Several projects installed, more to come this year

Published in the January 6 – 19, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Staff Report

Photo by Marty Cheek A new piece of art was installed last month at the Community and Cultural Center as part of the city’s Creative Placemaking program.

Photo by Marty Cheek
A new piece of art was installed last month at the Community and Cultural Center as part of the city’s Creative Placemaking program.

The “placemaking” endeavors started two years ago by the city of Morgan Hill to install public art and make the downtown a more interesting place and attract more visitors are starting to hit their stride.

In connection with its Creative Placemaking program, the city in 2014 provided $40,000 in mini-grants to encourage residents to come up with art ideas. The submissions were originally meant to be on display for six months, but the concepts were so good the city decided to make several permanent. These include a family of bronze deer that now graces the Monterey Road median, made by local artist Evelyn Davis, and an abstract sculptural artwork titled “Encompass” located at the entrance to the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center that was recently installed. It was created by artist Blessing Hancock.

Even more public art pieces are coming downtown. In upcoming weeks, workers will install a giant spider made of headlights and also a glass portrayal of poppy jasper on the sides of the nearly completed parking garage.

John McKay, vice president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association and also a member of the Placemaking Committee, is impressed with how the various artworks are humanizing the city’s central district.

“Art is good for the downtown,” he said. “We’re finally getting to the point where downtown is stable enough where we can turn our attention to some of the finer things. We’re finally getting to a point where we can embrace art.”

The public art pieces provide visual interest and makes people consider new points of view, he said.

“I’ve gotten over the idea that art is only what I like,” he said. “Art can be something that is controversial and makes you think.”

Downtown resident Cheri Devlin, a member of the MHDA, is also impressed with how the public-funded artworks are revitalizing the look and feel of the downtown, hopefully bringing more people to downtown.

“We are always talking about wanting the downtown to be a destination, somewhere both locals and out-of-towners want to visit,” she said. “It’s exciting to see the new art pieces being installed, giving the downtown another unique attribute people will be talking about whether they like the art or not.”

Artist Davis explains why her representational work “The Dear Family,” that features three life-sized deer in the median, helps enhance the downtown experience for everyone who visits.

“I feel cities that include art in their downtowns establish a sense of pride of place in their citizens,” she said. “I grew up in a city in upstate New York, Saratoga Springs, that was full of beautiful gardens and monuments. Historical ones, mythological ones, representational ones … It had a big impact on me. Young people benefit from being exposed to art and nature in their ordinary lives. When a city provides art as part of its design, it adds to its fingerprint in a positive way; it leaves a memorable impact and draws people back.”

Evelyn Davis

Evelyn Davis with “Dear Family”

Upcoming art for the downtown include the spider that cost about $200,000 and was inspired by tarantulas living at nearby Henry W. Coe State Park. It will be placed on the Fourth Street wall of the garage. A second art work on the Third Street-side outside wall of the garage will be a three-story colored glass depiction of the gemstone poppy jasper that cost $225,000.

These works were created by Napa-based artist Gordon Huether. According to his website, he believes that “public art can considerably enhance a person’s individual experience of a space, shape its environment in a positive way, and hence bestow a new level of perception upon an otherwise every day experience.”

Previous to the recent installations, downtown already had a running start. People enjoy murals on the Second Street side of the South Valley Bikes building and along the Tryst building pedestrian way that convey Morgan Hill’s history and community spirit. And the popular “Waiting for the Train” sculpture by artist Marlene Amerian on the corner of Depot and Third streets suggests the family spirit of Morgan Hill as a bronze sculpture of our town’s namesake Hiram Morgan Hill stands alongside his wife and daughter.