When the Riverside Art Museum (RAM) in Riverside, California, began thinking about an art project that would be kid-friendly and involve the entire community, it looked west to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. There, in 2015, the L.A.-based arts nonprofit Portraits of Hope had installed a giant floating art exhibit, called “Spheres at MacArthur Park,” with the goal of generating renewed interest in a once-beloved park.

This past summer, RAM, in collaboration with the City of Riverside Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department (PRCSD) and the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD), installed “Art Float – Riverside” in Lake Evans at Fairmount Park. For four weeks, 420 spheres, each 6 feet in diameter and hand-painted by more than 20,000 students from 50-plus area schools, turned Lake Evans into a colorful public art exhibit.

The Art Alliance of the Riverside Art Museum, RAM’s volunteer fundraising group, and RUSD organized a “paint team” of 45 volunteers who transported the spheres to the schools and oversaw their painting. Once painted, more than 35 volunteers with boats helped position the spheres on Lake Evans. A series of fundraisers and special events, held in conjunction with the exhibit, helped the community to rediscover Fairmount Park — more than 300,000 people turned out to enjoy the art and the park.

The Riverside Art Float was not only an educational public art display, but also an opportunity for the Riverside Art Museum to raise $105,000 for art education programs within Riverside schools. At the end of the exhibit, the spheres were cleaned and donated to schools and community centers, as well as given to the sponsors who helped underwrite the $350 cost for each sphere.

The Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department conducted photo shoots at various park programs and facilities with the “traveling spheres” to document the joy and beauty the colorful spheres brought to everyone.

Gina Bonilla is with City of Riverside Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department.