Unsafe to Swim

At the Lincoln entrance to Sunset Dunes, where the city opens toward the Pacific and the nearby shoreline of Ocean Beach, birds are part of the daily landscape. Gulls wheel overhead, shorebirds move across the sand and flocks rise suddenly with the wind. The Feathers Three by Kirk Seese draws naturally from this environment, using the familiar form of feathers to create something playful and bold.

The sculpture marks a shift in the artist’s practice from representation toward imagination. After years of designing immersive environments and painting murals of recognizable imagery, Seese turns to a simpler symbol and expands it into a monumental form. Feathers, objects associated with flight, movement and transformation, become the building blocks of a sculpture that feels animated by the coastal energy surrounding it.

Its color palette resonates with the site itself. Tones that evoke sky, sea, sand and the changing light of the western edge of the city allow the work to feel connected to its setting while still standing out as a visual marker. Like the landscape around it, the sculpture shifts in character depending on weather, fog and sunlight.