We have been given a special gift, to live beside the magnificent Pacific Ocean, to be citizens of not only one city, but of an emerging Pacific Rim community. —James Hubbell, Founder
What are we trying to accomplish with Pacific Rim Park?
The foundation was laid when I realized long ago that art and beauty have been an intense part of my daily life, not remote commodities in a specialty store. Art and architecture encourage an understanding of ourselves, and the times we live in, and facilitate the ability to visualize and create forms that reflect the best of our age.
When I talk about art, I mean the specific human skill of having a clear vision of the exterior and interior of our world, and then making that vision into something: a song, a painting, a philosophical statement, or even a park — a human-scale artwork you can touch, walk into and out of, and around, sit or climb on, rest in the shade of.
The artist within each of us yearns to interpret that vision. The creative individuals in a society (I rule out no one from this category) have always been the ones to pull down its old stone walls and rebuild them into workable places and patterns.
Art is my key for coming to terms with myself and the world. It starts a new journey of wonder and discovery, every time. The hundreds of times I have sat down to paint the hills and trees, for instance, were steps toward accepting and being accepted by them. When I make sketches to find solutions for jobs, each time I discover something about myself and the world I live in.
This process of self-discovery and self-acceptance is as relevant for a community as it is for an individual. And always within every community, those who are young — and everyone of any age with youthful anticipation and euphoria — wait for a marriage of art to society.
When a city decides to consort with artists, it chooses to explore its inner visions, to make them public. It chooses to bring the human hand and heart into its daily life. It may even choose to build a park.
Pacific Rim Park sees the Pacific Rim as a catalyst and symbol for an emerging world culture that is not only about trade. This new culture values diversity as a gift, beauty and harmony as unifying elements, and cooperation as the key to our future.
To date, we have created eight gateway parks around the Pacific Rim, each built by students from different cultures as educational and recreational spaces that help bring this emerging world culture into a physical form and make a statement about the way to a shared future. Each park aims to enhance the metaphor of the Pacific as a catalyst and symbol for an emerging world culture that values peace above all — peace achieved through diversity, beauty and respect for all people and all cultures, as well as the natural world.
Through the involvement of students from many cultures, we unlock their knowledge to gain a clearer and more intimate picture of the world as it unfolds. Sensitivity guides us: each park and community space must be sensitive to — and a bridge between — environmental concerns, national interests, cultural traditions, and emotional and spiritual boundaries. Practicality also plays a huge role and is a great teacher. The teams must coordinate work with cities, universities and other organizations, and use the park-building process as a lesson in business and civic cooperation and goodwill.
Finally, Pacific Rim Park empowers students to connect with other cultures, explore where change and friendship are needed, and, by working side by side, build much more than a physical park in 30 days (one lunar cycle). We build meaningful relationships and see a new Pacific culture of cooperation become a physical reality in an astonishingly short period of time.
There’s more to it, of course. Much more.
When people ask, “Why the Pacific Rim Parks?” I also think of so-called Western Culture, which has so dominated the contemporary world with its concentration on materialism and consumption. The Renaissance sought to understand life by dividing it into parts, hence material thought, industrialism, sciences, commerce and politics now throw a huge shadow across how we see the world. When nations talk about the Pacific Rim, they mean trade and not culture. Any place that is not a significant (or potential) trading place is deemed insignificant.
The division of the world and man into separate parts has become destructive and threatens mankind’s survival.
The Pacific, because of its diversity of nature, cultures, people and history, will be the birthplace of a new, holistic way of looking at life and our selves. East will marry West, materialism balance with spiritualism, and nature coexist with human culture. In this cradle we will explore making the earth whole again, and see ourselves as a part of that whole.
Let me tell you a story about the power of working together — it is but one of hundreds.
I met Gennady Turmov in the early 1990s when he was part of a Russian delegation visiting San Diego on a goodwill tour. A year or so earlier, four of us from San Diego had gone to Vladivostok as part of an artist exchange. We were there for two weeks soon after the first open election. We met the new mayor, and visited Russian warships that would soon be visiting San Diego. It was an important time.
That visit was the beginning of a lasting friendship between the cities of San Diego and Vladivostok. They would become Sister Cities.
Gennady came to our home in Santa Ysabel, California. The idea of building something with students in Vladivostok was brought up. I don’t remember who had the idea first, but that comment evolved into Pacific Rim Park.
Architecture students — eight from Russia, eight from the U.S., and one from Mexico — built the first park created by the foundation in Vladivostok in 1994. During construction, I was at the site when an army truck roared up, loaded with stones for the park. As we struggled to unload the stones, Gennady pulled up in his car with his driver. He saw us working and without hesitation jumped out, took off his coat, grabbed his driver, and in no time the stones were unloaded.
We hope that by understanding each other’s differences through working together we reach a new plateau: one where wisdom, foresight and generosity help each other find and build the kind of caring and the beautiful planet we all want.
As an artist myself, I approach every Pacific Rim Park by being somewhat frustrated in just talking about possibilities. I want to go down and rap knuckles on it: feel the thing. “Let’s do it!” I say, and so the challenge, the fun, the tears, the sweat begin again.
Time is tapping me on the back, telling me to stop writing. Time has also tapped me on the shoulder at age 87 and reminded me that I won’t be unloading stones with Gennady again.
I know others will step in as I step back. I think we have a good wind behind us even if the waters ahead are uncharted. To everyone who has worked on a Pacific Rim Park — the teams, the local officials, and the citizens of every city — thank you for being good friends and sharing your land with us. Thank you for believing in the idea of Pacific Rim Park and the vision of a Pacific family.
Someday, we will — working together in friendship — complete this necklace of Pearls around the Pacific.
—James Hubbell
