Client: OLE Health
Location: Napa, CA, United States
Completion date: 2019
Project Team
Artist
Gordon Huether
Gordon Huether Studio
Client
OLE Health
Overview
Located at OLE Health Napa Valley Vintners South Campus, OLE Health provides person-centered, high-quality health care for residents of the Napa Valley. Engaged in 2016 by then-CEO of OLE Health, Tanir Ami, Gordon designed a bright and friendly art installation to adorn the front of their newest three-story, 30,000-square-foot medical facility in south Napa, which provides health care access for 15,000 patients that make up the county’s underserved population.
Goals
Honored to be able to create work in his own community, Gordon reflected on the facility’s mission and primary purpose as well as the overall architectural context while developing his concept. The sculpture, a vibrant yellow open-ended circle, is intended as a metaphor for constant growth and healing, wholeness and development, in pursuit of OLE Health’s mission. It also expresses the idea of community, of life, strength, vitality, and the idea that all things are connected.
“Salud” encourages every visitor to enter the building with a smile on their face and to feel the depth of OLE Health’s values. To help them feel as though they are walking into an organization that is here to care for them and stand with them on their wellness journey.
The sunny hue and friendly, open-ended design of the “O” not only act as a visual representation of the O in OLE, but is also a welcoming structure for visitors to the site seeking health care. “When people are in a situation where they are caring for themselves, people can feel vulnerable,” Ami states. A facility with “beautiful and joyful pieces around is a good thing.
Process
“Imagining the exceptional experience that our patients will have when they walk into this world-class building is so exciting for me, and for our staff,” said current OLE Health CEO Alicia Hardy. “The incredible generosity of the Napa Valley community has brought this vision to life, and having this flagship facility located in the heart of Napa – a building that was intentionally designed to provide patients with the best that health care has to offer – will shine a light on all of our OLE locations and our long history of serving this community.” Gordon worked together with Alicia and the construction teams to coordinate the installation of the sculpture with the completion of building construction.