2022 Silicon Valley Sculpture returns to Menlo College campus
More than 30 sculptures will be displayed on the Menlo College campus in Atherton during the 2022 Silicon Valley Sculpture fair (SVS2022) from September 23-25.
Water is SVS2022’s theme, and the fair’s organizer and director, Katharina Powers, promises no drop will be wasted. Instead, sculptures will be presented with the intent to raise awareness of the acidification of the ocean, the fragility of its ecosystems, and the monumental impact water has when it is present — and when it is missing.
Among the sculptures is Wave by Ruth Aizuss Migdal (pictured right). The Chicago-based artist, who is still sculpting at age 90, also has three bronze women installed on the campus.
Ruth was born in 1932 in a Jewish Immigrant neighborhood on Chicago’s Westside where education and culture were highly valued, taking great advantage of all the cultural opportunities available there. She was allowed free access to every opera, ballet, and theatre performance at the opera house, from her junior year of high school through her education at the Art Institute of Chicago by volunteer work at the concession stands before the performances.
Her education includes a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from the University of Illinois in Champaign, both in Painting and Printmaking. Recently, Ruth received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University at Illinois Chicago.
As she turned to sculpture, her classical education enabled her to master a variety of materials. Ruth’s paintings and wood sculptures were abstract until 1971 when she began exploring the female figure. Ruth now works in bronze and steel, creating large abstracted figurative sculptures. Her work has long explored ideas of feminism and the silent strength all women possess.
“My large red dancing sculptures are about women’s power, strength and love of life,” she says. The red wave symbolizes perseverance, withstanding natural forces through material confidence.”
2022 Silicon Valley Sculpture concludes at noon on Sunday, September 25, with a live auction.
Silicon Valley Sculpture (SVS) is the main fundraiser for Menlo Park Public Art (MPPA), a nonprofit organization with the goal of defining Silicon Valley through public art.
A complete schedule is available online. Buy tickets here.
Photo by Robb Most (c) 2022
