On Saturday a 55-foot tall statue is being installed in San Leandro. The celebration is going to start with a drive through the streets before she is delivered to her final home. And now Alex Savidge is at the sight where her 20-foot-long legs are already in place.

Alex: Yes, it is a beautiful piece of art work; it came in here feet first, if you will. This is the bottom portion of the sculpture that will be 55 feet tall, and just the feet here already in place. Ultimately, Truth is Beauty will be on display here in Downtown San Leandro.

Alex: I have the developer here on this project. We’re in the middle of the San Leandro Tech Campus with Gaye Quinn of Westlake Urban, the developer of the whole Campus. Talk to me about how important Truth is Beauty is to this area where we are.

Gaye: Truth is Beauty has been an amazing addition to the Tech Campus. The city required that we include a piece of art in the project, but we didn’t know when we started the process that it would lead to something this iconic and this dramatic for the Campus and for the community.

Alex: The artist who created this piece of work is Marco Cochrane, and he created it for the Burning Man festival. I know the idea is of a powerful, free woman. What is the message that this piece of art is trying to convey?

Gaye: Well, Marco brought to his art a real conviction that feminine energy was important to create balance in our world, and when we started our conversations about acquiring this sculpture, it was really important to him that whoever was going to acquire the sculpture would also include the messaging that he thought was important, which is, “What would the world be like if women were safe?”

Alex: I want to show you where we are, you may have heard some jackhammers and machinery going on in the background. We are here in the middle of the San Leandro Tech Campus. It has not opened yet, but inside of this building, you have a company moving in just next month, and this sculpture symbolizes a transformation for downtown San Leandro.

Gaye: It does. It symbolizes a transformation for the community, and the process of bringing her here has allowed us to have a lot of conversations about that transformation. This is one of a lot of things that are going on in the community and we are happy to be able to bring that attention, through Truth is Beauty, to all the things that are happening. San Leandro has always been a manufacturing hub and now it is transitioning and transforming into a center for technology and innovation.

Alex: A tech hub as well. This is Gaye Quinn, from Westlake Urban, the developer on this project. Thank you very much for speaking with us about Truth is Beauty.  So again, they have the lower portions already in place, and this Saturday a big ceremony is going to happen in downtown San Leandro to celebrate the rest of this work of art.