Sculpture adds color to venue’s reopening
I opened the month Sunday by visiting the San Jose Museum of Art, which reopened Friday after having its doors closed for 232 days because of Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 rules. Maybe it was just the experience of being someplace different after all this time, but it was a whole new experience to walk through the galleries.
The sense of the new is intentional. Since the museum was last open, Pae White‘s colorful, mesmerizing mobile “Noisy Blushes” was installed in the lobby. Commissioned to celebrate the museum’s 50th anniversary, the intricate structure — it’s like an explosion of joy captured mid-burst — replaces the Dale Chihuly sculpture that greeted visitors there for years. “Noisy Brushes” is a worthy successor; you could stare for hours at the sphere made of 12,000 silkscreened, electroplated and polished stainless-steel hexagons suspended from the ceiling on more than 500 colored cables.
But once you can tear yourself away from the lobby, there’s more to see, starting on the first floor with an exhibition co- organized with the UC Santa Cruz Institute of the Arts and Sciences. “Barring Freedom” is incredibly topical, exploring aspects of the prison system of the United States through the work of 26 artists.
The upper-floor gallery is being used to showcase additions made to the museum’s collection over the past five years. Curated by Rory Padeken, it includes paintings, sculptures, video and multimedia pieces, with works by Russell Crotty, Louise Nevelson and Diana Al
Hadid, whose massive installation, “South East North West,” lends its name to the exhibition. All these new works — still just a fraction of the museum’s permanent collection of more than 2,600 — prove the San Jose Museum of Art is heading into its next 50 years strong.
The museum store is well-stocked — members get an extra discount this weekend — and there’s a new eatery, el cafecito , which is operated by Adolfo Gomez‘s Mezcal restaurant and is currently serving outdoors and takeout from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, with the first hour reserved for seniors, pregnant women and others with health vulnerabilities. Masks and social distancing is required inside, and you can get more details at www. sjmusart.org.
During its nearly eight months closed, Executive Director Sayre Batton and her staff transitioned to virtual programming, engaging almost 27,000 people online with 23 public programs and more than 100 videos. But, as any parent of a school-age child can tell you right now, in-person anytwhere is better than online.
RUNNING FOR A CAUSE >>
Santa Clara County’s Reentry Resource Center works to help people getting out of jail or prison re-integrate into society, and it’s in the midst of a fundraising event to support people with a basic need — clean clothing to wear when they’ve been released from custody.
The Rise Up and Run 5K kicked off Oct. 24 and runs through Saturday. People can register for $25 and run or walk the distance at their own pace. “This is our very first race, and with COVID-19 it was a challenge to figure out
how to move forward with it, but we’ve been pleased with the support from our county employees and community partners who have created more than 30 teams to generate a little friendly competition,” said Lynn
Madden, a spokeswoman for the Office of Reentry Services.
More than 350 people have signed up so far, and the effort has raised more than $18,000 that will go directly to purchasing clothes. Get more information
and a link to register at www.sccgov.org/ sites/reentry.
DONATION DRIVE TO KEEP PEOPLE WARM >>
The Cozy Cap Campaign, which was founded in 2018 by Alpana Agarwal to provide coldweather wear to Santa Clara County’s homeless, is partnering with the San Jose Woman’s Club to make more than 1,000 care packages to keep people warm in the coming months.
New items such as warm beanies or hats, socks, gloves, rain ponchos and hand warmers can be dropped off at the Woman’s Club (75 S. 11th St.) on Friday from noon to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers from the Woman’s Club’s Be a Dear and Donate a Brassiere and the Voices in Action groups will be on hand to help at the contact-free drop- off.
The care packages will be distributed to the unhoused by organizations including HomeFirst Services, Bill Wilson Center, and Sleeping Bags for the Homeless. You can get more information (or make a cash donation) at sjwomansclub.org/cozy.