Traveling around in #SanJose and #NearbyToSanJose at 825 mph on our spinning planet.
Mural by Richard Moore in a San Jose State University science building depicting his interpretation of PUGWUS, a deity of the sea to the Tlingit tribe in Washington state. Richard Moore was a SJSU student and painted this mural around the elevator in 1974.
This new mural is up at the Santa Clara County Fair Grounds to celebrate the fair’s 80 years. Mural by @1984.yo.
This year’s fair, going on now, has rides, pig races, fighting robots, and lots of farm animals. I enjoyed the displays of handmade items by county residents of all ages like blankets, jams, artworks, clothing and more. And the geology exhibit and reptile exhibits had friendly people from whom I learned new things.
There was also this art gallery exhibit with lots to appreciate.
Out and about, some other things you may see are at the fair are…
Krazy George riding around in an old San Jose fire truck! That is Krazy George, inventor of The Wave that you see at sporting events, in the red shirt on back of the truck.
Bike tricks that were super impressive and which photos do not capture well…
And more art like this one by AugieWK (https://www.thejamsbrand.com/augiewk).
This artwork is called “Triumph Pelt” and is hanging on the DMV in south San Jose. It was created by artist Dustin Shuler in 1986 (https://dustinshuler.com/pelts.html).
Mural by Augie WK (https://www.thejamsbrand.com/augiewk).
Mural by Force129 https://www.instagram.com/force129/.
Mural by Mister E (https://www.instagram.com/mist3r_e_/)
Mural by DAWLL (https://www.instagram.com/d4wlll/)
Mural by Lila Gemellos (https://www.gemellosmurals.com/). That is herself painting her name under the red ribbon.
Looking down the hall of the 2 mile long straight building at Stanford’s linear accelerator. Straight, not level. The guide said if it was level it would follow the Earth’s curve and at 2 miles long it would then be about 12 inches off of straight at the end. This building was designed to be straight because a couple of stories below ground, under this support equipment that the building is housing, is a long tube that is designed to accelerate particles very near the speed of light. And those particles go straight. You don’t get too many opportunities to look down so perfect an example of a diminishing perspective through distance.
This is the outside of the building, looking down the exact same stretch as seen in the inside photo above it. You can see highway 280 going over the linear accelerator as a bridge not too far ahead in the photo.
Our tour guide took us to a newer building added down the end of the accelerator where x-rays generated by the accelerated particles are used for modern research. The accelerator was running throughout this whole visit, and does so through most hours of most days of the year. And so, behind the tour guide in the above photo, here a few stories under ground, x-rays are flying through the labs in a horizontal tube that I pointed out with the added blue arrow. These x-rays are used in the various experiments going on in the numerous rooms of SLAC.
There is something wonderful about humans working together on huge ambitious projects to advance our understanding of the universe. And it is pretty great to get to look at these projects and to consider what they do and how they do it.
Coming back up to the surface, surrounded by California.
These murals were painted live in front of the community while enjoying the 2023 County Fair.
By Hector Covarrubias (https://www.instagram.com/cova____/).
By Dee-meh (https://www.instagram.com/ladimeuna/), Priscilla Marquez (https://instagram.com/priscillasarte/reels/), and Yazmin Shi Shi Madriz (https://www.instagram.com/shishi.madriz/).
By Driftin (https://driftin.one/produce).
By Arsenio Baca (https://www.abacaart.com/).
By Jessica (https://www.instagram.com/jcaoart/).
By Eddie Ramirez (https://www.eddieramirezart.com/).
By Demetris BAMR Washington (https://www.bamrtheartist.com/).
By Ricardo Richey – APEXER (https://theapexer.com/).
By Robert Nexus-Nexx Ortiz (https://www.instagram.com/og_nexus_408/).
By Jesse Hernandez – Urban Aztec (http://www.jessehernandez.net/).
Norman Chuck – Vogue (https://www.voguesworld.com/).
By Raiz (https://www.pablosomething.com/) and Pancho Pescador (https://www.instagram.com/panchopescador/).
By Elba Raquel (https://www.elbaraquel.com/).
At the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, there is a building with murals for its cities and towns.
San Jose by Mario Dimas (https://www.instagram.com/mariodimasart/).
Santa Clara by Kelly Detweiler (https://www.instagram.com/kdetweilerart/).
Gilroy by Sheryl Cathers (https://www.instagram.com/sheryl_cathers/).
Los Gatos by Bhavana Misra (https://bhavnamisra.com/).
Palo Alto by Megan Sara Stevens (https://www.artistmegansara.com/).
Mountain View by Scape Martinez (https://www.sm-artgroup.com/).
Sunnyvale by a collaboration of artists; Ketaki Adi, La Vonne Carrick, Angelo Lopez, Deepti Nanawati, Penny Nolan, Kanchan Paranjpe, Jayashree Sadasivan, Neela Shukla, Ishwarryah SR, Jenny Tang.
Los Altos by Morgan Bricca (https://morganmurals.com/).
Campbell by Pam Mossing (https://www.facebook.com/pammossingmurals/photos_by).
Milpitas by Francisco Ramirez (https://www.instagram.com/fco1980/).
Cupertino by Joseph Demaree (https://idiomism.wixsite.com/josephdemaree).
Saratoga by Greg Cheung.
Los Altos Hills by Tanya Fisher (https://www.tanyafisher.art/).
Morgan Hill by Paul J. Gonzalez (https://pauljgonzalezartstudios.com/).
Monte Sereno is at the end of the building and is five murals around a doorway that focus on painter Thomas Kinkade who had lived there. These murals above were by Kachan Paranjpe Khadikar and Ketaki Adi. The following ones were, in the order shown, by Joseph Demaree, Francisco Ramirez, and Lila Gemellos.
From the street of San Tomas Aquino Rd. I assumed I was looking at a simple, though attractive, vegetable sculpture. Then I got closer and saw there was more to it. Notice the roof of this library has a rain spout directed to the top of the sculpture. Then, looking closer I saw that the sculpture has curves that channel water and a drain near its base. It is a part of the rain water drain path! That is just neat. I found that the artist Elizabeth Conner (https://elizabethconner.com/section/348652-Public-Art.html) calls this work “Cabbage”.
From the top you can see how the water is channeled all around the grooves of the sculpture’s leaves as it flows down towards the drain.
Waterways work their away around it all and it has integrated lights to backlight the leaves at night.
I like looking at this and hope to be near it when it is raining some day.
