Glass Bottle House Rises at City Hall

The will raise a glass, or perhaps several thousand, to celebrate the completion of a large-scale bottle house installation outside of City Hall today.

“Clear Story" is the creation of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, who based the walk-in house on traditional bottle houses of West Africa and the American South, according to representatives. In both cultures, bottle houses were often created to protect graves or homes against bad spirits, while offering refuge for good spirits.

Howard also drew inspiration from Palo Alto's architectural and social roots, modeling the structure after the iconic Eichler houses that are hallmarks of many city neighborhoods. The modernist style homes created by Joseph Eichler were built throughout the Bay Area between the 1950s and 1970s.

Measuring 14 feet long, 12 feet wide and 10 feet tall, the bottle house features thousands of scaled bottles, fused together and assembled in a wood frame.

"Clear Story," like Howard's other bottle sculptures, will showcase her experience as a science educator at San Francisco's Exploratorium and demonstrate the quality of glass to reflect and refract light, representatives said.

The piece is part of the 's On the Road program, which brings art into the community during the center's yearlong closure as it receives $7.9 million in renovations. The center is expected to reopen in summer 2012.

Howard will add the finishing touches to the installation around 11:30 a.m. Monday at its King Plaza location, in front of .

"Clear Story" will officially open Sept. 10 and will be on display
through August 2012.

Bay City News Service