Call for sculpture submissions for future Puente Hills park

The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture’s Civic Art Division is calling for sculpture submissions for the entry plaza of the Environmental Justice Center, which will welcome visitors to the future Puente Hills Landfill Park.

This call is open to artists residing or working in California with experience working on public art projects.  

Artists will not be eligible to apply if they have been previously commissioned for a civic art project with the L.A. County Department of Arts and Culture in the last five years, whose budget was equal to, or exceeds, $765,000.

Application deadline is at 5 p.m. PST on February 12, 2025. 

The former Puente Hills Landfill site will become a 142-acre park at the western end of Puente Hills with funding from Supervisor Hilda Solis. 

The park will offer views of the San Gabriel mountains and provide a wide range of recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities, according to the Parks and Recreation County Department. 

This will be the first new regional park in the county in more than three decades. 

“The goals of Puente Hills Landfill Park are to provide public access to nature and hands-on discovery for all, by creating and maintaining an accessible and engaging park, healing local ecosystems, demonstrating regenerative practices, advocating environmental justice, and providing a public forum for learning,” according to the county statement. 

The Puente Hill Landfill originally opened in the Puente Hills canyons of the San Gabriel Valley in 1956 as the 1,200-acre San Gabriel Valley Dump. The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts purchased the landfill in 1970. A joint powers agreement established in 1987 between the Sanitation Districts and Los Angeles County, and in compliance with Assembly Bill 2632, ensured that portions of the landfill would be allocated for park and recreational use after landfill operations ceased. 

County documents state the park will feature walking and hiking trails, an art plaza, outdoor classrooms, a dog run, a scenic overlook, a performance meadow, a native plant nursery, a café, ceremonial spaces, interpretive gardens, a bike skills course, equestrian staging and picnic areas.