Artist-built Environment | Mosaic environment | Open to the public

Snakes atop the walls, fabulous mosaics and a giant eagle with an Amazon warrior guiding it. Those are some of the elements of the Magic Circle, but far from all that it has to offer.

It's a museum quality installation sitting almost secretly at the back of a park in this small town not far from Sea World. The story is that Niki's agent lived and jogged here, and knowing that she wanted to do a project in California, suggested that this spot might just work. It is one of the four large-scale sculptural environments designed and built by the artist and her studio collaborators, and the only one located in the United States.

The garden is named after Califia, the fictional warrior queen of the mythical Island of California, and was inspired by California's rich history and culture. It includes a circular enclosure, maze entryway paved with mosaic tiles, ten large sculptures, and native trees and shrubs planted both inside the plaza and around the outer wall.

But who's Niki de Saint Phalle? A French born self-taught artist, whose large scale sculptures earned her accolades in Europe. Niki was well known in the field of contemporary art. Influenced by figures such as Jean Dubuffet and Antoni Gaudi, she made her reputation in the Sixties with a series of giant female figures, the "Nanas." She was intrigued by the Spanish tales of Queen Califia, who ruled an island empire, a logical companion to those works. This was her last major international work before her death in 2002.

The garden's wall is covered mostly in Mexican pebble stones, while the snakes and other sculptures are clad in many thousands of hand-cut glass, ceramic, and stone mosaic tiles. Some wall segments are also decorated with ceramic plaques engraved with Native American rock art and other symbols, as well as handprints and signatures from Saint Phalle's family and art team. The 11-ft tall Queen Califia herself is embellished with hand-cut mirrored glass, while the fountain uses gold leaf glass and is controlled by a solar-powered pump.

Inspired by California's mythic, historic and cultural roots, the garden consists of nine large-scale sculptures, a circular "snake wall" and maze entryway, sculpturally integrated bench seating, and native shrubs and trees planted within the interior plaza and along the outer perimeter. The garden bears the brilliant, unique mosaic ornamentation that is an unmistakable part of Saint Phalle's later work.

There are elements of Native American mythology here, Asian motifs and Hispanic ones too. The cultural mix that has made California unique. Though Niki died before it was complete, her crew of largely European artisans followed through on the artist's wishes--to make a place where children and parents could walk and play in the presence of beauty and wonder.

Credit: Some text are from "Fantasy Worlds" by Deidi Von Schaewen and John Maizels  as well as Wikipedia and on-site experiences.

Creator: Niki  de Saint Phalle: 1930–2002
Creation date: 2000-2003

3333 Bear Valley Pkwy
Escondido, CA
(760) 839-4691
http://www.queencalifia.org