That is exactly what happened in July, 2005, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Roger Castillo, a San Jose resident, was walking his dog along a levee next to the Guadalupe River when he spotted something peculiar in the riverbank's sandy clay. It was the fossilized protruding tusk of a juvenile Columbian mammoth, a species related to the modern day elephant that roamed in this region during the late Pleistocene, 14,000 years ago.

From now and through the summer, residents and visitors can delve into this experience through a very special temporary public artwork by artist JD Beltran and a major exhibition at Children's Discovery Museum, both inspired by the discovery.  

An image from the Portal projection at the intersection of S. Almaden Blvd. and W. San Fernando St.

In this present age, when our day-to-day experience is infused with ringing cellphones, supermarkets, social networks, highways and high-rises, most of us cannot even imagine that the surfaces we now walk upon were, long ago, the same pathways traversed by prehistoric mammoths, lions, tigers, wolves, and humans - us. But they were. Portal, a public artwork by artist JD Beltran, contemplates the passage of time.   

"Portal reflects upon the deep past, the collapse of time and how we visualize time through art," says artist JD Beltran. 

Portal is featured as an evening projection throughout the summer months on the face of the twelve-story AT&T building at the intersection of South Almaden Boulevard and West San Fernando Street in downtown San Jose.   

Journey captivates viewers in a recent storefront showing at Liquid Agency on S. 1st St.

Also featured is Journey, a related short film by JD Beltran. Journey will be screened through August at Children's Discovery Museum and will also be featured in short term presentations at multiple locations around downtown throughout the summer. (Check the CDM website - link below - for details.)

For more information about viewing the artworks, visit:

www.cdm.org/portal 

Portal and Journey were commissioned by Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose and presented in partnership with the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs - Public Art Program. The Public Art Program is also in the process of developing a permanent public art project based on the mammoth discovery.

The discovery of "Lupe," as the juvenile Columbian mammoth has been called, is also the subject of Mammoth Discovery!, a major exhibition at Children's Discovery Museum that opened June 11, 2011.  For more information about the exhibit, visit: www.cdm.org/mammothdiscovery 

Save the Date!!

Mark your Calendars: on Saturday, July 16 from 7:30 - 9:00 PM Children's Discovery Museum will host a progressive, multi-venue artist reception and public art walk with artist JD Beltran that will culminate at the Portal projection site with a talk by the artist.  Details about this event will be posted and updated in the coming weeks at www.cdm.org/portal.

Video Guitar. Created by Ben Lewry of Visionary Instruments. Photo courtesy of Ben Lewry.

Embedded deep in the American psyche is the pioneer spirit, a longing for adventure and a passion for exploration. Central to our nationhood is a deep desire to leave no frontiers unconquered. Surveys and opinion polls taken over the decades reveal an American public with a profound faith in technology, soaring imagination, and a prodigious appetite for the new-fangled. Nowhere is this national spirit of innovation and invention more prevalent than in San José, the capital of Silicon Valley. By turning the spotlight on an eclectic selection of inventors, artists, designers, engineers, visionaries and tinkerers from all over the greater Bay Area, Invention: A Celebration of Silicon Valley's Innovative Spirit gives the residents of San José an opportunity to celebrate their creative regional brain trust and unique identity, one that is envied the world over.