A city committee has recommended that Nine Ancestral Feathers along El Paseo be acquired as part of the city’s permanent art collect.
The Palm Desert Cultural Arts Committee voted unanimously this month to recommend the purchase of a sculpture called "Nine Ancestral Feathers" from the city's El Paseo sculpture exhibition, with plans to install the piece in a median along Gerald Ford Drive in the city's northern sphere.
The recommendation now goes to the Palm Desert City Council for final approval.
Staff presented the committee with a price list of sculptures currently on display along El Paseo as part of the city's 2025-26 exhibition, which allows the city to evaluate pieces for potential permanent acquisition. Six of the committee's six members selected "Nine Ancestral Feathers" as one of their top choices.
The sculpture by Adrian Litman, made of painted metal and standing between 10 and 12 feet tall, depicts nine feathers, each bolted individually to the ground. Committee members noted that the piece connects symbolically to the Coachella Valley, with the nine feathers corresponding to both the nine bands of Cahuilla people in the valley and the nine incorporated cities of the region.
"It speaks to our ancestral culture," Chair Maureen Boren said. "There are nine bands of Cahuilla people in the valley. This speaks to that."
Committee members praised the sculpture's low maintenance requirements and its suitability for an outdoor median location. One member noted that painted surfaces on outdoor sculptures typically do not require reapplication for 10 to 15 years, and that the bolted construction of the individual feathers would hold up well in windy conditions.
The recommended installation site is a median on Gerald Ford Drive west of Dinah Shore Drive, near University Park and the Genesis development. Members said the location would extend an informal outdoor art corridor that already includes another sculpture in a nearby Portola Avenue median.
One committee member said the Gerald Ford median location would benefit from high traffic volume, with drivers heading to nearby hotels, restaurants, medical offices and a planned apartment complex able to see the work.
The sculpture will remain on El Paseo until the exhibition concludes in October, at which point it will be relocated and installed at the Gerald Ford site. Staff said installation at the new location is expected by the end of November.
In a separate matter, the committee agreed to place a resident proposal for a dog park mural on a future agenda for further discussion.
Staff said an anonymous resident had submitted the proposal twice through the city's communications email system, requesting that the city commission a mural at the small dog park at Civic Center Park.
Under the concept, residents would submit photographs of their dogs, the committee would select an artist, and the artist would incorporate the resident photos into the mural design.
Staff identified a block wall in the small dog park as a suitable location for such a mural.
At least two committee members expressed support for moving the idea forward, which was the threshold needed to place it on a future agenda.