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Health & Fitness

If We're Keeping Score: Trees, 6 Arts, 1

The artists outnumbered city officials by a significant margin, a mixed blessing for the Palo Alto Public Arts Commission's annual celebration Thursday

The Arts Commission held a splendid seasonal party Thursday night, with the exception of the fact that most of the City's A-list movers and shakers were across town at the , featuring our new mayor Yiaway Yeh. 

So in terms of scoring a soiree like a baseball game, the Palo Alto Public Arts Commission scored 1, in the form of their new city council-liaison Nancy Shepherd, while, at least according to Patch, the Canopy event scored a 6-- meaning there were six bigwigs there. 

The PAPAC event was held at the , suggesting a new strategic alliance between the two groups. Rick Ambrose, the League's relatively new staff person, also joined the PAPAC -- see you really do need a scorecard to keep the players straight. (As opposed to Steve Player, a former footballer and one-time Council candidate, who was not at the party, but has been seen at Smith-Andersen openings and is reputed to have a good eye for modern art. Or at least his wife does).

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The PAPAC soiree featured an excellent invitation, designed by outgoing former chair Terry Acebo Davis (disclosure: that's no ordinary lady, that's my girlfriend), that was unfortunately too poorly distributed. The postcard featured art by Bruce Beasley, Christina Velasquez, Amy Hibbs, Nora Raggio, James Moore, Brad Oldham and Greg Brown. Velasquez, Moore and Brown were definitely at the soiree. Beasley, lent a bronze, table-top sized piece of art, "Partisan" that is similar to the larger granite piece destined and designed for , but he had already committed to an event Thursday at the Oakland Museum so was a no-show here.

Greg Brown, our famous, prolific and incomparble muralist, debuted a new work on canvas, called "The King" and allegedly based on an actual Palo Altan, or his likeness at least, a Mr. Cummings. He charmed his many followers and was introduced for the first time to local artist Thai Bui. They exchanged stories about working for airports, Brown in the U.K, Bui here at SFO, where he is the preparator.

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Paula Kirkeby, a former commissioner, of Smith-Andersen, was under the weather but sent a Joseph Slusky and a tiny Fletcher Benton, similar in theme if not scale to "Tilted Donut" out at the soccer fields. 

I am no art critic but I actually think that Slusky's little sculpture would have made a better bicycle tribute than the James Moore "Bliss" tribute we actually own. Moore lent a piece to the one-day show, a figure similar in style to the Bliss piece.

Thai Bui, whose "Adobe Creek" boulders are in the public collection, attended along with his wife the painter Becky Bui. He lent two small pieces as well. The Buis live in Ventura neigbhorhood and have a daughter who graduated from and UC Santa Cruz.

One of the most buzz-worthy topics, although it sounded a bit like "Who? Who?", was Brad Oldham, who designed a set of bollards for Mitchell Park that look like owls. 

The Cubberley Studio artists were also well-represented at the bash, as people chimed in on their thoughts on the proposed changes at the former high school site.

Between PAPAC, the Art League, galleries like Smith-Andersen and Karen Imperial's Bryant Street (who hosted the 2010 PAPAC party) and the expanding Pacific Art Center, the arts are alive and well in Palo Alto, although arts activists and patrons here at times feel an endangered species-- like spotted owls, if you will.

P.S. While tapping out these brief notes, I traded texts with Palo Alto City councilmember Nancy Shepherd, who revealed that her favorite local arts piece is Stanford's Andy Goldsworthy "Stonee River" in front of the Cantor. I texted her back: "Good call! Maybe you can help us the taxpayers get a goldsworthy here in town some day! Thanks for coming. Happy NY. Mbw."

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