We are delighted to announce this exciting project by our friends Jennifer Madden and Jeff Reed, Bay Area sculptors of thoughtful and beautiful public art. They donated their time for two years in order to complete this amazing gift to the community!

What if local residents could control the The Bay Lights and design their own light displays? 

This Saturday, October 5, at 6 p.m. a new public art project featuring tens of thousands of controllable lights will open at the Ferry in Richmond, CA. The sculpture is in the form of a giant steel eelgrass meadow, a tribute to one of the most foundational parts of the Bay Area's ecosystem, and one that's under threat.

Like Leo Villareal’s Bay Lights, Changing Tide uses more than 20,000 programmable LED lights. The local artists who built the sculpture are raising money to open up control of those lights to the entire community, allowing other local artists, musicians, and schoolchildren in Richmond to program their own changing light displays.

“We want to create a work of art that is fully participatory, and that creates another space in Richmond for creativity and community,” artist Jennifer Madden said. "We're aiming to transform this area into a free Bayside stage." 

What:  Lighting Ceremony and Benefit for Changing Tide, a new interactive public art sculpture.
When: Saturday, October 5 at 6 pm
Where: Richmond Ferry, 1453 Harbour Way S, Richmond, CA

On Saturday, October 5, Changing Tide, a cluster of seven 20-foot tall eelgrass sculptures, will light up for the first time with a one-time video performance, as well as music, poetry and fire dancing. The free event is also designed as a fundraiser to raise the additional funds needed to make the interactive light shows permanent, including funds for a public website and the community programs that will allow local residents to program the lights themselves. 

More details are available at https://changingtide.info
Watch the short video on the making of Changing Tide here.

About the Artists: Madden and Reed, an award-winning husband-wife team whose art studio is in Richmond, have completed more than two dozen large-scale outdoor sculptures in cities across the country. They are especially focused on the changing landscape of art, technology and ecology in the Bay Area. 

Call 510-734-1782 or email for more information.