Public Art Strategy (2025)

“The art I want to see here is…”

As part of our community engagement for the City of Mountain View Public Art Strategy, we are excited to collaborate with local Santa Clara County artists Amy Brown and Tara de la Garza to pop-up with us at three public events to engage with community members through their art activity entitled, Inflatable / ART

Amy Brown and Tara de la Garza invite community members to collect film plastic (such as newspaper sleeves and bread bags) to help them make inflatable letters to spell ART so that we can start a conversation around what art and creativity mean to Mountain View. Please bring colorful, clean plastic bags, or just come along to any of our three events to reimagine single-use plastic waste into a community project.

Collectively, we will fuse these into plastic sheets and they will be cut, sewn, fused and assembled into inflatable letters spelling “ART” and we can write on them our ideas for a creative future. Add your voice! Use a Sharpie to write directly on the collected plastic. Your word becomes part of a living artwork — one that reflects the community’s collective hopes for Mountain View’s creative future. Others will read your contribution, so think of it as a love note to the city.

The completed inflatables will be temporarily displayed at the site, serving as both artwork and community monument. Once the project is complete, we will responsibly upcycle the plastic into new projects, continuing a circular economy model.

Participate at one or all of our arts engagement tour stops:

Monster Bash

• Date: Saturday, October 25, 2025
• Time: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
• Location: Rengstorff Park & Pool, 201 S Rengstorff Ave. Mountain View, CA 94040

Día de Muertos

• Date: Saturday, November 1, 2025
• Time: 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
• Location: Civic Center Plaza at 500 Castro St

Community Tree Lighting Celebration

• Date: Monday, Dec. 8, 2025
• Time: 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Location: Civic Center Plaza

About the Artists:

Tara de la Garza is a visual artist, curator, and nonprofit director whose practice transforms hard-to-recycle plastics into sculptural installations, light-based works, and functional design. She is Founder and Creative Director of Inventurous, a nonprofit micro-recycler that engages Bay Area communities through workshops, youth programs, and public art projects. Tara has exhibited at Mass MoCA, the Chicago Art Institute, Cornell University, Palo Alto Art Center, San Francisco Design Week, and is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Watson Library. She holds a long term artist residency at Cubberley in Palo Alto and is a Public Art Commissioner in Palo Alto.

Amy Brown is a San Jose–based artist and educator whose socially engaged projects span sewing, textiles, inflatables, and collaborative community art. Her work has been shown at Empire Seven Studios, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, SPARC Los Angeles, and Zócalo Mexico City. Amy has led workshops and projects with local museums, sewing clubs, and community centers, emphasizing inclusivity and craft as a bridge to connection. She is the founder of Queer Craft Club and has created costumes and props for the Children’s Discovery Museum, VEEP, and commercial projects.

Hello Mountain View!

Last week we had our first community pop-up at the Senior Center and it was a great turnout! We had some thoughtful conversations with community members who expressed excitement for the project after participating with our vision boards!

Our next stop: Public Art Strategy Community Workshop (In-Person)

• Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025
• Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
• Location: Mountain View Community Center, Redwood Hall (201 S Rengstorff Ave)

We look forward to hosting everyone at our first Mountain View Public Art Strategy Community Workshop this evening at the Community Center!

Some things to expect for this evening:

• Networking
• Project Overview
• Learn about the different types of public art that exist across the nation
• Mapping and vision board activities
• Q&A
• and more!

We hope to see you there!

If you are unable to join us this evening, we will have other opportunities for you to participate in the listed events below.

• Fill out our quick survey - ENGLISH(External link) | SPANISH (External link)| MANDARIN(External link) (Deadline: 12/14/2025)

• Public Art Strategy Community Workshop (In-Person)
  • Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025
  • Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
  • Location: Mountain View Community Center, Redwood Hall (201 S Rengstorff Ave)
    
    
• Public Art Strategy Community Workshop (Virtual)
  • Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
  • Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
  • Location: Zoom – Registration Required
    
    
• Monster Bash
  • Date: Saturday, October 25, 2025
  • Time: 10am - 2pm
  • Location: Rengstorff Park & Pool, 201 S Rengstorff Ave. Mountain View, CA 94040
  • Featuring: Artist-led activity
    
    
• Día de Muertos
  • Date: Saturday, November 1, 2025
  • Time: 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
  • Location: Civic Center Plaza at 500 Castro St
  • Featuring: Artist-led activity

We will be hosting two Public Art Strategy Community Workshops available online and in-person during the month of October. These workshops will provide community members the opportunity to learn more about the Public Art Strategy, ask questions, meet Art Builds Community, and provide feedback through prompts and activities.

Upcoming Public Art Strategy Community Workshops:

• Public Art Strategy Community Workshop (In-Person)
  • Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025
  • Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
  • Location: Mountain View Community Center, Redwood Hall (201 S Rengstorff Ave)

• Public Art Strategy Community Workshop (Virtual)
  • Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
  • Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
  • Location: Zoom – Registration Required

Please email info@artbuildscommunity.com in advance if you require translation and/or other assistance to help you fully participate in this workshop. This will provide us time to prepare the workshop in advance to host you!

Thank you everyone who attended the infosession for the City of Mountain View Public Art Strategy Request for Temporary Public Art Projects/Activities (RFP). Under the "Project Documents" section you will find:

• Request for Proposals - which includes the project overview, scope, instructions to apply
• RFP Infosession presentation slides

How can you translate your art discipline to engage with community? We are looking for local artists to Mountain View and Santa Clara County to help us facilitate community art engagement activities to collect feedback from community members on what they envision for the future of arts and culture in Mountain View. The collected feedback will help guide future recommendations for the Public Art Strategy!

Deadline to Apply is Monday, October 13, 2025 at NOON via email. (See RFP for instructions)

If you have any questions, please email info@artbuildscommuity.com

We look forward to seeing your proposals and meeting the artist community of Mountain View / Santa Clara County!

There are also other ways that you can participate and give back to the community of Mountain View!

Calling Mountain View Artists or Artist Teams!

Art Builds Community on behalf of the City of Mountain View is seeking proposals for Temporary Public Art Projects/Activities that will help us seek feedback from community members during community engagement tabling events for the development of the City of Mountain View Public Art Strategy.

You can find the RFP in the "Project Documents" section of the website for full details on the project and how to apply.

Interested artists or artist teams can also join our online infosession facilitated by Art Builds Community on Friday, September 19, 2025 from 6PM - 7:30PM to learn more about the project and ask questions.

Registration Required to attend the online infosession:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZVHP0x7EQSyr69bW10M8eQ