Note: This story is part of an ongoing series about public art in the San Diego region.
French artist Niki de Saint Phalle lived in San Diego towards the end of her life, until her death in 2002.
She left a major public art imprint on the region: "The Nikigator" just outside the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park, "Queen Califia's Magical Circle" in Escondido's Kit Carson Park, the abstract face-like "Coming Together" sculpture watching over downtown next to the Convention Center, UC San Diego's "Sun God" and more.
With nine distinct installations (Queen Califia, with its many sculptures and components, counts as just the one), San Diego County has more public works by Niki de Saint Phalle than any other city or county in the world.
Lech Juretko, her longtime assistant, worked with Saint Phalle on many of these works, and still takes care of most of them — a job made more challenging by insufficient funding for public art maintenance.
On a gray, still-drizzly recent morning, Juretko arrived at Kit Carson Park. Despite the sun beginning to poke through, light rain overnight meant the park's hidden jewel, "Queen Califia's Magical Circle," would likely be closed. The entrance maze can be slippery if there are any puddles on the ground.
"Queen Califia's Magical Circle" was Saint Phalle's final work of public art, and can seem more like a magical playground than a sculpture, beckoning children to play amongst the curious characters.
There's an abstract, mirrored maze to welcome visitors, a circle of "totems" of fantastical creatures, indigenous imagery, Saint Phalle's hallmark "Nanas," giant, mosaic serpents, and the powerful queen herself at the center.
Unfortunately, Saint Phalle died before seeing the finished product.
"It was a big shock for me, too. If you know a person for so many years, you get close," Juretko said of Saint Phalle. "But after, you know, life goes on and you have to finish it."
Saint Phalle's granddaughter, Bloum Cardenas, worked alongside Juretko and other assistants to complete her final projects — "The Grotto" in Hanover, Germany, which opened in March 2003, and Queen Califia in October that year.
The type of art that Saint Phalle created in her later years is vivid and recognizable. There's an intense curiosity and happiness in the work — a happiness hard-won after a troubled past. These later works feature bright, larger-than-life characters and fantastical animals, each one mosaicked with intricate details like small polished stones.
"We call this M&Ms because it looks like M&Ms," Juretko said, running his hands across one creature's glass pebble-dotted body.
Juretko met Saint Phalle in 1994 as a handyman working on her home, a connection via Martha Longenecker of the Mingei Museum. Saint Phalle then asked Juretko to help with her mosaic sculptures, and before long, he was traveling with her around the world, learning about contemporary art techniques and working closely with her on much of her work.
And now, he's stepped into the role of caretaker.
Her elaborate construction makes caring for the sculptures a significant job.
When she was still alive, Saint Phalle herself joked that she was an "expensive" artist. Everything she earned from selling a work of art, she'd sink into her next project. Juretko said that just one particular section of a serpent's "scales" cost around $3,000 in materials. So finding — and keeping stock — of replacements is expensive.
When a stone falls out, the replacement is more akin to a dental procedure than art. Juretko said it's rare to be able to pop a stone back into place simply. There's a risk of weakening nearby stones during the repairs. And the larger pieces of glass, reflective and shiny tiles, are at risk of cracking or being shattered due to vandalism or accidents.
After years of damage, Queen Califia was fenced off, surveillance cameras were installed, and open hours were limited to a few mornings each week and occasional Saturdays when volunteer docents can be present. Vandalism can still be a problem, however, even as recently as 2018.
But the cities that own these works of public art can’t always provide enough funding for the regular upkeep Juretko thinks is necessary.
Danielle Lopez is assistant director of community services for the city of Escondido and public art falls under her purview. For repair work on "The Queen," as she calls it, the Niki Charitable Art Foundation splits the cost and selects an artist that the city can use — usually Juretko.
"It's always been Lech. It will probably remain Lech," Lopez said.
Recently, they repaired a large section of "Queen Califia's Magical Circle" to the tune of $56,000.
"These tiles are from New Mexico, from Italy, it's not like something you can just go to your local tile store and pick up," Lopez said.
Lopez said Escondido is planning a rental event space nearby to support Queen Califia, and they're also in the process of developing a public art master plan as a city, something that could shape the care and creation of public art in the area for years to come.
But for now, funding for public art in Escondido comes from development impact fees — which cannot be used for maintenance. That money is designated only for new installations of public art and recreation projects.
"It's for new. It's for expanding. It's for growth," Lopez said. "So we rely on donations to repair our pieces. We have an account, a maintenance account, but it does go quickly and it doesn't get replenished as quickly as it gets used."
Juretko thinks true caretaking of Saint Phalle's sculptures would mean regular maintenance rather than just fixing things when they're broken or in obvious disrepair. He said some of Saint Phalle's similar garden-type sculptures in other parts of the world get daily maintenance.
Juretko also points to other public Saint Phalle works in our region that are in disrepair: like "Coming Together," by the Convention Center, which he said has sprinklers and landscaping equipment too close to the sculpture, causing damage.
For him, it comes down to the difference between repair and regular care.
"When you come here when everything looks [a] disaster and you start from the scratch again, and after three, four, five years the same. I mean how many times you can do this?" Juretko said. "The ideal solution, it should be maintenance."
There's something intensely personal about Juretko's dedication to the work of Niki de Saint Phalle, his longtime friend and mentor.
"She was the best person. As an artist, sometimes you hear that the artist is ugly or this and that. But she was the best person. Because of her I learned, let's say everything what I learned is because of her," he said.
Queen Califia's Magical Circle is open in Escondido from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. Visit here or call (760) 839-4000 for more information.
