. The Ridgeway Road Bridge is complete, with landscaping taking place in Spring/Summer 2022. For the latest updates on the Ridgeway Road Bridge, visit www.ketteringoh.org/ridgeway-bridge.

Project Team

Artists: Cliff Garten, Founder, Director of Design and Matt Gilio-Tenan, Principal in Charge
Metalwork Fabrication and Installation: Kevin Maag, Metal Arts Foundry
CitySites Project Manager: Shayna V. McConville
City Engineering Staff: Steve Bergstresser and Todd Livesay
Engineering Design: Craig Schrader, EMH&T, Inc.
Construction: Joe Raterman, Monty Meyer, Brumbaugh Construction
Lighting: Debra Rettich, Vincent Lighting Systems

About the Artwork
From 2018 through 2019, the City and CGS collected feedback from residents adjacent to the bridge as well as in public forums, and conducted interviews with Kettering residents, the Kettering Arts Council, and the Art in Public Places Committee. CGS worked closely with the project engineers and Kettering staff to incorporate the values and ideas shared in this process and create a long-lasting, visually dynamic new bridge.

With a focus on creating a place for the community, the new Ridgeway Road Bridge design “Foliage” reflects the surrounding landscape of Hills and Dale Metro Park and the flowing hills of Kettering, particularly of the view west from the bridge. The fluid movement of the fence lines and the sculptures mimic leaves caught in a gentle breeze.  With the addition of plazas on the north and south side of the bridge, pedestrians and vehicles will experience a unique crossing and gathering place. Garten wrote: “Our infrastructure should both serve our needs and be visually engaging and memorable in a single breath.”

About Cliff Garten Studio

cliff garten headshotCliff Garten has received prestigious Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bush Foundation Fellowship for Individual Artists, the Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship, and the Jerome Foundation Travelling Artist Grant. His civic sculptures have consistently been named best in the nation by The Americans for the Arts Public Art Network and have been cited for design excellence by the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Garten has served as a visiting critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, UCLA School of Architecture, Otis Art Institute, and SCI-Arc. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Landscape Architecture with Distinction from Harvard Graduate School of Design. Garten lives and works in Venice, California. Learn more about Garten’s work at cliffgartenstudio.com.

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