



Back in the fall of 1991, the hillsides on both sides of Interstate 5 through the Tejon Pass were dotted with yellow umbrellas. The huge nylon canopies were part of a joint installation with another exhibit featuring blue umbrellas in Japan, both conceived by the artist Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, who died Wednesday in New York after a brain aneurysm. She was 74.

Unfortunately, on Oct. 26, 1991, sudden high winds caused one of the 485-pound yellow umbrellas to blow over and fall on Lori Keevil-Mathews of Camarillo, killing her. The artists ordered the installation dismantled after the accident.

Thousands of people flocked to the Tejon Pass to see the umbrellas. Were you one of them? What did you think of them?

Update: Click here to see more photos of the artists and their work.

-- Claire Noland

Photo: Aerial view of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's umbrella project near Gorman, Calif., in October 1991. Credit: Los Angeles Times