We may not be done with the COVID-19 pandemic yet, but Napa artist Gordon Huether has been hard at work making sure that Silicon Valley residents have something to see when they’re back at work. The latest is “Silver Lantern,” a 20-foot high metal sculpture that was installed this week at Mathilda Commons, an office campus being built by Jay Paul Co. in Sunnyvale.
Other examples of Huether’s work have shown up around the valley this year, including the adorable “Big Love” sculpture of a pup and a heart at the San Mateo County Animal Shelter, “Hubcaps,” at the city parking garage at Redwood City, and “Aperture,” a sleek aluminum and glass piece visible from the street outside the Stanford Research Park in Palo Alto.
“Now, during this pandemic, public art is more important than ever, offering a place and experience that can add to everyday life, provide a moment of respite or whatever the individual might take from it,” Huether said in a statement. “While each of these installations has their own local and site-specific objectives, I hope they add to the tremendous Bay Area tradition of public art, and provide inspiration, healing or simple enjoyment.”
And that’s the key. These are big, fun pieces that are interesting to look at again and again. Our public spaces — even the buildings where we work — could use more of that. Fortunately, it sounds like Jay Paul Co., which has a few big developments in the works for downtown San Jose, is on the same page.
Matt Lituchy, Jay Paul Co.’s chief investment officer, said the firm sees public art such as Huether’s as a vital part of the company’s projects. “Great public art has the power to engage and uplift all of us, and we spend a lot of time selecting and integrating it with projects where it makes sense,” Lituchy said, adding that companies competing for talent know that art and architecture supports having an innovative and creative workforce.
APP UPGRADES HIGH SCHOOL LUNCH: Lunchtime just got a bit easier for the 23,000-plus students at East Side Union High School District in San Jose thanks to Aarav Navani, a junior at Evergreen Valley High.
Back when he was a freshman, Navani noticed it took a long time for students to order and receive their lunches, which any student can tell you eats up valuable social time. So during the pandemic year, Navani worked with the district’s information technology department and Julie Kasberger, director of child nutrition services, to develop a meal-order app to speed up the process.
The app allows students to customize their meals and pay online, as well as giving cafeteria workers an early heads up on orders so they can have meals assembled in advance, cutting down on wait time. The district expects to save money down the road thanks to the app since it’ll help track the most popular meals and how many lunches are being served each day.
The district’s board of trustees recognized Navani for his accomplishment last month, but don’t you think he shouldn’t have to buy lunch for the rest of his high school years?
SAN JOSE HONORS THEATER FOUNDER: For the past 20 years, all Cathy Spielberger Cassetta wanted to do was tell stories, but along the way she also created a spirit of community through art. The founder of Tabard Theatre Company produced season after season of shows, put the spotlight on valley nonprofits and supported them through concessions sales, and helped raise a new generation of theater fans through youth education programs.
Cassetta, who stepped down from Tabard in 2020, was honored by the city of San Jose on Friday with a commendation presented by San Jose City Councilman Raul Peralez. In a nod to the pandemic, the commendation is dated Feb. 20, 2020 — when it was originally signed and would have been presented a few weeks later until COVID-19 intervened.
Longtime director Doug Baird shared stories from Tabard’s early days, when it was a nomad theater moving from venue to venue, including Opera San Jose’s rehearsal space, before moving into its permanent home at San Pedro Square. And, in a very emotional acceptance speech, Cassetta deflected the praise she was receiving and used the polka dot dress she wore as a metaphor.
“You put enough dots together and you have a solid image instead. Tabard has been like that — many dots that came together to create one piece,” she said. “It was never my intention that Tabard would be about me.”
Instead, Tabard became about all of us — and still is. You can get tickets for the current season at www.tabardtheatre.org.
VIRTUALLY ARTISTIC: Have you gotten your ticket yet for the San Jose Museum of Art’s gala and auction Sept. 18? The virtual event will honor Mary Mocas and Marv Tseu, who have been museum benefactors since 1997, and internationally acclaimed artist Rina Banerjee. It also is dedicated to the memory of the late artist Hung Liu, who was the gala’s co-chair with fellow Museum of Art Trustee Tammy A. Kiely.
During the festivities, Oakland-based artist Rashaad Newsome will premiere his new work, “Build or Destroy,” a video and NFT commissioned by the San Jose Museum of Art for the gala. For this piece, Newsome is bringing to life the female form that is the subject of his 2016 painting, “1st Place.”
The auction includes pieces by Hung Liu, Leo Valledor, Rina Banerjee, Louise Nevelson and Mary Mocas. Registration for the 6 p.m. gala is free at sjmusart.org/2021gala.
CLASSICAL GAS?: For the past several weeks, people filling up their gas tanks at the 76 station on the corner of Hedding Street and Coleman Avenue have gotten a surprise: The 7-Eleven on the station property has been playing opera music through its exterior speakers.
Some customers are no doubt appreciating the musical interlude while paying more than $4 a gallon, but they’re probably not the intended audience. While an employee working the register couldn’t shed any light on the music’s intent, it’s probably an attempt to discourage people from loitering and panhandling in front of the store, which is near the large encampment on Coleman Avenue. According to news reports in 2018, a 7-Eleven in Modesto used a similar strategy. No word on whether it was effective or just created more opera fans.