Don Merkt
Culver City
Crossed Currents
4343 Duquesne Avenue, Culver City
Los Angeles County Thomas Guide page 672, grid G1

Don Merkt's whimsical "Crossed Currents" is a 28-foot, 7-ton stainless steel pitcher tipping into Ballona Creek, a sculptural nod to the creek's role in the settling of Culver City.

A single drop of water falls from the pitcher; inside the vessel a mobile of metal discs, meant to mimic water bubbles, dances in the ocean breeze. The mingling of air and water currents gives the piece its name.

Originally, the creek was a slow moving stream surrounded by trees. But its tendency to flood forced the Army Corps of Engineers to transform it into a concrete, albeit more stable, drainage ditch.

"What interested me was this was such a beautiful element of the city, a central spine, then it became something you turned your back on," Merkt said of Ballona. "My hope is that in time these creeks will be allowed to be the sort that used to flow through the city. I hope the piece encourages people to pay attention to the creek and to efforts to restore and enhance it."