Like a cook who discovers unexpected tastes by combining spices
and ingredients, a writer savors interesting words and flavorful
combinations.
Like a cook who discovers unexpected tastes by combining spices and ingredients, a writer savors interesting words and flavorful combinations.
The word “alchemy,” for example, has unexpectedly paid me a visit not once, but twice within the past few days. One day I am engrossed in a mystery book by one of my favorites, Laurie R. King, about a cult dedicated to finding a path to righteousness by tapping into the medieval belief of alchemy, namely that gold could be created from baser elements; the next day I receive a notice in the mail from Gallery Morgan Hill presenting its latest featured artist, Don Jensen, who describes himself as a “wood alchemist.”
“Alchemy in the modern sense means turning something plain or boring into something special,” Jensen said. For this artist, it has meant taking pieces of wood that others may be ready to discard and transforming them into unique pieces of art. Nor does he limit himself to one category; his show at the Gallery includes functional pieces like furniture, bowls, utensils and pepper grinders as well as sculptures and ornamental wall hangings.
Born in Japan to an army family that took him around the world, Jensen’s love affair with wood began at an early age. A scouting merit badge sent him and his father to the Eglin Air Force Base wood shop for a project requiring candlesticks to be created from old oak pallets. Many years later, a degree and career in landscape architecture have allowed him to pursue his interest in wood, a medium that appeals to him because of its warmth and character.
What makes Jensen’s creations unique is the background behind each piece of wood. “Each piece has a story. Each piece has a history,” Jensen said.
A table that holds wine bottle corks, for example, was created from a tree that grew in his mother’s Oklahoma backyard in the 1930s. Local olive wood from historic South County school sites and cherry wood from the Morgan Hill Mariani Orchards have special meaning to him because he has chosen this area to raise a family. The interesting character of the wood in many of his pieces actually comes from diseased trees that were on their way to being discarded.
Don Jensen was one of the original founders of Gallery Morgan Hill and is now back as its featured artist this month. A reception is planned from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at 11490 Monterey Street in downtown Morgan Hill. On display will be many of his pieces, including a spectacular wood quilt that was recently on display for the opening of the Morgan Hill Cultural Center. For more information call 776-7990.
In addition to this visual arts experience, there are two performing arts opportunities I recommend for the upcoming weekends. The South Valley Symphony is hosting the Pacific Brass Band at the Gilroy High School Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
This 35-piece band offers a wide repertoire, from traditional brass band music to American folk songs. Call 842-3934 for ticket details.
Down the road in San Juan Bautista, El Teatro Campesino’s thrilling “Zoot Suit” is in its final run after being extended several times. Only a few weekends are left before this dramatization by Luis Valdez of The Sleepy Lagoon Mystery in Los Angeles must close and prepare for a national tour, and it is really a performance not to be missed. Call (831) 623-2444 for “Zoot Suit” ticket information before it’s too late.
But getting back to alchemy … is it possible for Gilroy to perform a modern-day version of alchemy and create something special from some mediocre material? I am referring to the plans for a community cultural center, a topic I discussed in my last column and one that has touched a nerve with many of you. Based on my experiences as an art and entertainment columnist and an active participant in local cultural activities, I questioned whether there is enough interest in the arts in Gilroy to support a 365-day-a-year cultural center. I also am concerned that the entities that are developing this center, the City Council and the Cultural Center Task Force, have devoted a considerable amount of energy to what the building should look like and where it should go but not enough to what should be in it, namely “culture.”
I truly believe that this discussion in this community needs to happen sooner rather than later or before it’s too late, I should say, and I welcome all the responses I have received to date. How sad and how telling that not one of you disagreed with my assessment that Gilroy is a culturally very undemanding community. We tend to expect little, generally attend only activities in which we know someone involved, and don’t give enough support to the quality programs that are being offered, despite the efforts of people like me who jump up and down and wave their arms madly in an effort to get your attention as you drive out-of-town for cultural stimulation elsewhere.
OK, we have now collectively wrung our hands. What do we do know? A fellow columnist, Doug Meier, has suggested the situation is so helpless that we should just scratch the idea of even attempting to build a cultural center in downtown Gilroy and, instead, put it in Bonfante Gardens where there is an abundance of parking and people.
This is an interesting thought that deserves consideration and one that could be mutually beneficial to both Bonfante and the proposed center, but I am not so sure I want a cultural center controlled by Paramount, either. As I have stated previously, there are three words in the phrase “cultural community center,” and though I originally lamented about the lack of attention to the “cultural” component, I value the “community ” aspect of this project as well and am not yet ready to abandon it.
Other sources have proposed simply building the center and then allowing the marketplace to determine what will happen in it. But isn’t that what we are doing now and why so many of us are questioning if the current activities and level of involvement merit a cultural center? If this facility were a hospital or a school, it would be laughable to expect them to be run properly without professional guidance and oversight. Are we so culturally bereft that we should have lower expectations for a facility because it promotes the arts?
Joseph Heller once said in jest, “Some men are born mediocre; some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.” I consider these words to be a challenge, not only for a community like Gilroy but also for a society that has experienced a frightening dumbing down of its culture. I call upon the City Council and the cultural task force to set lofty goals for the center and appoint a blue-ribbon panel of professional, credentialed consultants in the performing and visual arts to advise and provide quality control.
