Published in the April 29 – May 12, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Marty Cheek
A father and his son help artist Debbie Arambula paint her mural on the north side of the former Simple Beverages and More building at Third Street and Monterey Road. The mural is part of the city’s mini-grant program to enhance the downtown area. Photo by Marty Cheek
Next time you’re in downtown Morgan Hill, check out the mural on the Third Street wall of the former Simple Beverages building. The art work depicts local placemaking icons such as a hot-air balloon, wine bottles and grapes, and the historic Villa Mira Monte home that once belonged to Hiram Morgan Hill and his wife Diana. You might note two California poppies with red hearts for centers on the mural. These were painted by yours truly.
The mural is one of several public artworks that were approved in January by the city council as part of a $91,000 mini-grant program to encourage the development of artistic endeavors to enhance downtown Morgan Hill. On Saturday April 11, Debbie Arambula opened up the creation of the mural to anyone who might like to get brush in hand and place paint on the art work. As the afternoon progressed, various people participated — including many children.
I told Arambula that I lack artistic ability, and she insisted that with a little guidance on painting techniques, she would prove me wrong. I soon found myself with a paintbrush in one hand and an aluminum pie pan holding orange and white paint in the other. Painting the poppies proved to be relaxing and fun as I concentrated each brush stroke to bring out the colors. Stepping back to admire my creation, I felt surprised to observe there was a vague resemblance to the spring-time flora that is our state flower. Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel, I’ll readily admit, would have no worries of any artistic competition from me.
Our downtown is really starting to take off in its transformation into a more people-friendly destination for the city. And public art is playing a significant role in its renaissance as a public destination. Much of the credit goes to Morgan Hill’s Economic Development Director Edith Ramirez. She was the one who moved the creative placemaking art program that is bringing not just murals but Zen Doodle mosaics, sculptures and an oversized Adirondack chair to create a more whimsical atmosphere to the downtown streets. The grants range from $1,000 to $59,000 and come from the leftover bond proceeds from the city’s former Redevelopment Agency.
The intention of the program was for the art projects to be temporary and they would be taken down after the construction of the various infrastructure improvements now taking place at a cost of about $25 million. Thankfully, the Library and Cultural Arts Commission recommended to the city that several of these artworks be turned into permanent features of the downtown. These include a steel art display at the Community Garden on Butterfield Boulevard, a wine country theme mosaic outside the Community and Cultural Center, a mosaic sculpture of grapes on the southeast corner of Third Street and Monterey Road and a grouping of bronze deer sculptures that will grace the median along Monterey Road.
I hope many of the other art works created by the program might find a permanent home in downtown Morgan Hill. Among them is the colossal Adirondack chair that will grace the pedestrian alley between the Good Fork restaurant and Tryst clothing store. This fun and fabulous furniture feature has already received lots of Facebook time as people have their photo taken — giving the comical illusion that many of Morgan Hill residents have undergone some sci-fi shrink-ray session. I told John McKay, who built this artwork with local wood alchemist Don Jensen, the chair might help make downtown Morgan Hill a tourism destination as people travel here to have see it for themselves, and have their photo taken on it.
The public art to come on the Third Street garage is still very much in the creation stages, but one aspect of it has generated plenty of controversy. I’m speaking about the giant 10-foot spider that pays homage to the tarantulas of Henry W. Coe State Park. This whimsical work arachnid artifice has set off plenty of discussion about what is appropriate for public art.
I have suggested to one member of the city council that the work doesn’t go far enough in stretching the limits of artistic endeavor. Perhaps the top level of the garage can have a giant fly that the spider is heading for — the wings of which can be solar panels. And on the ground level, we can have a two-story metal cylinder with a cap on top which sprays a fine-mist stream of water on the spider. We can even have an artist paint on the cylinder the RAID label — and maybe the company that makes that famous brand of bug spray might provide sponsorship funds for all the world-wide advertising from this art work. Hey, it worked for Andy Warhol with his pop art of commercial product logos in the 1960s and 1970s.
Public art provides Morgan Hill with a lot of benefit in cultural, social and economic value. The art now being created will help distinguish our city in its history and uniquely evolving community, reflecting and revealing our town’s personality.
The public art now being incorporated into our city’s downtown infrastructure will humanize the public spaces and accent the environment, providing an intersection of the past, present and future.
