New Sculpture Welcomed To LACC Campus

On Tuesday, January 13th, the Los Angeles City College community gathered as LACC Foundation honored alumnus Steve Lebowitz and his wife Debi for generously donating LACC’s first piece of public art through the Steven and Deborah Lebowitz Foundation.

Jeffery Laudenslager is the artist of the 20-foot kinetic sculpture entitled “Ripples Basho,” in honor of famous Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō who was known for haikus. The poem that inspired this piece is “an ancient pond / a frog jumps in / the splash of water” [1686].

“I base my work on Basho’s haikus…conveying something tranquil and a resulting reaction,” Laudenslager commented on the piece during the January 13th dedication. “It has taken 40-plus years for me to arrive and conceive of this piece. It is kinetic, totally dependent on the extreme sense of balance, precision and the precise placement of each element.”

In front of a crowd of students, faculty, administrators and fellow philanthropists, Steve Lebowitz said of the statue, “Art can influence the way you look at life, in many ways unseen to those around you. Thousands of students will see this piece of art, and while we will never know the impact it will have, it will have an impact.”

Thank you Steve and Debi for inspiring the thousands who walk onto LACC’s campus each year!