Pear Blossoms at Val Vista Park

Large flowering pear blossoms stretch across a wall of blue tiles, forming a graceful entrance to the two public restrooms.  The artwork echoes the nearby pear blossom trees. Ornamental flower pear trees (Pyrus calleryana) are preferred for their showy flowers during the spring and their striking leaf color as the weather cools. The deciduous trees have dark leaves yet when autumn chills, the leaves turn into a kaleidoscope of red, bronze, and purple hues. All varietals thrive in full sun and are tolerant of dry and hot conditions.  Although the ornamental pear tree bears no fruit, the flowers are immortalized in Pear Blossoms (ca. 1280)- the handscroll ink on color paper artwork by Qian Xuan, the first scholar-painter to unite poetry, painting, and calligraphy with a single work.

Artist Ann Chamberlain was on the faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute for many years and was co-designer of the Mount Zion Cancer Center’s “Healing Garden.” Conceived while she was a patient there, it is composed of 500 ceramic tiles inclusive of impressions of plants and personal stories and thoughts.

Take a look at  Anne’s other four artworks in Val Vista Park – Diseno, Topographis, Alviso Adobe Trellis, and Skeletal Arch at  Val Vista Park at 7350 Johnson Drive, Pleasanton

Jan Coleman-Knight