Art on the Grounds

A Path Forward

A Path Forward: Honoring Ohlone Land & Spirit is a living monument and permanent pathway within Montalvo's 175-acre park, featuring an augmented reality (AR) experience created to honor Ohlone lands through shared ancestral wisdom, elevating local Ohlone voices and Indigenous knowledge while enlightening visitors about forest stewardship, land management, and environmental kinship in the natural ecosystems of Santa Clara County. A Path Forward is a partnership of the Santa Clara County Parks, the Confederation of Ohlone People, and Montalvo Arts Center. This work was made possible through a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Award and the California Arts Council…
Art on the Grounds

Works by Inez Storer

Inez Storer is a storyteller. Her mixed media paintings allow viewers to enter her work as one might enter a story. Pulling from current events and her own personal history, she creates magical narratives that ultimately bend time. Her work draws from her expansive collection of treasured material for collage as she weaves fact with fiction. A self-described “scavenger,” Storer tucks away relics and clippings that catch her attention. She is always searching for unusual images depicting subjects ranging from the familiar to the political to add to her collection of objects. Her studio is idiosyncratically organized and contains storage…
Art on the Grounds

Floating Kīpuka

“To play is to be in the world. It is to be open to surprise, contingency, and improvisation—a critical skill for our combined future.“ - Christina Agapakis The Floating Kīpuka play kit aims to blend knowledge across time and cultures to create playful spaces for more voices in the discussion of just biofutures. It invites people to imagine new types of playful spaces of trust for collaboratively dreaming with biology with a focus on agricultural futures. The custom assembly pieces blend lab tools, organisms at scales, cultural legends, rituals of gratitude, and agricultural labor stories to bring culture and ethics…
Art on the Grounds

Natsu Matsuri AR

Step into the enchanting world of Natsu Matsuri AR at the Plaza of Montalvo Arts Center—an immersive AR art project that pays homage to the vibrant Japanese summer festival season. Drawing inspiration from the rich traditions and joyous celebrations, this installation combines physical objects, evocative soundscapes, and augmented reality to offer visitors a multisensory experience that captures the essence of Natsu Matsuri (夏祭り). As visitors arrive at the plaza, they will be greeted by an Engawa bench—a traditional Japanese porch-like structure that beckons them to immerse themselves in the festivities. Accompanied by the gentle melodies of wind chimes, the interactive…
Art on the Grounds

Broken Wing

Broken Wing (2004) is a bronze work that represents objects, often taken for granted, that are depended upon as part of our daily routine—like a wing nut for a carpenter. This piece is installed in the Cactus Garden, located on the north end of the Italianate Garden. In 2010, Broken Wing became the first sculpture permanently acquired by Montalvo as part of our Art on the Grounds exhibitions. Cactus Garden. David Middlebrook
Art on the Grounds

Cascade

Cascade is a two-part installation where interdisciplinary artist Carole Kim transforms a dormant site of spectacle into a slower viewing context with a meditative participatory component. Two large-scale, floating drawings consisting of layers of imagery inspired by the neural reach of the spine and a network of nodal cracks in a pattern of interconnectivity. The stone steps are dusted with an ephemeral stencil of cresting waves in white powder upon which viewers are invited to build stone cairns—temporary, humble micro-monuments in homage to all those we are caring for: young, old, family, friend, and for all those providing that care.…
Art on the Grounds

It’s All About Love: Mixtape for the Landscape

A durational recorded soundscapeCommissioned by the Lucas Artists Program at Montalvo Arts Center A recorded durational soundscape, designed to be heard in conjunction with a designated pathway on Montalvo’s grounds, and created in a form accessible on Montalvo’s stART here application by means of a smart phone. The soundscape may be connected to physical elements along the designated pathway in a number, form and nature to be determined in advance and subject to Montalvo’s final approval. The conceptual content of the soundscape is described by Artist as follows: “Just like the old school mixtapes you painstakingly created for your sweetie pie,…
Art on the Grounds

Works By Riva Lehrer

No longer on view. The cottage gallery portion of the exhibition closed November 13, 2022. Acrylic, dimensional collage and mixed media on Amate paperCollection of Larry A. Gerber Dolls contain images of organs removed from my body during surgery. Mixed media on paperPrivate collection, Chicago William Shannon is a dancer, skateboarder, choreographer, and video artist, an early pioneer in subverting assumptions about contemporary dance. Shannon resides in Pittsburgh, PA. Mixed media and collage on paperCollection of Larry A. Gerber Lennard Davis is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Davis explores the political, literary, and…
Art on the Grounds

Untitled (Marble and Wood Sculpture)

Marble, wood, steel, canvas, graphite, mixed media46 x 48 x 24 in.Courtesy of the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, San FranciscoPhoto: Diane Roby No longer on view. The cottage gallery portion of the exhibition closed November 13, 2022. Jackson spent extended periods in 1983 and 1985 in Carrara, Italy, working on marble sculptures, which he has continued in his studio in Oakland, California. In an art historical sense one might perceive the figures in his otherwise abstract paintings as an attempt to resolve or at least investigate the space between abstraction and figuration. That would be wrong. His figures are…