Art of The Metro Gold Line

At the South Pasadena Station, located at the intersection of Mission Street and Meridian Avenue, stands a statue titled Astride-Aside. It was created by artist Michael Stutz, and installed at the site on February 6^th, 2003. It is a work of public art commissioned by Metro Art of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. According to an article from the USC website, the City of South Pasadena demanded that the work reflected its surroundings and “a sense of community.” Michael Stutz was eventually chosen for this task after the design of the initial artist selected, Richard Hall, was not satisfactory. Michael Stutz was extremely considerate of the city in preparing the concept of the sculpture. He believed that the City of South Pasadena with “self-confidence”, and he wanted to incorporate this feeling and the city’s use of iron. Stutz designed the sculpture of the walking man with all these things in mind. He also used elements of the natural surroundings, for example the outstretched arms and legs of the work are meant to mimic the branches of the trees. This makes the work of art unique to its location, as it can only truly represent the spirit of South Pasadena. The material used for Aside-Astride is bronze. Michael Stutz first created models out of clay and woven paper. He then showed the models to fabricator Carlson & Co, where they made annealed bronze strips for the sculpture. Using an additive method, the bronze strips were arranged and welded together over a skeletal frame.  Finally, the sculpture was attached onto two granite blocks (with a third one in front) and installed at the train station.