Go Mama! (1999)

Cast in bronze, the stylized figure of Go Mama! stands on one foot, looking as though she’s poised to leap off her concrete pedestal and explore, maybe glancing into the windows of the shops that line the street. Visually contradicting the heavy, dark metal, her face and limbs look soft and huggable—like those of a much-loved rag doll. We are so familiar with stories of toys coming alive that her kinetic pose seems almost plausible. On the long oval of her face, ‘stitched’ features describe a smiling mouth, with a heart for a nose, and more hearts and flowers on her cheeks. Her eyes, enormous and blue-lidded, have long, perfectly- curling lashes, drawn with thread.

As it happens, artist Thoma Hall modeled Go Mama! on a Mexican doll. Originally created as a maquette for a public art competition, her lively figure was intended to represent the deep history of Palo Alto and the people who lived in the region. These include Native Americans, alluded to with the oak leaves and acorns incised and modeled on the back of the doll’s dress. (Above these, a drawing of a stylized nautilus shell, combined with the petals of a sunflower, is a reminder of the cycle of seasons and the passage of time.) In addition, there’s a nod to the early Spanish-speaking residents of the area-- who gave the city its present name. Hall asked poet Mary Lee McNeal, then a Palo Alto resident, to collaborate with her, contributing the text that circles the figure’s feet on the pedestal. It reads: “Mi cuento esta saltando en tu corazon”—my story is jumping in your heart. On the opposite side of the circle, there are the words mystoryorstoryherstory, reminding viewers that history, shared and shaped by many, belongs to all and to none. These two poetic phrases are punctuated by Go mama! on one side and its translation into Spanish, Andale, Mama!, on the other. 

Typically, ‘mother’ rag dolls are accompanied by doll ‘babies.’ In Go Mama!, Hall takes this idea and transforms it into the most striking feature of the sculpture. Open-eyed, an oversized child’s face peers out of the front of the figure’s torso, its eyes turned up with an expression of surprise or wonder—simultaneously invoking the idea of the child inside each of us and our desire for comfort, security and home. 

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Go Mama’s playful, cartoonish figure—in particular, the perfect spheres of her sleeves and the swirl of her skirt—suggest a kinship to Tom Otterness’s cheerful rounded figures, seen in public sculpture all over the world. At the same time, the cloth-textured limbs are a nod to Claes Oldenburg’s ‘soft’ versions of everyday objects. But the uniqueness of Hall’s conception of this striking sculpture lies in its surreal combination of oversized doll and realistic child’s face. The overall scale of the sculpture shifts viewers’ perspective, challenging our perceptions of play. 

POSTSCRIPT: Hall didn’t receive the commission for which she originally submitted her maquette, but Gerald Bratt, chair of the Palo Alto Arts Council, wanted her piece for the city, and had a site in mind. It was installed on the corner of California Avenue and Ash Street in 1999. At that time, its pedestal was surrounded by low bushes and plants that prevented direct access to the sculpture. 

In 2015, the city completed its transformation of the streetscape of California Avenue, making it more pedestrian-friendly. Instead of plantings around Go Mama!, it was now encircled with sidewalk, its pedestal accessible to sit and climb on. As a report to the city of Palo Alto’s art commission dated August 2017 indicated, “the increased physical interaction from the public touching and pushing the piece has deteriorated the surface quite a bit and the artwork is in need of another cleaning and wax protective coating. The base has constant food stains on it due to people eating on the base, especially during the farmer’s market…Because the piece has only one attachment point and has the bulk of the weight and massing up high, the piece has always wiggled. Staff has sent art handlers out there to fill in the material around the base of the foot to help stabilize her, but it has not done as much to stabilize the piece.”

Hall offered to effect repairs and enhance the work’s stability, but, later that year, the Public Art Commission decided to deaccession Go Mama!. The piece was removed in March of 2018 and returned to Hall, who is presently seeking a new home for it. 

-Maria Porges