Three new sculptures have been installed throughout Saratoga by the city’s Library and Public Art Commission.
The Gateway Sculpture project was in the commission’s budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The goal of the program is to display the sculptures at prominent city entry points for one year and get feedback from residents about what kind of art they would like to see.
Commissioner Jeri Bromley said the sculptures are intended to “Bring joy, bring color, bring life, bring conversation.”
Commissioner Siana Smith was in charge of the subcommittee that helped select the sculptures. She said these public art installations add value to the community and serve as conversation starters for community members.
“We want to give people something to talk about and something to look at,” she added.
Smith said she liked the idea of renting the sculptures because the high cost of their installation might otherwise prohibit their removal in case of negative public feedback. She added that she was inspired to bring more public art to Saratoga after visiting Sheridan, Wyoming.
“In Sheridan, you can see public art everywhere, but in Saratoga, we lack the public art appearance, so I really want to bring public art,” Smith said.
The first sculpture, “Lollypop Fiesta” by Adrian Susnea Litman, was installed near the entrance of the Saratoga Library on Nov. 14. The stainless steel sculpture towers above residents and features several panes of glass in different colors and steel petals that move in the wind.
The city commemorated the program’s launch on Nov. 24 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the library. Mayor Belal Aftab and Councilmembers Tina Walia, Yan Zhao and Kookie Fitzsimmons attended the event, along with library and public art commissioners. Aftab spoke of the commission’s efforts to create something “uniquely Saratoga.”
“Putting in a piece of public art is not the same as hanging something in your home,” Aftab said. “There has to be a certain level of robustness to make sure that kids don’t come and make off with it or leave some colorful things behind, so there’s a lot of work that’s gone into this, and this commission has done a great job over the last couple of years for finally bringing this all around.”
The city put out a nationwide call for sculptures to be rented for one year. From there, three finalists and two alternatives were selected from over 40 submissions. Saratoga originally budgeted about $5,000 to rent four sculptures, but the estimated cost to rent three sculptures was $6,100. To cover the overage, commissioners said the city has $104,000 set aside for public art. A fourth sculpture is still being planned for installation.
The other two sculptures have also been installed, “Where is My Mind” by Chad La Fever at Saratoga-Sunnyvale and Prospect roads and “Time to Move” by Deveren Farley at Allendale and Fruitvale avenues. The former work explores contemporary society’s stressful relationship with technology and social media. The latter depicts a family of eagles; Aftab dedicated it to the growing number of young families moving to Saratoga.
The sculptures were chosen based on visual impact, artistic merit and originality, community and cultural relevance; and installation and maintenance.