San Jose, California

Thursday, December 4, 2014

On Sunday, Jonathan & I walked from our campsite to a nearby pub, Highway #1 Brewing Company. Our conversation with the couple next to us started with my response to the bartender's comment about "the game" on Thursday night. He was not happy with his 49ers. I shook my head and said "Kapernick". He replied it wasn't all Kapernick's fault, it was also the plays that were called. The topic then switched to hockey. Tana and Ryan told us that they are San Jose Sharks season ticket holders.  They offered Thursday night's tickets to us as they could not attend.  They cited several examples when they were recipients of people's generosity and wanted to return the favour.  Overwhelmed.

The previous evening, Jonathan found online a reasonably priced parking garage for our truck. Unlike San Fran, there are options for public parking in San Jose.

                       We began our introduction to San Jose here at San Pedro's Market.

Public Art

                                     We soaked in the art at the San Jose Museum of Art.

                                 The historical building is connected with the modern museum.

                                                   In front of the museum

                                                                       Dale Chihuly            

We met Travis at the museum reception area.  We commented that Dale Chihuly is following us. (His art has been displayed in many of the art galleries we have visited).  This led to telling Travis about our travels. He was very interested in our trip and asked us lots of questions. He has lived in Colorado and Florida. We shared our impressions of Colorado and other places we have travelled.  He printed an admission ticket with no charge on it and said he was happy that we included the museum in our adventure and asked us to be the museum's guests.

I've positioned the description of each art piece on top of the photo, in case you want to skim over the description and look at the art first.

Ruth Asawa's exhibit in the museum lobby:

Andy Goldsworthy's exhibit on the balcony of the museum lobby:

According to Goldsworthy, "The black of a hole is like the flame of a fire. The flame makes the energy of fire visible. The black is the earth's flame - its energy. I used to say I will make no more holes. Now I know I will always make them. I am drawn to them with the same urge I have to look over a cliff edge. It is possible that the last work I will make will be a hole."

Andy Goldsworthy
Burnt Patch, 1995
Pine sticks from the Sierra Mountains
72 in.

The work of several artists, exhibited in this museum,  were inspired by Goldsworthy's sculpture.https://www.facebook.com/SanJoseMuseumofArt

First Floor:

                                               http://sjmusart.org/exhibition/post-portrait

Various artists from second floor:

                                        I thought of the crocheted street signs in Santa Rosa!

We saw Masami Teraoka's AIDS Series at the Donna Beam Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

                                                            Public Art

Brews at O'Flaherty's Irish Pub

                                 Orange Wheat--Hangar 24     Lil Devil Belgian Pale Ale--Alesmith

During our pub chat with Tana and Ryan on Sunday, we spoke about San Jose being a "hockey town". They agreed that San Jose loves their hockey and hockey players that play for the SJ Sharks often want to stay.
Two hours before the game, hockey fans started to fill the main street in front of the SAP center. Boston Bruin fans were not as plentiful, but still evident. During the game, I heard a San Jose fan behind me comment: "There are a lot of Bruin fans". When one of the Bruin players was sent to the "sin bin" (penalty box), the Jumbotron featured a shark mouth opening and closing around the player. Shark fans mimicked this action with their arms and hands. The fan next to Jonathan was very vocal during the game, encouraging her players and gently chiding them when they were under performing.  She wore sparkly teal shoes, a Sharks hoodie and a headband with the Sharks logo.  The final score was 7 to 4 for San Jose. The Sharks had twice as many shots on goal as the Bruins.
Before the anthem, there was a moment of silence for Jean Belliveau who died on Tuesday. Belliveau  spoke at my B. Ed. graduation.