“Sheltering Wing,” an 18-foot tall stainless steel sculpture created by Stoller Studio, was installed at Heinlenville Park, which is under construction in San Jose’s historic Japantown district, on Friday, July 21, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)

The following is an excerpt from the 07/30/23 San Jose Mercury News:

By Sal Pizarro, Bay Area News Group

There’s a new landmark in San Jose’s Japantown neighborhood in the form of an 18-foot-high stainless steel sculpture called “Sheltering Wing.” The gleaming metal artwork was installed July 21 at Heinlenville Park, which is still under construction.

Artist Roger White Stoller of Stoller Studio in Portola Valley said the piece is about Asian positivity and is also a nod to John Heinlen, the businessman who leased property to Chinese immigrants who were burned out of the previous Chinatown in downtown San Jose in the 1880s. Heinlenville, which was on the site of today’s Japantown, was a hub of Chinese cultural activities in the city for the next five decades, centered around the Ng Shing Gung temple.

Stoller consulted with historian Connie Young Yu, San Jose Taiko co-founder PJ Hirabayashi and others from the city’s Asian community about what imagery should be contained in the metal-lace artwork. “Sheltering Wing” was completed a couple of years ago, but delays in the park’s construction schedule pushed back its installation to this year.

The opening date for the park has not been set, but until then, the piece is visible from North Sixth Street between Jackson and Taylor streets.