A new public art project at Kellogg Park
M.C. Escher Fish: A Living Legacy at La Jolla Shores
Adopt an M.C. Escher Fish, A Work of Art That Inspires Ocean Discovery
A proposed public artwork that brings Escher’s interlocking fish into the landscape of Kellogg Park, creating a place to look closer, learn about the ocean and become part of something larger.
Artwork reproduced with permission.
M.C. Escher & the pattern
It Begins With One Fish
Look closely and individual fish begin to appear. Look again, and each fish becomes part of the next.
M.C. Escher spent years exploring how recognizable forms could interlock and repeat across a surface. In Regular Division of the Plane (Fish) No. 20, the fish fit together so completely that the pattern feels capable of continuing beyond the edge of the page.
Every fish is distinct.
Every fish is part of something larger.
This project is being developed in partnership with The M.C. Escher Foundation.
We are grateful for the opportunity to work with the Foundation and share Escher’s work in a new setting at La Jolla Shores.
Look Closer.
Curiosity was central to Escher’s work. In correspondence about this project, the M.C. Escher Foundation described that curiosity as something that led him toward new ideas and new worlds throughout his life.
Curiosity also sits at the heart of Walter Munk’s legacy: asking questions about the ocean, looking beyond what we already know, and sharing what we discover.
For this project, those ideas meet at La Jolla Shores.
From Pattern to Ocean
At Kellogg Park, the fish leave the page and become part of a public artwork at La Jolla Shores. Escher’s tessellation fills the center of the installation, with leopard sharks around its edge and four seahorses surrounding the existing flagpole monument.
Proposed installation at Kellogg Park, La Jolla Shores. Final details remain in development.
The ocean is only steps away. The pattern becomes a starting point for looking outward, asking questions and discovering more about the marine world around us.
A living educational experience
The Artwork Is Permanent.The Discovery Is Never Finished.
The installation is being designed as a place to learn as well as a place to enjoy.
The physical artwork stays. Walk through the installation and notice the fish, sharks and details beneath your feet.
The learning can evolve. The current direction is to use dynamic QR codes to connect the physical artwork with educational resources about our oceans. Because the digital layer can change without changing the artwork itself, the experience can keep evolving over time.
There is more to discover over time. New resources can be added, updated and improved as the project grows. This builds on an approach WMFO already uses at Kellogg Park: public art as a doorway into learning.
Planned concept: the exact interactive implementation is still being developed. The goal is an educational layer that can evolve over time.
Become part of the pattern
Every Fish Is Part of Something Larger
Escher’s pattern works because no fish stands alone. The same idea gives this project its community dimension.
Individual fish within the installation can carry the names of the people, families and organizations that help bring the work to life.
Adopt a fish in your own name, for your family, or in honor of someone important to you.
A Living Legacy
At Kellogg Park in La Jolla Shores, this proposed public art installation would bring M.C. Escher’s fish tessellation into a physical artwork people can walk through and explore.
Individual fish can be adopted and carry the names of the people, families and organizations who help create it. The installation is also intended to encourage ocean discovery, with educational resources that can evolve over time.
An adopted fish can honor someone important to you while becoming part of a place others can enjoy and learn from for generations to come.