Community Guide 2017

A tile mural by Gage Taylor, “Rolling Hills of San Geron- imo Valley,” hangs in one of the Center offices. The tiles were designed by Gage Taylor and produced collaboratively with his Lagunitas neighbor, tile maker Fred Ross, in 1980. This mural is a suite of 12 individual tiles. And let’s not forget about the outside of the Center! At the front of the building is the Kate Wolf Memorial. (Kate was a much beloved singer/songwriter and former Center Board Member whose loss to leukemia in 1986 was felt deeply by the community see page 68.) The patio/stage with a beautifully symbolic dove formed in the concrete and the curvilinear benches were built in her honor. There is also the Carol Meese Memorial Garden estab- lished in front of the East Room to remember this beloved young mother of two whose life was cut short by cancer in 1996. An apple tree grows there in her memory. Our teens have been busy beautifying the Center as well with the large mosaic planter under the arches at the front of the building done by Jordan Chappell, Sadie Cort, Angie Notari and Leah Rippe as part of a Drake High School “Art is Everywhere” project. The Gym and the Loft have provided more opportuni- ties for enriching our community with public art. A com- mittee was formed and the County provided a grant to make sure that art had its place in this new building and that the children of the community would be part of the projects envisioned for it. Kathy Calloway designed and created the two tile mosaic pieces installed in the Gym, working alongside community volunteers. The “Wall of Fame,” honoring those who donated to make the Gym a reality, is on view at the entrance to the Gym and the wonderful mosaic salmon graces the water fountain area just down the hall.

Center Permanent Art Collection continued

and pastels of the local landscape. Here she has portrayed the view from Sir Francis Drake Blvd. between Spirit Rock and Woodacre. Another Valley artist who has made a reputation far beyond the Valley is Elly Simmons. She and Elizabeth Raybee completed the stunning mosaic tile murals that grace our kitchen in 2001. These mosaics are a colorful and lively ren- dering of the wildlife and natural environment of our Valley.

Summer 2009 Valley Room Mural by Connie Smith Siegel

The context for creating the mural of the San Geronimo Valley hills was far from the warm shelter of the Valley. I made the painting in the early ’80s, a period in my life when I had dedicated myself to painting large landscape banners with quotes of Helen Caldicott, the anti-nuclear activist. I had been so unsettled after reading her book, Nuclear Madness , that work in the studio became dif- ficult. The context for showing paintings in galleries and museums seemed to be covering up, rather than acknowledging our predicament. To find an alterative to this aesthetic context I decided to combine Caldicott’s quotations with my landscapes on large canvases, to be hung in public places, such as anti-nuclear confer- ences, or even carried in marches. I had never put words into my paintings, but now quotations such as “We are the curators of life on earth. We hold it in the palm of our hands” gave the landscapes a larger meaning. During this time I had started a large horizontal painting of the Valley from a drawing of the hills east of Flanders ranch. Because the composition didn’t feel balanced, I painted the hills west of the ranch as well. When I put the two sides together it created a more complete panorama, but now the painting was too long to hang just anywhere. The space above the doors in what is now called the Valley room was the only space large enough, and I brought it to the Center. I painted the words: San Geronimo Valley Community Center just under the painting, as I had done with my other anti-nuclear landscapes. Having this image so close to home has been espe- cially gratifying—contributing to a community that had given me so much. Instead of protecting the earth, I am acknowledging its power, and celebrating the natural beauty of this special Valley. (See image on preceding page.)

Marty Meade and students Tessa Wardle, Lindsy Mobley, Ariana Dukkers, Maya Normandi, Sara Joseph and Kelly Pennypacker install the fused glass piece in the Loft, 2009. (Photo by Anne McClain)

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