The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Skye Dunlap Room With a View: Diners at Mio Vicino can enjoy the paintings of local artist Shen along with their penne. The restaurant is one of three Lincoln Avenue establishments that have turned into de facto galleries. Avenue shops put walls to work and double as fine-art galleries Locals get taste of art while grabbing a latte, a meal or a haircut By Sarah Gaffney From the chocolate-coated cakes at Juliann's Bakery and the hip hair styles at the Somewhair salon to the mouthwatering pastas at Mio Vicino, art is being created in many forms and varieties on Lincoln Avenue. But until recently, Glen residents have had to travel to Los Gatos, Palo Alto and Santa Cruz to find what the Avenue has long starved for--galleries for buying and viewing visual art. These days, a walk along the Avenue shows that the famine may be over. Art galleries are popping up in the most unexpected places in the Glen. And leading the trend in creating an Avenue art scene are the artists/owners of Juliann's Bakery, Somewhair and Mio Vicino. A quick glance inside the newly opened Juliann's, and one could mistake the stylish space for a modern urban gallery. High, angled walls and stylish lighting make this an unusually swank spot to enjoy coffee and a scone. The gorgeous cakes and pastries in the display cases are complemented by a collection of local contemporary art on the bright pastel walls. "Originally, we were thinking of doing a mural for the main wall, but we really wanted to take a different approach with the art," says owner Ann Zraick. At the heart of that approach is a unique collaboration with the San Jose Museum of Art's art school. Business colleagues from the Rotary Club introduced Zraick to Josi Callan, director of the Museum (and Willow Glen resident), which led to the alliance. The school's six core instructors lent their art and hanging services to the bakery, in what is an experimental partnership for the school. The bakery/gallery and art school plan to put on quarterly shows, which will showcase work from both children's and adults' art classes. Individual faculty members will serve as rotating curators. For Zraick, the partnership has been a success. "We gave the artists full rein," she says. "They had an opportunity to display their work, and we had an opportunity to enhance our space. We're thrilled with it. People stop and stare in the windows and come into the bakery and treat it almost as a gallery." Photograph by Skye Dunlap Beauty Salon: Alan Sauvin and Tamara Faulkner of the Somewhair hair salon show off this month's display--glassware by Bay Area artists. Just up the street, Somewhair hair salon is mixing art and commerce with equal success. For the past 10 years, the front window of Somewhair has entertained shoppers on the Avenue with its exotic display of orchids, set amid a waterfall and 300-gallon turtle pond. Today, the flowers and water have been replaced by a colorful collection of art glass created by some of the most acclaimed artisans in California. "It's been evolving," explains salon owner Alan Sauvin when asked about the seemingly sudden change. "I like art glass, I know a lot of glass artists in Santa Cruz. and I know that some of the best glass in the world is being made in the Bay Area. And, I own a lot of it." Except for the three hair styling stations and the occasional whir of hair dryers, Somewhair resembles more of an art gallery/plant store than a hair salon. Sauvin's trademark flowers are artfully displayed among luminous glass platters, stemware and vases. "It's never felt like a salon and it still doesn't," Sauvin says. "Our clients enjoy it. It's always changing and it's always different." The bulk of the plants thrive at the back of the salon, where the orchid-enthusiast constructed a greenhouse for the 100 varieties he still cultivates and sells. He says he plans to bring back the turtles and waterfall for his spring window display. Although most of the art is glass, the gallery also offers works in other media--bronzes, ceramics, oil paintings, papier-mâché and rock-art by renowned sculptor Thomas Baugh. Of the 16 artists shown in the gallery, Sauvin is proud to claim that eight are Willow Glen residents and clients at Somewhair. For Sauvin, a hair stylist by trade and an art lover by hobby, the gallery is a way for him to display art that he likes and art that is functional. "With a lot of this glass you can create some incredible culinary displays," he points out. "And when the company goes home, you have a great piece of art to display." Mio Vicino offers yet another forum for local art. The restaurant seeks to present work that is uplifting and reveals an appreciation of color and motion, according to executive chef and co-owner Diane Rose. "I absolutely love art, and good art deserves to be promoted and shown off," Rose says. The restaurant's only piece of permanent art, a large and playfully colorful mural canvas, was created by Glen artist and resident Christine Benjamin. Rose had selected a Benjamin piece for the restaurant's original Santa Clara location and liked her work so much, she commissioned the artist to create a permanent mural for the Glen site. Rose has devoted the restaurant's largest wall to local art. The work is rotated every six to eight weeks and is available for sale through the artists. The restaurant's current collection features paintings by Shen, a local painter known for her portraits of musicians, and whose work Rose discovered in a Los Gatos coffee shop. Although Rose's only criteria for selecting art is to promote work she likes, the focus on local talent is important to the restaurateur. "There is so much art in Silicon Valley--why go out of the area to find it?" she muses. Asked what motivates her to devote so much of her space to changing shows instead of investing in permanent art, Rose says, "It's a win-win-win situation. The restaurant doesn't have to purchase art, the artists get to display their work, and the customers enjoy it with their meal." [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, February 3, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.