MILESTONE MAY: Los Gatos sculptor David Middlebrook had a Milestone May: He completed the archway that will be erected at the entrance to Milwaukee's Gordon Park, he turned 60, and he married longtime sweetheart Lita Ruble. Ruble's father, Melville MacBride, 90, a preacher, officiated at the nuptials.
Middlebrook, sculpture professor and associate director of fine arts at SJSU, won a national competition to create the Milwaukee landmark. He calls the piece a narrative sculpture of the forces of nature and hopes that onlookers will study the archway thoroughly in order to respond to its story.
It's a huge piece—41x19x18 feet—with many facets, so to say there's a lot to take in is putting it mildly. One half is a tall piece of basalt embedded with enlarged fingerprints that Middlebrook took from a sampling of Milwaukee residents who live in the vicinity of the arch.
Attached to the basalt is a metal configuration composed of three layers from which metal images dangle. Each image represents one of the ethnicities that populated Milwaukee. (As well as the rest of the U.S., come to that.) Viking boats and fish portray the Scandinavian influence.
A baseball mitt with microphones hooked through it represents jazz, soul and rap: homage to African Americans. The head of David symbolizes the Italian influx. David's ear is to the stone so he can hear the sculptor carving out the rock. And he is facing east "because Italians always long to go home."
A bag of groceries with wine and baguette falling out tells of the French presence. A gunnysack with the @ symbol spilling out represents Asian contributions—from spices (the impetus for finding America) to today's electronic wares. Trees and plants represent the Native American culture.
Fragments of the 10 commandments represent the Jewish influence. Thus does the archway reflect the multicultural mix that is Milwaukee. And you expected beer and cheese? Bear in mind that's only half the structure. The other half is a gigantic iceberg made of marble from Tuscany.
This piece symbolizes the carving out of the Great Lakes and the Midwest. Atop the iceberg is an anvil representing the industrial revolution. A tree branch is also embedded in the iceberg. So real-looking is the branch that Middlebrook keeps a metal yardstick handy to plunk on the metal to prove to skeptics that it really is bronze.
The branch appears to be falling off its base. "I like the feeling of accidents of nature, an off-kilter feeling," says the sculptor.
BABY SNYDER: One of the most recent arrivals at Community Hospital of Los Gatos was baby Kayla Snyder, whose mother is Corina and whose father is PFC David C. Snyder, an army vehicle mechanic now serving in Baghdad.
Though her husband was thousands of miles away in a troubled hotspot, he happened to call her—using a friend's cell phone—at the very time she was in labor. And she wasn't alone: Both grandmothers were able to be with her, Jo Snyder and Carla Castillo. The new parents have not seen each other since January.
BOOK NIGHT: Two authors will discuss two versions of family truth as revealed in their latest books on June 14, 7:30 p.m., at Borders Old Town. Kat Meads' book is Sleep, and Cris Mazza's is Homeland. Los Gatan Martha Alderson, author of Blockbuster Plots—Pure & Simple, will introduce them.
Kat Meads, former Los Gatan, now in Ben Lomond, is UCSC Extension writing program coordinator and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts. She has eight collections of poetry and prose to her name. Sleep is a departure: it's a futuristic foray.
Get plenty of sleep before opening the book, because you won't be able to put it aside, warns Keith Ferrell, former editor of Omni Magazine. He describes it as funny and scary, hard-nosed and satiric.
Cris Mazza is a U. of Illinois professor, also an NEA recipient. She has written nine novels and collections of stories and is the editor of the anthologies Chick-Lit 1 and Chick-Lit 2, post-feminist writings.
BOOK ARTISTS: At the LG Art Museum is "Touch My Books, Please," a show by 29 Bay Area Book Artists that runs June 10July 31. A reception is set for June 13, 14 p.m. Also on display are paintings by Moje Menhardt.
Book artist walk/talks will be held Saturdays at 2 p.m., June 19July 24.
FRIENDS: New officers for Friends of the Library are Kathie Gaylord, president; Betsy Petersen, v.p.; Carol Hamilton, secretary; Jean Nelson, corresponding secretary; Maureen O'Connell, treasurer; Judy Etherington, membership; and Marge Rice, book sales.
Others are Virginia O'Reilly, programs; Mary Ann Cook, newsletter; Rita Baum, grant writer; Dale Hill, parliamentarian; and Doris Epstein, hospitality. At large are Martha Alderson, Joanne Crum, Gwen Davis and Ann McClanahan.
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By Mary Ann Cook