The County of San Mateo brought home its biggest animal adoption on record on March 25, 2021: “Big Love”, a 6-ft-by-8-ft sculpture of a white, bounding puppy, along with a 4-ft red heart, is now a welcoming sight in front of the county’s new Animal Shelter, 12 Airport Blvd., San Mateo CA.
Made of painted composite materials, the public art was “inspired by the compassion of people who adopt lost and homeless animals, as well as by the love and joy a rescued pet brings to families,” said the artist, Gordon Huether of Napa CA.
Huether’s recent art contributions to the Silicon Valley are site-specific designs for multi-million-dollar private real estate developments and civic entities, including:
- Big Love: now on display at the San Mateo County Animal Shelter
- Parking Garage Art Screen: commissioned by Lane-Partners for their 230,000 square-foot office project at 520 Almanor Ave., Sunnyvale, CA. Installation completed in February.
- Aperture: a two-part, free-standing artwork commissioned by Sand Hill Property Company for the Stanford Research Park at 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA. Installation March and April 2021.
- Hubcaps: a wayfinding artwork for the city parking garage, 400 County Center, Redwood City, CA. Installation planned June 2021.
- Spectorium: a gateway artwork for Jay Paul Company, located at 465 North Mary, Sunnyvale, CA. Installation planned June 2021.
- Silver Lantern: a gateway artwork also for Jay Paul Co., at its Mathilda Commons office project in Sunnyvale CA. Installation planned August 2021.
Outside of the Bay Area, standouts among Huether’s hundreds of commissioned artworks are his seven large-scale integrated installations for the Salt Lake City International Airport, completing in stages from 2020 to 2024.
“Now, during this pandemic, public art is more important than ever, offering a place and experience that can add to everyday life, provide a moment of respite or whatever the individual might take from it,” said Huether, a long-term Napa resident with artworks throughout the U.S. “While each of these installations has their own local and site-specific objectives, I hope they add to the tremendous Bay Area tradition of public art, and provide inspiration, healing or simple enjoyment.”
“Public art adds so much to every community, and we hope the engaging Huether art will be enjoyed by residents for years to come,” said Deborah J. Bazan, D. Bazan Consulting and former Director of the San Mateo County Project Development Unit which oversaw the Animal Shelter project.
