The 24.5-mile fabric fence across Sonoma and Marin Counties opened to the public after years of permit battles, becoming a landmark of site-specific art.
On September 10, 1976, "Running Fence" was completed and opened to public view, an 18-foot-tall, 24.5-mile-long fence of white nylon fabric panels running through Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, before descending into the Pacific Ocean at Bodega Bay. The project took 42 months of preparation, including 18 public hearings, three sessions in California Superior Courts, and the drafting of a 450-page Environmental Impact Report.
Jeanne-Claude was instrumental in navigating this extraordinarily complex bureaucratic and legal process, negotiating with dozens of ranchers whose land the fence crossed, securing hundreds of easements, and managing the small army of engineers, workers, and lawyers required. The couple insured the project themselves and funded it entirely through the sale of original artworks, refusing any public or corporate funding — a defining principle of their practice.
"Running Fence" was significant not only as a monumental artwork but as a demonstration of grassroots democratic process intersecting with avant-garde art; ranchers and local communities became active participants and, in many cases, advocates for the piece. It remains one of the most celebrated works of American land art, emblematic of Jeanne-Claude's singular skill in transforming legal and civic obstacles into essential components of the creative process, and it cemented the couple's reputation as masters of the temporary monumental gesture.