CHILDREN'S SHELTER WINNING HEARTS OF TOUGHEST CRITICS


Published: Monday, October 16, 1995
Section: Living
Page: 1C

LEIGH WEIMERS column

THE NEW Children's Shelter on Union Avenue was only dedicated Friday and won't get its full complement of kids until next month, but it's already a success. Not because it's a model for public-private fund-raising, but because when artist Ruth Tunstall-Grant gave some of the kids housed in the old shelter a preview of the new, less institutional one, a kid said, ''Wow! They must really care about us!'' A message those kids need, and seldom get.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG: If you want to learn something about the art of recycling, look no further than Mattison FitzGerald. To create her abstract expressionist paintings, the San Jose artist uses recycled canvas, recycled motor oil (''the thick sludgy kind'') and paints from the Santa Clara County household hazardous waste collection program. ''It's fun,'' says FitzGerald, ''and they're selling like crazy.'' Could be because, she says, art from previously used materials ''reflects the South Bay mood.'' Could be because the buyers feel a certain kinship with her paintings, their materials having been around the house already. Whichever, FitzGerald will have some of the works on display today, 6:30-9:30 p.m., at South First Street Billiards. Consider that a cue.

Russell Moore may have died earlier this year, but his legacy continues. A champion of local artists when he was director of the San Jose Museum of Art, owner of the Allegra Gallery and director of the Villa Montalvo Gallery, Moore will be honored by some of those artists with an exhibition of their works in the latter gallery opening Nov. 2. So many artists worked with Moore here that a second exhibition may be required next year to get them all in, report co-curators Robynn Smith and Reid Winfrey. And for those who want to keep Moore's memory and mission going even longer, a gallery trust fund in his name has been set up at Montalvo.

AROUND AND ABOUT: Diners in the Fountain restaurant at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel at 5:04 p.m. Tuesday will get a free item that's not on the menu: a flashlight. The gift marks the anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, of course, when flashlights were the item most requested by hotel guests. The power went off, remember? Who could forget?

Incidentally, the hotel's contest to name a 236-pound lollipop/hard candy sculpture in the Fountain was won by J.D. Corrigan of San Jose, who suggested calling it ''An Evening with the Pops.'' Among the names not picked: ''Dial 1-800-DENTIST.''

Ten years ago, People Acting in Community Together (PACT) was only a fledgling alliance of church groups and neighborhood activists, trying to get politicians at City Hall to listen. Saturday, PACT and sister organization PICO (Pacific Institute for Community Organization) have lined up U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley and state schools Superintendent Delaine Eastin to join a 1-4 p.m. open meeting at Le Baron Hotel to discuss improving education for the workplace. Looks like somebody's listening.

MESSAGE FOR FRIDAY THE 13TH: Katherine Ehlert of Keynote Speakers turned the page Friday on her Perpetual Calendar of Motivational Quotes and found this: ''The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses, that's the day you start to the top. - O.J. Simpson.''

 


		

Copyright 1995, The San Jose Mercury News. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.


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