The Story Behind the Tiles on the Coyote Creek Bridges

Oct. 29. 2007  crowbar used to destroy tile artwork:  picture taken during the vandalism event

It's a long story and I can only begin to tell it here, but the tiles on three bridges across Coyote Creek in San Jose are by Sunnyvale artist (originally an art student at San Jose State) Richard Hawes.  For years, Karen and I had been enjoyed seeing the work on these three bridges:  Santa Clara Street, San Antonio Street, and William Street.  We had often seen Richard working on the bridges under an umbrella.   In a way, he is our own Antonio Gaudi.  Much of the story of Hawes and the story behind the destruction of some of the works by vandals can be found at these two sites, first an article in The Mercury News by Scott Herhold and second an interview of Hawes by Richard Whittaker.   Karen and I were actually the ones who confronted the vandals and scared them off by taking photographs of what they were doing.  Subsequently, Herhold wrote his Mercury news article.  The article by Richard Whittaker is a great followup.  Here is a photo of one of the works that survived (taken the day after the event).  

TL