Eternity

A gleaming white abstract artform stands silently at the corner front alcove of the Firehouse Arts Center at 4444 Railroad Ave.  Mounted on a red granite pedestal, each piece weighs 1200 lbs. The dark bricks that surround the sculpture amplify the white crystal jade granite and bring forth mind-wandering questions about the purpose of life. Artist James Hunolt invites you to seek your answers.

James Hunolt grew up in Berkeley, California, surrounded by scholars and students.  His life-threatening illness and near death at age 16 indelibly altered his life’s path. He departed for a summer’s journey after graduating from the University of California in 1964.  Jim’s wandering path took him to Big Sur where he first began writing and later enrolled in a pottery class. Eventually, Jim met master sculptor Gordon Newell and spent two years working in his studio, helping to carve the two granite fountains at the entrance to the Ellipse Circle that adjoins the White House, the Haupt Fountains.

Eternity is designed to suggest energy and endless motion created by a circular form that surrounds a circular space. Space acts as an uplifting configuration suggesting the continuation of hope and the ascension of the spirit. Throughout periods of living on the coast, in the high desert, and in the Sierras, Jim has continued to create a continuous stream of works in stone, wood, bronze, and steel. Many artists choose to not work with granite because of its hardness and weight. Granite is a hard and unforgiving medium and it is difficult to yield a feeling of softness.

Gary and Nancy Harrington privately funded the sculpture in 2011 through “Another Harrington Art Partnership Piece for You “(H.A.P.P.Y).  Eternity brings forth the possibility that all things are possible as time and space combine with energy. It was one of the first pieces of public art donated to Pleasanton by the Harringtons.

Jan Coleman-Knight