Despite gloomy weather, the San Jose Museum of Art had a glittering al fresco gala and auction last Saturday at the Circle of Palms, where it honored the Adobe Foundation and artist Alison Saar.
Saar, who is known for her sculpture and printmaking, was featured along with her mother, Betye , and her sister, Lezley , in a San Jose Museum of Art exhibition called “Family Legacies,” which opened in October 2006.
Artist Alison Saar speaks to the crowd after being honored at the San Jose Museum of Art Gala and Auction, held at the Circle of Palms in downtown San Jose on Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
“The moment was incredibly meaningful for me and my family and it has stayed with me ever since,” Saar said. “Over the past 20 years I realized I’ve been fortunate to have an ongoing relationship with the museum.”
When the museum shifted its gala from late September to late April — intending to give new Executive Director Jeremiah Davis a few months to get settled in — it probably didn’t count on an unusually cold and overcast spring evening. But the guests were undaunted by the threat of rain as they sat outdoors in the Circle of Palms for the dinner and auction. Some covered their colorful, sparkly outfits with warm coats, and most people made a bee-line after the auction for the afterparty held inside the museum instead of lingering around.
Stilt-walkers welcome guests at the San Jose Museum of Art Gala and Auction, held at the Circle of Palms in downtown San Jose on Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
Gala Committee Chair Nadia Ahmad took a light-hearted approach to addressing the weather, telling the audience she put in a call to Mother Nature that morning.
“We had a heart-to-heart,” Ahmad said. “I said I’m an A-type personality person; I need control of everything, and you’re kind of cramping my style. And she said, ‘You all think nature is a science. I know you ran your stats for the last 15 years and it’s never rained or been cold on this day, but let me tell you Ms. Board of Trustees of the San Jose Museum of Art, nature is not a science, it’s an art.’ ”
Performers with illuminated outfits were part of the after-party for the San Jose Museum of Art Gala and Auction, held inside the museum on Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
WOMEN, WEAVING AND TECH: There are two art exhibitions in downtown San Jose right now about the connection between weaving and technology — and naturally, the women who were part of both. If that seems like the kind of thing that’s ripe for collaboration, the San Jose Museum of Art and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles were thinking the same thing.
There’s a curator-led tour of both exhibits planned for midday Saturday. It’ll start off at 11 a.m. at the Museum of Quilts and Textiles for “The Woven Pixel,” curated by Sarah Mills, which explores digital weaving and especially focuses on two artists, Bhakti Ziek and Alice Schlein. Then the party strolls over to the Museum of Art to see “Motherboards,” the new exhibition, curated by Juan Omar Rodriguez, that dives into the foundational contributions of women in the tech industry (and there’s some textile pieces involved there, too.)
The tour is free, and you can get more information at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textile’s site, sj-mqt.org.
CINCO IN SAN JOSE: It wouldn’t be Cinco de Mayo in San Jose without a lowrider car show, right? Look for all the custom-decorated Impalas and other classic cars and trucks to be on display in front of SAP Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Portions of Barack Obama Boulevard and West Santa Clara Street will be closed for the show, so stay alert if you’re driving in the area.
Speaking of lowriders, you can look for Ramon Martinez to be riding in one Sunday in San Jose’s Cinco de Mayo parade. Martinez, a longtime educator and founding board member of the La Raza Historical Society of Santa Clara Valley, will be grand marshal of the parade, which will have lots of lowriders cruising on King Road from Alum Rock Avenue to Story Road starting at 10 a.m. Of course, that leads right up to the festival at Emma Prusch Farm Park that starts at noon.
MONARCHS FLYING HIGH: Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose gets a lot of notice for its athletics programs, but the Monarchs are proving to be the team to beat off the sports fields, too. Its speech & debate team finished first out of 144 schools in the California High School Speech Association State Championship, held in Union City on April 17-19.
Mitty’s team finished with a state-record 191 sweepstakes points — nearly double the second-place finisher — as it chalked up its sixth state title since 2016. The team — led by Karen Cruz and assistant coaches Mark Woodhead, John Harris, BJ Cruz and Michaela Northrop — is now setting its sights on the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Richmond, Va.
