A Santa Ana Civic Art Project 

The City of Santa Ana was founded in 1869 with a man in a tree. Our founder, William H. Spurgeon, climbed a Sycamore tree to survey the land, and fell in love with it. 

A sycamore tree marking the city's birthplace still stands, but in a sorrowful state. It lives in a parking lot, knitted into chain link fence, and is slowly dying from root crowding and an irreversible fungal infestation. 

​In talking with our community, we wanted to honor our origin story by re-integrating the tree as an interactive public landmark that speaks to our past, and our future. The tree is located in the heart of our vibrant downtown, home to one of our Arts District and Orange County's best Artwalks.

"Calliotree" is inspired by the Calliope, a uniquely American instrument invented at the same time Santa Ana was founded. A calliope works via a network of steam-powered pipes (think circus music) played by a keyboard organ. ​The Calliotree combines a sycamore tree, digital arts, music, human touch, and a downtown sidewalk. The sycamore tree will be covered in a nervous system of smart lights that synchronize with music, creating a 20-foot tall light and sound show. 

Community engagement events around the Calliotree occurred in Spring of 2017.

Saturday, March 4th, 2017: Treeversation, community dialogue
Saturday, April 1, 2017 : Treeprov, open music jam session
Saturday May 6, 2017: Calliotree launch event

Project Memoirs

 

Project Summary

GOALS

• Brought attention to the City's birthplace for future preservation and incorporation into plans
• Drew more people to the area surrounding the Calliotree -- the North End of downtown
• Re-inspired the residents of Santa Ana to revel in their Santa Ana-ness by having quirky fun with the legends and myths of their city
• Completied the project and began the activation of the area

OBJECTIVES

• Worked collaboratively with technical experts from Springboard and IDA, the City of Santa Ana, local businesses, artists and visitors on this project. Contact us to work with us below.
• Tested prototypes for the Calliotree and made modifications to give our community more flexibility or specifications to utilize the instrument. Check out our inspirations >
• Documented and promote this project through photography, video, social media and hopefully automated or live video feeds when the tree is active. Check out our project memoirs >

TIMELINE

• We hosted a Treeversation on March 4th to take community input on the project
• We hosted a Treeprov on April 1st to improvise with artists at the site to explore uses of the Calliotree
• We launched the project's final incarnation on May 6th​

PROJECT CONTRIBUTORS

• Ryan Smolar, Project Lead and Communicator 
• Arman Bastani, Creative Engineer and Inventor
• Andrew Wright, Creative Engineer and Inventor
• Ryan Chase, Property Owner
• Stacy Dukes, Industrial/Structural Artist
• Leah Shapi, Treeversation Lead Artist
• Sean Robertson, Digital Artist
• Madeleine Spencer, Project Co-Coordinator
• Manuel Escamilla, Historic Advisor & Light Artist
• Hectors on Broadway 
• Federico Medina, Local Artist
• ​Jouvon Michael Kingsby, Local Artist
• OCCTAC
• All Stage Pro
• Berenice Ballinas, Volunteer
• Springboard for the Arts, Technical Advisors
• International Downtown Association, Funders
• Contribute to the Calliotree: Contact us below