One of my new favorite pieces of art in downtown San Jose isn’t hanging in any gallery. It’s on a freeway. The piece is called “Afternoon,” and it’s a massive mural on the Highway 87 retaining wall where St. John Street meets Almaden Boulevard.

If you’re got no idea where that is, you’re probably in good company. It’s one of those odd spaces that was created by the freeway’s installation and few drivers or pedestrians go by unless they’re searching for a parking space or heading to SAP Center or Henry’s Hi-Life.

It is the first solo work in the United States by Polish street artist Sainer, who’s real name is Przemek Blejzyk. With support by Empire Seven Studios and the San Jose Downtown Association’s Property Business Improvement District, Sainer painted the muted, rural scene — featuring an elderly woman in a chair and a boy playing a flute — over Thanksgiving weekend last year.

The emotion captured in the image matches its scope. And the piece does a lot more than just beautify a forgotten corner of downtown. Like many of the other murals around town sponsored by the PBID, Empire Seven or the Exhibition District, it’s adding to San Jose’s sense of place.

MORE UPDATES FROM THE FORMER CHAMBER: The rebranding of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce is also downsizing the rubber-chicken calendar. The Silicon Valley Organization is dropping three of its big annual events this year, the Women in Leadership Luncheon, the Annual Membership Dinner and Legends & Leaders.

Matt Mahood, CEO of the SVO, says an overwhelming percentage of the former Chamber’s big investors were on board with eliminating the events.

“They don’t have to buy and fill tables and their money can go where they direct it for the work we need to do,” Mahood said. “And we don’t have to spend the time and money putting on the event.”

One event that’s not going anywhere is the annual barbecue hosted by PAC Silicon Valley (formerly ChamberPAC). Mahood says they’re planning to use the barbecue model — a little food, a lot of booze and a lot of networking — for a new spring membership event. “It’ll be just like the barbecue but indoors,” Mahood said.

ARTS SHOWCASE RETURNS: The always-regal Susannah Greenwood, known in South Bay arts circles as the Princess of Artsalot, has a great emcee duty this week: Guiding the audience through the cornucopia that is the Arts Panorama fundraiser Jan. 27 .

It’s at a new venue this year, the Scottish Rite Center at 2455 Masonic Road in San Jose, but it’ll be the same sampling of performances from smaller-budget arts groups in the valley. The performers include guitarist Christopher Mann, actors from Lyric Theatre, Chinese bamboo flute player Jifan Li and concert pianist Sandra Wright Shen.

The event was previously produced by the Silicon Valley Arts Coalition, but this year’s edition is being hosted by two of its member organizations, the South Bay Guitar Society and the Noon Arts & Lectures Series. Tickets are $30, including appetizers and desserts, and can be purchased online at www.sbgs.org.

CELEBRATING COMMUNITY ROOTS IN PALO ALTO: Canopy, Palo Alto’s urban forestry nonprofit, will welcome Greg Scharff to his term as Palo Alto’s mayor at its 21st annual Mayor Tree Planting ceremony on Jan. 26 and also will have a special planting tribute for recently retired Police Chief Dennis Burns.

This is also the time when the annual Canopy Tree Awards are presented to people and groups that have supported the urban forest. This year’s awardees are the Bol Park Pathway Committee, East Palo Alto Environmental Programs Management Analyst Michelle Daher, landscape designer John Erving, landscape designer Dedra Hauser, Kavanaugh neighborhood tree planters Romain Taniere and Luis Guzman, University Village tree planters Will Schulz and Ylem Rubio, Canopy planting leaders Sharon Hudak and Antoine Gaessler and Young Forester honoree Diamond Allen. Festivities start at 5:15 p.m. near the Magical Bridge Playground at Mitchell Park, It’s free to attend, but you should RSVP to shannon@canopy.org.

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE: Kaiser Permanente opened three medical offices in Watsonville, downtown Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley on Jan. 3, and one of the first patients in the door at the Scotts Valley facility was none other than Henry J. Kaiser III, grandson of the organization’s founder.

Kaiser, 64, was born in Oakland but moved to the Santa Cruz area five years ago — and soon he’ll be headed to much colder waters than you’ll find in Northern California. A research diver with the U.S. Antarctic Program, Kaiser will be making his 12th deployment to the bottom of the world to dive beneath the 20-foot thick ice crust on the Ross Sea.

AVAYA CON DIOS: Count Steve Dini among those who were wondering what the Earthquakes will do with the Avaya Stadium name now that the telecom firm has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. “Shall we change the name to Goodbye-ya Stadium?” he asked.

Speaking of goodbyes, Dini will be making his final bows as the drama teacher at San Jose’s Pioneer High School when he retires in June. There will be 102 students in the cast of his final show, the musical, “Footloose,” which is based on the beloved ’80s movie starring Kevin Bacon. “Everything’s better with Bacon,” Dini says. Even retirement, it seems.

PARTING THOUGHT: VMC Foundation Executive Director Chris Wilder is one of the most mellow guys you’re going to find, but being stuck in traffic for a couple of hours Thursday morning moved even his zen spirit to fume on Twitter: “I’m going to sell the house and buy 100 yards of #Hwy17, which seems to be where I live now.”