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Schools

Mascots of Los Altos Schools: Artistic Sculptures by Hardy Jones

Whether it's an Aztec warrior clenching his spear or a Viking wielding a giant ax, kids love their school mascots. And in Los Altos, those mascots will live forever, thanks to local artist Hardy Jones.

Dr. Hardy Jones has spent the last three decades creating masterpieces of metal with his mascot sculptures at local schools.

“It started when I made a sculpture for my daughter’s elementary school,” Jones says. “Almond Elementary (was) my first public piece.” That was 1983 and he named his piece “Circles in Motion” because it reminded him of children playing. 

Soon other schools began calling, they wanted mascot sculptures too: a pack of coyotes for Covington, bobcats for Santa Rita, an eagle totem for Los Altos High and a “Magic Fish” for the fountain in front of the Los Altos Library. Jones’ sculptures now adorn 10 local schools and dozens of businesses.

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“I’ve been collecting “found” junk for 67 years and I think it’s the ultimate in recycling,” he says. “I like the shape and balance and energy of asymmetrical art, laying it out and knowing that’s the way the pieces want to be. I kind of follow that groove.”

After completing his undergrad at UC Berkeley, Jones was accepted to Harvard Medical School. However, a few months later he suffered a near-fatal motorcycle accident. Jones awoke after two weeks in a coma with a crushed leg and severe brain stem damage. He spent the next 13 months in a full body cast and underwent 14 surgeries.

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Overcoming this setback, he graduated from Harvard with an interest in orthopedic surgery and transferred to the University of Florida to complete a surgical internship. He took a night-class in welding at the local community college.

“The first piece I welded was a sculpture of Don Quixote made from a pot-bellied stove,” he recalls. After returning to California to complete his residency at Stanford University, Jones nurtured his self-discovered passion for found art. 

He and his brother-in-law Lou Esparza would travel the countryside for days at a time looking for old farm equipment, broken or outdated, left rusting behind a barn. “It was my Gold Rush or '49er trail, a fertile vein,” he says. “Old farm equipment appeals to me because it has curvature, lines, substance and grace.” 

Jones would listen to farmers tell stories about the old days and he would share photos and stories about his art. “If I was invited to look in their bone yard, it was great, but I would never ask.”

For Jones, each work of art has been grand adventure of discovery. His excitement bubbles over while talking about the Aztec Warrior he created for Alta Vista High in Mountain View. "I made it from cut plate steal and did all the research so I could show him in a traditional Aztec jaguar head-dress," he says. "I positioned him going towards the school to symbolize the strength of the young people as strong warriors."

In 1993 Jones enrolled in a metal fabrication class at The Crucible in Oakland. It was there that he met Grant Marcoux, a blacksmith and owner of the Pilgrim Soul Forge in Alameda. They became fast friends. “He was working on sculptures but needed ‘hammer skills’ to bend and forge,” Marcoux says. “After he completed the course, we decided to collaborate on a couple of pieces.” 

Those two sculptures turned out to be the Almond Elementary School Eagle and the Blach Intermediary School Falcon. Marcoux explains that both pieces have internal skeletons covered by plated steal. Each feather was individually hammered and welded into place. He estimates the work required at least 400 man-hours and took about 6 months each to complete.

“We split the joys and the profits; the profits we ate up in Chinese food!” Jones says. “My good fortune has been that I have managed to capture the essence of each mascot and what a joy as the inspiration has passed through me. It’s been a privilege and a surprise.”

Although Jones no longer takes commissions for sculptures, he says he still likes to create them and to give them away as unexpected gifts.

“He has a great eye,” Marcoux says. “If you were to throw a bunch of scrap metal in the yard, Hardy could make a sculpture out of it in 15 minutes! He's highly focused and he has had to overcome a great deal, but his sculptures make people smile, they emote, and that’s a rare talent.”

Ed Holt, a friend of 25 years, says Jones is “one of the most compassionate and loving men” he has ever known. After a dear friend recently passed away from terminal illness, Jones organized a fund-raiser and silent auction to create a college fund for the man’s two daughters.

“He has such a positive attitude and he found meaning and purpose from his hobby that he had since youth,” Holt says. “We built a meditation garden six months ago at my home in San Carlos. He made me a skinny cross-legged Buddha. It’s very cool.”

Jones retired in 1987 as Chief of Staff in the orthopedic surgery department at Santa Clara Kaiser. Painful arthritus caused by his earlier accident had finally caught up with him, but he says he had another passion calling him. He lives with his wife and best friend of 46 years, Jane Bryan-Jones, a psychotherapist. Jones says, “Till my last breath, I'll be designing something!" 

For those who want to see all of Hardy Jones' sculptures about town, here is a list, with addresses, at his website.

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