A city is more than its roads, buildings and parking lots. It is also the places, images and creative touches that make residents stop, look and say, “That’s Morgan Hill.”
Take a walk around town and you’ll find plenty of examples. Our 12-foot tarantula sculpture made of vintage automobile headlights is hard to miss and has become a quirky landmark.
The12-foot by 20-foot glass depiction of a poppy jasper mural on the Third Street side of the downtown parking garage turns an otherwise ordinary structure into something memorable.
Statues throughout town—including Loki the Owl, Waiting for a Train, the deer in the Monterey Road median—add character, while colorful murals on utility boxes bring unexpected creativity to everyday infrastructure. At Civic Center Plaza, the Tara Romero sculpture contributes to an inviting gathering place.
These pieces may not solve a traffic problem or fix a pothole. They don’t solve a budget crisis and are not frivolous, but they do something important: they give our community a sense of identity.
They create places to pause, look and connect—and give visitors another reason to remember Morgan Hill.
Communities are shaped by more than infrastructure and government services. They are shaped by the things that make people feel connected to where they live.
That makes the upcoming Open Studios Art Tour on Oct. 24 and 25 particularly timely.
The tour is an opportunity to discover the creativity that exists right here in our community. Local artists will open their studios, share their work and invite residents to see the people and ideas behind it.
It’s also a reminder that art doesn’t belong only in galleries. It can be on the side of a parking garage, a utility box, a sidewalk or inside an artist’s studio.
So take the opportunity to explore the Open Studios Art Tour. Visit a studio. Meet an artist. Bring a friend. Support local creativity if you can.
And as you move around town, take a fresh look at the art that is all around you that has become part of our everyday landscape.
The spider. The poppy jasper mural. The many statues. The utility-box murals. The art at Civic Center Plaza.
We may take them for granted because they are familiar. But together, they help tell the story of who we are and make Morgan Hill a more distinctive place to live.
A vibrant community shouldn’t just be functional. It should have a little imagination, too.
And ours surely does.
