JOIN US for the next South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk on March 5th!
8pm ’til LATE — ART WALK venues are free and open to the public
SoFA District (So. First Street between San Carlos and E. Reed streets)

• Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Indoctrination debut solo exhibition of Dante Horoiwa

  Under the skin of his everyday life in Brazil lies Horoiwa’s Japanese heritage. His paintings portray the spiritually lost and lonely. Through his work, from life-size paintings in São Paulo to the side of a 4 story building in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Horoiwa is able to cope with his want to hide from the world and his need to be a part of it.

  Music: tba

• Art Glass Center of San Jose – 465 South First St. map

  

  The SJGAA invites you to get a special sneak peek at their new fine art gallery extension as they expand the Art Glass Center of San Jose. Lionel Chapital and Lori Peterson will be on the torches creating precious little works of art just in time for Easter.

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  [7-9pm] Opening Reception: The Sketch Book Show

  
  art by Lacey Bryant

  The Sketchbook Show

  Take a rare peak into the twisted minds of 29 artists! Peer into the depths of their sketchbooks and see what makes them tick. Step into their brain space and enjoy by DJ Coco, catering by Fundamental Gourmet, coffee by Red Berry Coffee Bar and conversation with the sketchers themselves!

• MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 South First St. map

  
  Mariana Garibay, Tangle Weed, monotype, collage, acrylic and string mounted on wood, 2009.

  Currently on view Conceptual Landscapes: recent work by Castillo and Mariana Garibay. Ancestry, nature and form are reflected in this two person show featuring site specific installation and works on paper.

  Join us for the Artist Talk on Friday, March 5 at 7:30pm for a gallery walk through and an engaging conversation about their work

• Phantom Galleries – temporary exhibits in vacant storefronts

  
  Guy Brookshire

  386 South First St: Illustrations from the Book of Dreams are book art collages, created with precision blades and glue by destroying reference, art, history, and science publications. They illustrate uncanny narratives of which no knowledge is required. The universe they describe is the work of Guy Benjamin Brookshire.

  
  Andy Gouveia

  388 So. First Street: Fault-lines an installation by Bay Area artist Andy Gouveia.

  A spray can and house paint mural painted live in Golden Gate park as part of the Indy Arts Fest 2009. This exhibition also hosts an array of his smaller paintings dealing with the myth and mystery of the ancient world.

• San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map

  
  The Angel Equation by Joan Schulze

  In the Main Galleries: Poetic License: The Art of Joan Schulze is a retrospective of the prolific 40-year career of innovative Bay Area collage artist Joan Schulze. Also on view: Navajo Weaving in the Present Tense: The Art of Lucy and Ellen Begay, a rare collection of a remarkable body of work by two contemporary Navajo weavers, a mother and daughter, whose work is deeply rooted in the traditional lifestyle they still lead.

  Special event 8-9pm: Reading of original poerty by Joan Schulze.

• SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery – 577 South Market St. map

  

  Web comics are all the rage these days and SLG presents artwork from one of the most popular webcomics on the internet as artist Ethan Nicolle shows of his work from AXE COP. For the uninitiated Axe Cop is the web comic created by Ethan and his five-year-old brother. Have you ever read something and said to yourself “Was this written by a five year old?” Well, Axe Cop IS written by a five year old and it’s one of the funniest thing on the web. Entertainment Weekly and NPR agree and we are sure you will too.

  Also, the Andy Ristaino Escape from Dullsville show continues. Live music by Jazz Trio Quasimodal.

• Works San Jose – 451 South First St. map

  
  Blue Canyons by Terenia Offenbacker

  Female Found Mixed Media Contemporary Art, curated by Terenia Offenbacker, presents the work of eight women that create art together through weekly sessions for the past seven years. The materials used are common: paper, sand, metals, textiles, etc., but each artist works in a different creative way. Featured artists: Rosine Ferber, Ann Gordon, Camille Ball, Ricky Gumbrecht, Shuang Zhang, Sheryl Tealdi, Annette Legallet and Terenia Offenbacker.

• Caffé Trieste – 315 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Venezia Revisited is a collection of paintings made by San Jose artist Eileen Graham after a 2007 trip to Italy.

  Live music by Opera San José, featuring your favorite arias and duets starting at 8:30pm.

• Downtown Yoga Shala – 450 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: “Yoga Inspired Art” by Angeles Moreno

  Simplicity, harmony, color, and strong outlines define her art, influenced by her life’s work as a graphic designer. Yoga came to her at its own time. It was in discovering consistent yoga practice that revealed a more profound significance and a fresh inspiration for her artwork.

  Seeking a deeper understanding of the disciplines at the core yogic principles, Angeles completed the Ashtanga Teacher Training at Mount Madonna, founded 35 years ago by the silent Guru, Baba Hari Dass.

  To capture and (re)express the many universal, positive messages from this ancient philosophy, the canvases began to fill with the Spirit of Yoga, compassion – balance – harmony.

  Angeles Moreno is a yoga teacher at Downtown Yoga Shala. To see more of Angeles’ work, please join us after Candlelight Yoga (6:15-8pm) as we open our doors to the art patrons and the downtown community for an Artist Reception beginning at 8pm.

• Good Karma Vegan Café – 37 South First St. map

  
  art by Wendy Neff

  Opening Reception: Group exhibit by Good Karma Staff
  A mixed media, mixed artist show to celebrate the creative bunch that work at Good Karma. Featuring: Tony Buccino, Julia Lang, Otessa Crandell, Sarah Cade, and Wendy Neff.

• METRO Photo Exhibit – 550 South First St. map

  

  I’m With the Band? photos by the First St. Photo Collective

• South First Billiards & Lounge – 420 South First St. map

  

  Group Show by Illuskrate

  Illuskrate is an art blog started and contributed to by Dion Bello and Anabella Pinon. The blog is an exhibit symbolizing work created after the day job some artists have to maintain to be able create the pieces displayed in these galleries.

  The show is a collection of very talented South Bay artists that include; Anabella Pinon, Dee Jae Pa’este, Noel Huh, Nicole Terzic, Mike Borja, Daniel Valadez, Kristine Taormino, Kim Christman and Dion Bello.

  Live musical performances by Fake Public and Can’t Find a Villain.

  South First Billiards is now an ALL AGES venue.

• Art Ark – 1035 South Sixth St. map

  

  The Art of Truth, Compassion, Tolerance curated by David Zhang

  This traveling exhibition has been shown in more than 40 countries and over 200 cities worldwide. Last year a preview was held at the San Jose City Hall Rotunda. The show features oil paintings by 12 artists including: Kunlun Zhang, Xiaoping Chen, Yuan Li, Kathleen Gillis, and Xiqiang Dong whose art portrays the experiences, visions, and hope of Falun Dafa followers as they attempt to safeguard justice and peace while upholding their values in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

  Free shuttle service from South First Street to the Art Ark Gallery every 15 minutes between 5:45 – 9:15pm in front of the Miami Beach Club

JOIN US for the next South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk on February 5th!
8pm ’til LATE — ART WALK venues are free and open to the public
SoFA District (So. First Street between San Carlos and E. Reed streets)

• Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: ART OF ZINES 2010 featuring hundreds of zines from basements, bedrooms and midnight copy shops throughout the U.S. and abroad.

  We love zines… those little diy, cut-and-paste, copied-on-the-cheap, hand-folded, self-distributed gems that continue to surface because someone, somewhere feels the need to express themselves. It’s that simple. Zines exist and fleurish outside the mainstream with no particular interest whether you’re paying attention or not. According to Chip Rowe, creator of Chip’s Closet Cleaner, “They’re Tinkertoys for malcontents. They’re obsessed with obsession. They’re extraordinary and ordinary. They’re about strangeness but since it’s usually happening somewhere else you’re kind of relieved.”

  Featured Zine sellers: Marc Arsenault, John Bobst, Silvia Chenault, Michael Foley, Ben Henderson, Chris Kardambikis, M Undead, Yumiko Miyagawa, Tomas Moniz, Kyle Pellet, Mahoney Perkins, Louis Schmidt, Matthew Seigel, Kate Steward & Meagan Zupanci

  Music: Adam Lynn, Zoe Boekbinder (Vermillion LIes), Corpus Callosum

• Art Glass Center of San Jose – 465 South First St. map

  

  Bring your Valentine and enjoy live demonstrations by Lionel Chapital and our new instructor Lori Peterson at the torch. No doubt they will take inspiration from the holiday to create one-of-a-kind blown glass sculptures and beads that will warm your heart. Hearts and flowers from 20 other artists spread the love throughout the entire studio.

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  [7-9pm] Opening Reception for featured exhibitions by Sandi Billingsley and Mark Damrel with live music by INFM, Tyler Boyd

  
  art by Sandi Billingsley

  Transfiguration is a collection of three dimensional art is an expression of Sandi Billingsley’s faith that “we humans can live in luxury while being environmentally responsible.” Transfiguration is essentially the art of changing the properties of an object. In this case it refers to the changing of garbage into art.

  This series is made entirely from rescued materials. The core is made of Styrofoam collected from shipping packages, friends and dumpsters. Sandi then applies a combination of old paint clothes, junk mail, phone books — basically anything with natural fibers headed for the trash. Dipping these flexible materials in non-toxic glue gives them strength to hold interesting shapes. Finally, the piece is finished with “Aqua Brand” textures and paint which are non-toxic. The result is an environmentally friendly piece of art.

  
  art by Mark Damrel

  Relative Matter is a series of paintings by Mark Damrel inspired by the hardships he encountered on his journey into fatherhood. “Years went by with little to no hope. I started to get used to the fact that I would never have a family, and then it happened.”

  In groupings of mixed media paintings on wood and paper he explores the themes of childhood memories, despair, hope and joy.

• MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 South First St. map

  
  Castillo, Brown Sugar (detail), giclee, burlap bags, chain, 2009

  Opening reception of Conceptual Landscapes: recent work by Castillo and Mariana Garibay. Ancestry, nature and form are reflected in this two person show featuring site specific installation and works on paper.

• Phantom Galleries – temporary exhibits in vacant storefronts

  
  Guy Brookshire

  386 South First St: Illustrations from the Book of Dreams are book art collages, created with precision blades and glue by destroying reference, art, history, and science publications. They illustrate uncanny narratives of which no knowledge is required. The universe they describe is the work of Guy Benjamin Brookshire.

  
  Kate Stewart

  388 So. First Street: We Are Not From Here/ here we are an exhibit of large oil paintings by Kate Stewart

  Every city has a personality that both shapes and is shaped by the people who live there. People reflect the city as they build it. People fade into the city and embody it. The city learns its own nature by watching. The city and the individual enter a collaboration. Five paintings by Kate Stewart tell the city stories about itself.

• SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery – 577 South Market St. map

  

  ESCAPE FROM DULLSVILLE – Life is anything but dull in the SLG Boutiki & Gallery, and our first show of the year is no exception. First, artist and writer Andy Ristaino returns presenting artwork from his insanely crazy book Escape from Dullsville. See Andy’s high energy vision and find out for yourself why he was featured in HIgh Fructose magazine.

  Also, local author Dianne Sweeney will be on hand signing copies of her new book Kissing Frogs in Cyberspace.

  Live music by Assemblehead and all the things you have come to expect from an SLG event on South FIRST FRIDAY!

• San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map

  
  Pineapple Variation or Windmill Blades, Unknown quilt maker, Circa 1890

  Exhibits on view: Still Crazy mines the Museum’s permanent collection to explore the glorious Victorian crazy quilt, a purely decorative object that presaged modernists’ use of abstraction and collage techniques and was a forerunner of the contemporary art quilt.

  Also on view: Reincarnation: The Crazy Collage Aesthetic of India & Japan explores how different cultures have interpreted the ‘crazy collage aesthetic’ with c. 1920-1950 Japanese kimonos from the collection of the Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture and contemporary Indian crazy quilts from the collection of Shobha Imports.

• Works San Jose – 451 South First St. map

  

  Give a little tough love to Works/San Jose and get some back! Come see the (anti)Valentine’s Silent Auction and Exhibition! Preview artworks 12-4pm February 4th and join us First Friday when bidding opens from 12-10pm ~ or buy instantly! Entry to exhibit is free! Bidders pay just $5.

  Installation in Paulette Peterson space by local artist Maynard Edwards

• Caffé Trieste – 315 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: All But Purple, paintings by Tamar Belson.

  “Despite my love for the red and blue colors, in this series I did not combine them to create the purple color. I used other basic color and their combinations to create a play of contrasts. Warm and cold colors, lines and shapes on colorful surfaces and circles on squares – being some of them. I am always attracted by the powerful interaction between those contrasts and offer the viewer the surprising and vivid fine balanced outcome.” ~Tamar Belson

  Back at Caffe Trieste for 2010, Opera San José, featuring your favorite arias and duets starting at 8:30pm.

• Downtown Yoga Shala – 450 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: photography by Nadia Nasiri

  Downtown Yoga Shala is proud to present featured artist Nadia Nasiri, a promising young self-taught photographer and avid yoga practitioner. She shares her love of nature and yoga through her lens. Nadia holds a masters degree in recreation with a focus on international tourism management from San Jose State University. It is her intention and desire to work for a non-profit that does eco trips abroad. Nadia believes in the transformation that is possible through travel and would like to promote travel that is beneficial to the community and the environment. Nadia is fascinated by social change, spirituality, the environment, and the importance of leisure.

• Good Karma Vegan Café – 37 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Both Before & After by Benjamin Caprile

  Born in Grenoble France, but raised in the Silicon Valley, Benjamin creates surreal landscapes that combine the familiar with the unknown, the mundane with the monumental. Sometimes grotesque and other times serene, the artwork balances opposites through a variety of mediums.

  Live DJ sets by Richard Gutierrez and Claude Cardenas.

• METRO Photo Exhibit – 550 South First St. map

  

  Heart Show photos by the First St. Photo Collective

• South First Billiards & Lounge – 420 South First St. map

  

  On view: Heart Of Chaos Uproar sale closes end of February! Please stop by and place a bid on your favorite art piece.

  South First Billiards is now an ALL AGES venue.

JOIN US for the next South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk on December 4th!
8pm ’til LATE — ART WALK venues are free and open to the public
SoFA District (So. First Street between San Carlos and E. Reed streets)

• Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map

  

  Opening reception: FRESH PRODUCE 9th Annual Invitational Group Exhibit and Art Sale!
  50 artists from around the world have created hundreds of works of art for this highly anticipated annual exhibition and sale. These artists were invited based on their unique artistic vision and contribution to urban/contemporary arts and culture. Each artist has submitted up to 10 works of original art, all affordably priced at $250 or less. All sales are on a first come, first serve basis so don’t be late!

• Art Glass Center of San Jose – 465 South First St. (map)

  

  Break out the Santa suit and pour a glass of nog! The Art Glass Center is ready for the holiday season with an amazing collection of new and affordable original works by over 30 local artists.

  Lionel Chapital will be demonstrating blown glass ornaments starting at 8:00 p.m. The public is invited to participate in a “hands on” experience making a fused glass ornament (minimal fee required).

• Caffé Trieste – 315 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Gary Coleman will be exhibiting samples of both his abstract and landscape paintings, showing that an artist does not have to limit himself to one genre in producing his body of work.

  Live Music: Opera San José performing your favorite arias and duets.

• Downtown Yoga Shala – 450 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Glimpses of India by Andrea Ewald.

  Join us after Candlelight Yoga (6:45pm-8pm) as we open our doors to welcome the Art Walk patrons and the downtown community.After 8pm, the Main Studio will be open to the public for an AcroYoga (acrobatics meet yoga) Demo repeat performance, free for all to watch and enjoy.

  In our Art Studio, the featured artist is photographer, yoga practitioner and curious traveler from Santa Clara, Andrea Ewald. Travel with Andrea to colorful Rajasthan, follow her to century-old palaces and temples and down dusty streets and catch glimpses of people going about their daily lives. Take in the vibrant colors of fabrics and the textures of buildings. Be transported to the streets of Bundi, where life moves at a slower pace and wonder about the unexpected juxtaposition of motor rickshaws and pigeons in a Jaisalmer parking lot.

• MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 South First St. map

  
  Jaime Guerrero, Birth Goddess, glass, 12” x 20” 2008

  Currently on view, Cultural Disjuncture, featuring contemporary nomads, cultural disparity and invisible labor explored in this group exhibition which features sculpture, works on paper and installation. Artists include Monica Canilao, Diana Cristales-David, Betty A. Davis, Jaime Guerrero, Alejandro Oliva, Mitsy Ávila Ovalles, and Rio Yañez in collaboration with Maya Escobar. Join us for the Artist Talk at 7pm for a gallery walk through and an engaging conversation with the artists.

• METRO Photo Exhibit – 550 South First St. map

  

  (All in the Family) photos by the First St. Photo Collective
  Participating photographers include: Carlos Da Silva, Abe Menor, Trish Leeper, Tanya Angeli , Anabella Pinon, Nancy h. Ahn, Chris Patton, Felipe Buitrago, Yumiko Miyagawa, Vu Nguyen, Jennifer Ahn, Jason Duffany, Michelle Budziak, Jen Anderson, Amber Chavez, Jai Tanju, Mario Guel, Murray Bowles, Sid Enck jr, Phil Ritti, Page Traeger, Kristine Taormino

• Phantom Galleries – temporary exhibits in vacant storefronts

  
  Kyle Pellet

  386 South First St.: Everybody’s Happy Nowadays by Kyle Pellet
  If you’ve ever:
  1.) stood up somebody for a date,
  2.) eaten a hamburger at 2 in the morning and lived to regret it,
  3.) smelled something wholeheartedly unpleasant, and took a second and maybe third sniff
  4.) cried about something dumb,
  5.) given yourself a bad haircut,
  6.) gone to a birthday party of someone you hated,
  7.) wished bad things on somebody, had them happen, and then wished bad things on other people,
  then this installation is for you. Enjoy! ”

  
  Kate Stewart

  388 So. First Street: We Are Not From Here/ here we are an exhibit of large oil paintings by Kate Stewart

  Every city has a personality that both shapes and is shaped by the people who live there. People reflect the city as they build it. People fade into the city and embody it. The city learns its own nature by watching. The city and the individual enter a collaboration. Five paintings by Kate Stewart tell the city stories about itself.

• San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art – 560 South First St. map

  

  Afterlife: Main Gallery through January 23rd. A group exhibition presenting the work of artists who transform collected and recycled materials into works of art. Guest curated by Kathryn Funk. Theodora Varnay Jones: Manifold: Focus Gallery and Cardinale Project Room through February 20th. A solo exhibition by postminimalist sculptor and installation artist Theodora Varnay Jones. The two-and-three dimensional works on view represent the artist’s exploration and interpretation of form, space and repetition. Night Moves, after dark programming in the ICA’s front windows presents video work by Claudia Borgna through January 23rd.

• San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map

  
  Detail from a Victorian crazy quilt, collection of the Museum

  Exhibits on view: Still Crazy mines the Museum’s permanent collection to explore the glorious Victorian crazy quilt, a purely decorative object that presaged modernists’ use of abstraction and collage techniques and was a forerunner of the contemporary art quilt. Also on view: Reincarnation: The Crazy Collage Aesthetic of India & Japan explores how different cultures have interpreted the ‘crazy collage aesthetic’ with c. 1920-1950 Japanese kimonos from the collection of the Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture and contemporary Indian crazy quilts from the collection of Shobha Imports.

  Special event this month: Come for a unique opportunity to buy beautiful Indian embroidered textiles from Shobha Textiles. You will find a gorgeous selection of fabulous wall hangings, pillows, embroidered silk scarves and silk fabrics for quilting. Don’t miss this chance to find one-of-a-kind holiday gifts for the textile lovers in your life.

• SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery – 577 South Market St. map

  

  The Boutiki celebrates its first anniversary with a show called The Signs of the Holidays. Seasonal themed signs by Scott Saavedra will dot the gallery as well as pieces from some of the last year’s worth of shows including Famous Drunkards, Zombies (of course), Haunted Mansion and work by Andy Ristaino, Karl Krumpholz and many others.

  Live music by C-List

• South First Billiards & Lounge – 420 South First St. map

  

  Heart of Chaos Holiday Art Sale Continues. Also, join the celebration to raise funds for San Jose State’s Chicano Commencement tradition.

  Live music, live art, auction.

  21+ venue

• Works San Jose – 451 South First St. map

  noon2noon is a 24 hour art marathon to raise money to support your community art center! 8pm is one third of the way into Works 24 hour marathon, stop by when you start your evening to see artist teams compete to raise money marathon style. The entire event will be broadcast live to the internet at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/works-live and open at Works until Saturday at noon. You can pledge in person or online at www.workssanjose.org

  Come to Works at midnight for our First Friday Afterparty when we celebrate the halfway mark with music and refreshments. Support an artist team, have fun, and play in our art community. Purchase a work of art for yourself or a gift for the holidays! Artwork will be on display and for sale at the event through December 10.

On South Fourth Street…

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  

  [7-9pm] Opening Reception for the 2nd Annual Glass Ornament Show presented by the San Jose Glass Artists Alliance

  Experience a unique array of hand made one-of-a-kind glass ornaments that span a 60 foot wall at the KALEID Gallery through the end of December. This installation by SJGAA President, Janett Peace, showcases hundreds of individually blown, torchworked, fused and stained glass ornaments (sans the traditional trees). All ornaments are for sale and will be re-stocked throughout the month.

  Also on view and available for purchase is original works of art and creative gifts by over 60 regional artists.

JOIN US for the next South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk on November 6th!
8pm ’til LATE — ART WALK venues are free and open to the public
SoFA District (So. First Street between San Carlos and E. Reed streets)

• Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map

  

  Public Reception & Book Signing: BLOODWORK: SLEEVES 30 Tattooers 67 Sleeves is a collaborative project produced by the Analog Tattoo Arts Kolectiv (ATAK). The stated goal is to document, exhibit and publish a comprehensive collection of sleeves by the WTC (World Tattoo Community: abstract concept). Tattooers & collectors from around the globe graciously contributed to this complex collective undertaking.

  The extensive range of work within the BLOODWORK: SLEEVES photographic exhibition and tandem publication aspires to provide a broad view of the efforts of contemporary tattooers working today. The ultimate purpose is to compile an unparalleled historical document for review by this and future generations.

• Art Glass Center of San Jose – 465 South First St. (map)

  

  Take one last stroll through the glass pumpkin patch by 15 artists at The Art Glass Center. Work from over 30 local glass artists will also be on display.

• Caffé Trieste – 315 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Genre Variations by Cynthia DeBenedetti
  Being a painter of outdoor scenes as well as still life and figure provides Cynthia occasions to paint many subjects in different ways. This exhibit focuses on different subject matter within the realm of oil painting. Among the many different types of genres (subjects) in painting, shown here are four: landscape, still life, figure, and portrait.

  Live Music: Opera San José performing your favorite arias and duets.

• Downtown Yoga Shala – 450 South First St. map

  

  Opening reception: Shimmer by Melissa Kreisa
  Join us after Candlelight Yoga (6:45-8:15) as we open our doors to welcome the Art Walk patrons and the downtown community. Our featured artist is a painter, mother, yoga practitioner and volunteer who helps new refugees adjust to life in the Bay Area.

  For Melissa, painting is her chance to breathe. It forces her to slow down and find beauty in the smallest spaces. In this show called, Shimmer she invites you into a moment of reflection. Her work reminds us that nature continues to go about its beautiful and mysterious business, even when we are not paying attention. All proceeds from this show will benefit Refugee Transitions (and are tax deductable).

• MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 South First St. map

  

  Join us for the opening reception for Cultural Disjuncture featuring contemporary nomads, cultural disparity and invisible labor explored in this group exhibition which features sculpture, works on paper and installation. This exhibition includes work by Monica Canilao, Diana Cristales-David, Betty A. Davis, Jaime Guerrero, Alejandro Oliva, Mitsy Ávila Ovalles and Rio Yañez. Exhibition open through January 2, 2010.

• METRO Photo Exhibit – 550 South First St. map

  

  The Last Good Dive Bar photos by the First St. Photo Collective
  Participating photographers include: Carlos Da Silva, Abe Menor, Trish Leeper, Tanya Angeli , Anabella Pinon, Nancy h. Ahn, Chris Patton, Felipe Buritrago, Yumiko Miyagawa, Vu Nguyen, Jennifer Ahn, Jason Duffany, Michelle Budziak, Jen Anderson, Amber Chavez, Jai Tanju, Mario Guel, Trent Still, Murray Bowles

• Phantom Galleries – temporary exhibits in vacant storefronts

  

  386 South First St.: Everybody’s Happy Nowadays by Kyle Pellet
  If you’ve ever:
  1.) stood up somebody for a date,
  2.) eaten a hamburger at 2 in the morning and lived to regret it,
  3.) smelled something wholeheartedly unpleasant, and took a second and maybe third sniff
  4.) cried about something dumb,
  5.) given yourself a bad haircut,
  6.) gone to a birthday party of someone you hated,
  7.) wished bad things on somebody, had them happen, and then wished bad things on other people,
  then this installation is for you. Enjoy! ”

  

  388 So. First Street: Nature Of The Beast by Tyson Johnston

  Strange things go bump in the night…. Oftentimes, dreams are reflections of phobias and dismay that we encounter in our daily lives. Usually, the underlying messages can be extremely cryptic. My aim is to decipher these nightmares into a meaningful message. I use animals and creatures to mirror human emotion, and as symbols. In the end, I hope to use these images and techniques to transfer the negative emotions from my nightmares into a positive release.

• San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art – 560 South First St. map

  

  Afterlife: Main Gallery through January 23rd. A group exhibition presenting the work of artists who transform collected and recycled materials into works of art. Guest curated by Kathryn Funk. Theodora Varnay Jones: Manifold: Focus Gallery and Cardinale Project Room through February 20th. A solo exhibition by postminimalist sculptor and installation artist Theodora Varnay Jones. The two-and-three dimensional works on view represent the artist’s exploration and interpretation of form, space and repetition. Night Moves, after dark programming in the ICA’s front windows presents video work by Claudia Borgna through January 23rd.

• San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map

  

  The 2nd annual High Fiber Under Five benefit art sale will be in full swing. This invitational sale features world class fiber art by nationally and internationally known artists, including jewelry, sculpture, wearable art and wall pieces, all for $500 or less.

• SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery – 577 South Market St. map

  

  SLG Publishing is proud to present the work of Jamiaca Dyer as we celebrate the release of her first graphic novel Weird Fishes. A Santa Cruz native and San Jose State University graduate with an MFA in art, Dyer’s work will be familiar to people who have seen her paintings on the cover of the San Jose Metro. Also on display will be work from Drew Rausch, Bee Adams and several others.

  Live music by Quasimodal

• South First Billiards & Lounge – 420 South First St. map

  

  Heart of Chaos and South First Billiards present our 3rd annual Uproar event, one of the largest art events in San Jose. Live Music, Belly Dance, Live Painting and Art Exhibits. Art priced to sell!

  21+ venue

• Works San Jose – 451 South First St. map

  In the Main Gallery: See the Works/San Jose 2009 Member Exhibition All For One!…, —No judge, No jury—just our wide and varied community of artists from the South Bay! In the Paulette Peterson Space experience the exhibit A Portrait of Hip Hop. Also, see live painting on human canvases by artist Trina Merry!

• Agenda Restaurant – 399 South First St. map

  

  Special one night only exhibition and wine tasting event featuring Images From a Beautiful World by LIsa Amato

  A collection of fine art photography that pairs well with fine wine, food and music. Having moved to the Bay Area in her early years, Lisa has been “witness to this area’s ability to traverse both the minute wonder of a ladybug resting on a sunflower petal to the overwhelming expanse of a Pacific sunset. Everywhere I go, an opportunity to capture a truly breathtaking moment presents itself; whether it be the rugged peaks of the Sierras, the almost surreal Northern California shore, or the opulent colors of the wine country.”

  Live Music by Tyler Boyd.

  6pm-8pm: $10 Wine Tasting, $25 Special Pre Fixe Dinner (includes Wine Tasting)
  Call 408-287-3991 or email info@agendalounge.com for reservations or further details

On South Fourth Street…

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  [7-9pm] Artists’ Reception for featured exhibits by Lacey Bryant, Jen Renzel

  

  Fragile Things new paintings and curiosities by Lacey Bryant

  Lacey has always been fascinated at how so many fragile things are able to exist in our chaotic, messy world. “Tiny, delicate things often seem to thrive in the most hostile environments. Fragility makes things precious to us, things are more beautiful because they will not last. So many things are fragile when you stop to think about it. Insect wings, shells, glass, children, hearts, dreams, the list is endless. On the surface, vulnerability seems to unite these things but the deeper thing that all of these fragile things have in common is a hidden strength. An egg shell is easily broken, but the shape of an egg is such that it can support a massive amount of weight for it’s size and thickness, protecting it’s delicate contents. An insect may be crushed without a thought but can easily survive a fall that would kill a human being, not to mention the strength of their numbers. Children are amazingly resilient and can survive the most horrible of circumstances. It is the balance between weak and strong and the often contradictory duality of things that interests me. ”

  

  The Carnival of Lost Souls assemblages by Jen Renzel

  Little sideshow oddities, dark dreams, and mystical beings. Broken dolls, old toys, antique hardware, collaged images, and imagination are the ingredients for these shadow boxes. “The broken down treasure at the bottom of a moldy box can be the cornerstone of a new creation. In fact, that’s often how the idea for a piece starts — with one broken doll, toy, or image that sparks the imagination> The rest is a continual trial and error process of finding which pieces fit together, then figuring out how to connect them, which can be challenging when working with oftentimes crumbling, frail and damaged materials and parts. Something tells me when a piece is finished. Some pieces come together quickly, and some take forever and are a struggle. In either case, I can lose hours and hours in the workshop, and the results sometimes surprise even me.”

JOIN US for South FIRST FRIDAYS — October 2nd!
8pm ’til LATE — ART WALK venues are free and open to the public
SoFA District (So. First Street between San Carlos and E. Reed streets)

• Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map

  

  On view in galleryONE: Walking in the White by PJOTA (São Paulo, Brazil)
  
  For his exhibition at Anno Domini, Pjota has created large canvases that are, according to him, “predominantly white” symbolizing his lone journey to California. One might conclude that the nearly miniature entities in his paintings are a result of his feeling “small” when thinking about traveling alone to unfamiliar territory. However, the gritty daily experiences of São Paulo, one of the most populated cities in the world, find their way onto the canvases bringing with them a density of texture, color, grids and hand-lettered scrawl…the canvases can hardly be considered “predominantly white” anymore. As with any environment, be it within a city or a painting, it is rich with discovery should you take the time to explore its depths.

  On view in galleryTWO: Exsitu Insitu by Sam3 (Granada, Spain)
  
  Sam3 created a new animation and new canvas works entirely on site at Anno Domini in late August and early September. The 5 minute animation consists of 2136 hand painted frames which were created on the main exhibition walls. The sound and musical score is by Endika of San Jose’s nu class jazz group Panthelion. 12 oversized canvases in Sam’s signature style of “shadows” are also on view.

  Music by Deathat.

• Art Glass Center of San Jose – 465 South First St. (map)

  

  The Art Glass Center will showcase Lionel Chapital and Shirley Cook in live glass blowing demonstrations. They’ll be creating glass pumpkins and fall botanicals until 10pm. Work from over 30 local glass artists will also be on display.

• Caffé Trieste – 315 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Fragments… by Beth Redmond
  Things seen and experienced become the fragments that create the kaleidoscope of life. “For me, photography is less a representation of fact than a flight on imagination.” says Redmond. “The big picture is made of many fragments any one of which may capture the attention to become the picture. What we see is determined by how we look and also by how we think. What a photograph shows is determined by the imagination of the photographer.”

  Live Music: Opera San José performing your favorite arias and duets.

• Downtown Yoga Shala – 450 South First St. map

  

  Join us after Candlelight Yoga (6:45-8:15pm) as we open our doors to welcome SoFF art patrons and the downtown community. Our featured artist is one of Downtown Yoga Shala’s yoga instructors, Emily Lounsbury.

  Emily is a painter who’s driven by a love of the human figure and an obsession with anatomy. She considers the human form to be a work of art; and therefore seeks ways to do it justice. After graduating with her BFA in Fine Art Painting and Drawing she has participated in several solo and group shows in San Francisco and San Jose in addition to being hired to do portrait commissions.

• MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 South First St. map

  

  Currently on view La Reconquesta, new work by Einar and Jamex de la Torre commissioned in celebration of MACLA’s 20th Anniversary! From the Aztecs and the Spaniards to the prevalence of dollar stores and Mexican food, this exhibition features two unique installations that simultaneously explore historical and contemporary ideas of conquest. Join Einar and Jamex for a gallery walk-thru and an engaging conversation about their work on Thursday, October, 15 at 7:pm. Exhibition open through October 24.

• METRO Photo Exhibit – 550 South First St. map

  

  The Metro Photo Exhibit is a photography gallery based on a monthly theme showcasing local Bay Area photographers of all levels. Visit the artists and their work, also participate in voting on the piece that best represents the given theme of the month.

  This month’s theme: No finer place for sure – portraits of Downtown by Carlos Da Silva, Abe Menor, Trish Leeper, Tanya Angeli, Anabella Pinon, Nancy H. Ahn, Chris Patton, Felipe Buritrago, Yumiko Miyagawa, Vu Nguyen, Jennifer Ahn, Jason Duffany, Michelle Budziak, Jen Anderson, Amber Chavez, Jai Tanju and Mario Guel.

  Music by RS2 Solid Sound

• Phantom Galleries – temporary exhibits in vacant storefronts

  

  386 South First St.: Everybody’s Happy Nowadays by Kyle Pellet
  If you’ve ever:
  1.) stood up somebody for a date,
  2.) eaten a hamburger at 2 in the morning and lived to regret it,
  3.) smelled something wholeheartedly unpleasant, and took a second and maybe third sniff
  4.) cried about something dumb,
  5.) given yourself a bad haircut,
  6.) gone to a birthday party of someone you hated,
  7.) wished bad things on somebody, had them happen, and then wished bad things on other people,
  then this installation is for you. Enjoy! “

  

  388 So. First Street: Nature Of The Beast by Tyson Johnston

  Strange things go bump in the night…. Oftentimes, dreams are reflections of phobias and dismay that we encounter in our daily lives. Usually, the underlying messages can be extremely cryptic. My aim is to decipher these nightmares into a meaningful message. I use animals and creatures to mirror human emotion, and as symbols. In the end, I hope to use these images and techniques to transfer the negative emotions from my nightmares into a positive release.

• San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art – 560 South First St. map

  

  The 29th Annual Fall Art Exhibition and Live Auction featuring works by more than 150 Bay Area contemporary artists in the Main and Focus Galleries. An Exhibition Opening Reception will be held on First Friday, October 2nd at 6pm. The Auction will be held on Saturday, October 24th. Doors open at 6pm and the auction begins promptly at 7pm. Tickets are $40 each if purchase by October 24; $50 each at the door. This year’s auction features complimentary wines and gourmet cocktail fare from the area’s finest restaurants and wineries. Call 408.283.8155 or email lis@sjica.org to purchase tickets. View the online auction gallery at www.sjica.org. All auction proceeds support the ICA’s exhibitions and programs.

• San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map

  

  On view: Fabric Tattoos: The Spirit of the Mola will transport you to the Kuna peoples’ world of winding snakes, birds, plants and myths. These designs were originally realized as tattoos and body painting. Now evolved into a sophisticated textile technique called ‘molas,’ these bold geometric shapes and vivid colors are surprising and stunning.

  On view in the main galleries: The World According to Joyce Gross: Quilts from the Dolph Briscoe Center, important historical quilts collected by one of the first quilt scholars.

  Special event this month: Sneak preview of just some of the art to be available in the High Fiber Under Five benefit sale of fine fiber art to be held November 3-8.

• SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery – 577 South Market St. map

  

  The SLG Boutiki & Gallery holds a spooky/swinging release party to celebrate the publication of Winchester #1, the comic book series about San Jose’s own mysterious architect Sarah Winchester. The gallery will feature a display of artwork from the series by Drew Rausch as well as work from the Haunted Mansion series also published by SLG.

  Live music provided by A Bacchus Joint

• South First Billiards & Lounge – 420 South First St. map

  

  Group exhibit: Michael Denning recycles media into statements about life, love, politics, and spirituality through collage. Al Preciado utilizes paint, mixed media and sculpture to create emotive and expressive figurative art based on religion, sports and mythology. Mike Kjolhaug’s (3.5) work spans different mediums but black bic ink pens are his favorite.

  21+ venue

• Space 47 – 47 East William Street map

• Works San Jose – 451 South First St. map

  In the Main Gallery: the Works/San Jose 2009 Member Exhibition All For One!…, –No judge, No jury–just our wide and varied community of artists from the South Bay! In the Paulette Peterson Space experience Failure, a mixed media installation by artist Lisa Noble.

On South Fourth Street…

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  [7-9pm] Artists’ Reception for featured exhibits by Julie Bilyeu and Drew Clark

  

  Anxiety new drawings by Julie Bilyeu
  Julie’s love for art has helped her cope with a severe anxiety disorder. Drawing has become a necessity for her and she is currently inspired by these anxieties and panic attacks which manifests as dark and dramatic charcoal drawings of her experiences.

  

  From the Rubble new paintings by Drew Clark
  Drawings on cave walls and old temples have always depicted the end of the world and the collapse of civilization. The Modern Age is no different; visions of recession, biblical apocalypse, climate change and environmental destruction by industry. These new paintings explore the symbolism of the End Times.

JOIN US for South FIRST FRIDAYS — September 4th!
8pm ’til LATE — ART WALK venues are free and open to the public
SoFA District (So. First Street between San Carlos and E. Reed streets)

• Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Exsitu Insitu debut solo exhibition by Sam3 (Granada, Spain)

  Sam3 is known for creating massive scale silhouettes in urban spaces. He refers to his dramatic black and white works as “shadows.”

  The absence of defining details in his paintings allows for him to not only work quickly, but also makes the message more accessible. His seemingly simple style is dense with profundity; the work is a reflection of the human condition as viewed through the experience of his global travels.

  Sam started drawing and painting at an early age. His first drawing classes were from a monk at the monastery near his home. When he was 13 he was fascinated with the graffiti culture in his small town and stole spraypaint from local shopkeepers (he was caught by police the first time he went out to write his moniker “BREAK.”) The following years were spent trading photos and zines with other graffiti artists through the mail.

  After graduating with a fine arts degree from a Granada university, he worked as waiter, a roadie, an illustrator in Barcelona, and then in animation in Madrid for a year before he “slammed the door on alienation” and abandoned the path of a corporate future. In 2006, Sam made a vow to dedicate his life to his art and has since created murals in 24 cities in 13 countries from Palestine to Brazil leaving metaphorical images that are to be deciphered and “owned” by the community.

  Exsitu Insitu is Sam3’s debut solo exhibition inside a gallery. The artwork for this exhibition (on canvas and paper) will be made entirely on site at Anno Domini in the days and nights prior to his September 4th opening.

  Currently On View in galleryONE: Anno Domini presents Walking in the White solo exhibition by PJOTA (São Paulo, Brazil)

  Music by John.

• Art Glass Center of San Jose – 465 South First St. (map)

  

  The Art Glass Center will be demonstrating the fascinating properties of molten glass. Using the Vitreous Kiln, watch us pull thin strings of glass right before your eyes! They might even make a few glass Slinkies! Fused, blown and cast glasswork from 20 other local glass artists will also be on display.

• Caffé Trieste – 315 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: women by Susan Babbel. Susan Babbel’s figurative work of women is open and expressive, often capturing life’s thoughts and emotional angst while using bold colors. Susan has won awards throughout the Bay Area and her paintings are also on exhibit at the Los Gatos Museums Gallery, Los Gatos, CA..

  Live Music: Opera San José performing your favorite arias and duets.

• Downtown Yoga Shala – 450 South First St. map

  

  Yoga Art by Angeles Moreno

  Simplicity, harmony, color, and strong outlines define Moreno’s art, influenced by her life’s work as a graphic designer. “To capture and (re)express the many positive, universal, and useful lessons, my canvases began to fill with the Spirit of Yoga.”

• MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 South First St. map

  

  La Reconquista New work by Einar & Jamex de la Torre

  From the Aztecs and Spaniards to the prevalence of dollar stores and Mexican food, this new mixed media installation simultaneously explores historical and contemporary ideas of conquest.

  6pm to late – MACLA’s 20th Anniversary Block Party

  Join us for a lively evening of hands-on arts activities, birthday cake, exhibition opening, performances, and live music featuring a special performance by Quetzal. Including: Aztec dance by Movimiento Cosmico, performances by Mextape, Melissa Lozano, Yosimar Reyes and many more. Hosted by Adriana Garcia. The event will take place outside of MACLA on S. First Street between William and Reed Streets

• Phantom Galleries – temporary exhibits in vacant storefronts

  

  386 South First St.: Alta Modern Graffiti by ARMOgedon 2057
  Armogedon blurs the line of typography and graffiti striving to find relationships between the two forms of communication.

  

  386 South First St.: Eddie Flores – an art exhibit in the medium of photography, illustration, and graphic design.

  

  388 So. First Street: An Initial Approach to Knowing Everything by Blaise Rosenthal
  Painter Blaise Rosenthal has fused post-pop iconographic sensibilities with an expressive and painterly style to create a dynamic and fresh body of work. And a body of work it truly is as the paintings work together to create a greater context, within which each individual painting communicates its message and achieves its goal.

• San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art – 560 South First St. map

  

  NextNew:Green surveys fresh perspectives from nine emerging artists on climate change and related environmental and conservation issues. Artists include Michelle Blade, Colette Campbell-Jones, Misako Inaoka, Vanessa Marsh, Carson Murdach, Sandra Ono, Ryan Pierce, Rebecca Rothfus, and Michael Ryan. Christel Dillbohner: Ice Floe is a solo exhibition featuring a large-scale installation, and multi-media prints and paintings referencing the melting glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Both exhibitions run through September 20th. Night Moves, after-dark video programming in the ICA’s front windows presents Gail Wight’s National Agenda – part eco-political activism and part Theater of the Absurd – through September 30th.

• San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map

  

  On view: Fabric Tattoos: The Spirit of the Mola will transport you to the Kuna peoples’ world of winding snakes, birds, plants and myths. These designs were originally realized as tattoos and body painting. Now evolved into a sophisticated textile technique called ‘molas,’ these bold geometric shapes and vivid colors are surprising and stunning.

  On view in the main galleries: The World According to Joyce Gross: Quilts from the Dolph Briscoe Center, important historical quilts collected by one of the first quilt scholars.

  Special event this month: Authentic Mola shoes made by the Kuna Indians will be available for sale from Mama Shaman, a family owned, fair trade, and earth-friendly business.

• SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery – 577 South Market St. map

  

  The Art of the Zombie Apocalypse. – When zombies rule the world, first they will feed, then they will wander around aimlessly and then, at some point, they will create art. The SLG Boutiki highlights it’s Zombie Art Show with images by Bee Adams and her Zombie Case Studies series. Also featured is art by Jon “Bean” Hastings, Pannel Vaughn, Garry Black and many others.

  Live music (no pun intended) will be supplied by jazz trio Quasimodal.

• South First Billiards & Lounge – 420 South First St. map

  

  SV Rollergirls, HOC, and SFB present a night of rock n roll, live painting, and sharp elbows.
  Exhibiting artists: Jaclyn Alderete, Rod Santos, Minal Jeswani, Carolann Espino, Kate Stewart

  21+ venue

• Space 47 – 47 East William Street map

  

  Opening reception: A Private Rebellion: Photographs by Naciem Nikkhah

  A Private Rebellion features a series of photographs completed in Iran that capture quotidian aspects of life in Tehran, Yazd and Sari. The photographs serve as a journal–recapturing the place and people of Nikkhah’s childhood through scrambled notes on school desks to the sacred and profane to the stereotypes of Iranian culture.

• Works San Jose – 451 South First St. map

  

  On view: Polar Identity – six artists explore the North and South Pole. Global climate change has far reaching ramifications, and as a result the world as we know it will not be the world of 100 or perhaps even 10 years ago. Armed with awareness of how our actions impact the environment, how will this affect our ideas about who we are? In the Paulette Peterson Gallery see an installation by bay area artist Marco Tulio.

On South Fourth Street…

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  

  [7-9pm] Featured Exhibit Artists’ Reception: 89.7 FM KFJC 50th Anniversary Art Show: BLOWING MINDS SINCE 1959

  A retrospective of the Art & Culture of KFJC including works from KFJC’s 50th Anniversary Art & Logo Contest and a Silent Auction of DJ art. Since its inception KFJC has challenged the Bay Area’s radio waves. 2009 marks fifty years of operation for KFJC, and naturally we wanted to show our support to our listenership. Our volunteer staff pushed beyond its’ alternative and eclectic programming by hosting a 50th Anniversary Art & Logo Contest this summer.

  Every year we hand select different artists to create our Artist T Shirt and Girlie Shirt designs that become our gifts during our fundraiser season. The contest provided an opportunity to connect our listeners with another side of KFJC that they have become familiar with through their support. The contest was open to the public and included three submission categories: mixed media, artist t-shirt, & logo.

  We are excited to present the 2009 winners: Andrew Goldfarb, Rosalind Schell and Gordon De Los Santos. These winning art works will be exhibited along side past artist contributions. Previous KFJC themed works from Niagara, Sunny Buick, Arik Roper, Emek, Strk3, Mike King, Webster Colcord, Plastic Crimewave, Mike Zorn, Mike Davis, Frances Marin, Chris Reccardi, Robert Williams, and GAMA-GO! will be featured. KFJC DJs will be participating in a Silent Auction of unique works during the opening night to benefit KFJC.

• Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Anno Domini presents Walking in the White solo exhibition by PJOTA

  Currently residing in São Paulo, Pjota grew up in São José do rio Preto with an early interest in arts and graffiti. ”When I was 13 years old, I would paint the walls with my friends.” Pjota reflects upon that time often as he works, now aware that he was “studying the pictorial features of the streets without realizing it.”

  For his exhibition at Anno Domini, Pjota has created large canvases that are, according to him, “predominantly white” symbolizing his lone journey to California. One might conclude that the nearly miniature entities in his paintings are a result of his feeling “small” when thinking about traveling alone to unfamiliar territory. However, the gritty daily experiences of São Paulo, one of the most populated cities in the world, find their way onto the canvases bringing with them a density of texture, color, grids and hand-lettered scrawl…the canvases can hardly be considered “predominantly white” anymore. As with any environment, be it within a city or a painting, it is rich with discovery should you take the time to explore its depths.

  Pjota has had significant exhibitions since he was 18 years old including solo exhibits at Galeria Choque Cultural, Museum of Contemporary Art of Paraná and the Volcom Art Space, all in Brazil. Most recently Pjota’s work was included in the Paperview exhibition at the John Jones Project Space in London which brought together works on paper from three renowned London based art collections: The Zabludowicz Collection, The Lodeveans Collection and The John Jones Contemporary Collection. Walking in the White is Pjota’s debut solo exhibition in the United States.

  Music by: Shudder
  Shudder employs improvisation, composition, and deep listening in the service of an assertive minimalism, mining the intersection of digital and carbon-based sound. The horns emphasize fractured drones and complex textures highly informed by electronic music, while the computer’s dual role as sound generator and real-time processor creates an interactive, unstable hall of mirrors.

• Art Glass Center of San Jose – 465 South First St. (map)

  

  We’d like to welcome The Art Glass Center of San Jose to the SoFA District! This new venue is a project of the San Jose Glass Artist Alliance (SJGAA), a non-profit educational organization. Open seven days a week, the new center features classes, demonstrations and a gift shop/gallery.

  For First Friday, The Art Glass Center will feature a live glass blowing demonstration by Lionel Chapital. Lionel will create one of his esquisite Sevillana Dancers on the torch. Fused, blown and cast glasswork from 20 other local glass artists will also be on display.

• Caffé Trieste – 315 South First St. map

  

  Opening Reception: Fables, Stories, and Far Off Places An exhibition of paintings, prints, and drawings by Woody Miller. Inspired by stories, fables and far away places, both in reality and all together elusive, this collection of work features sunlit village wanderers, ships lost at sea, pathways yet to be explored and of course, a monkey with a fez.

  Live Music: Opera San José presents Rebecca Schuessler, soprano, Betany Coffland, mezzo-soprano, Isaiah Musik-Ayala, bass-baritone and Silas Elash, bass

• MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 South First St. map

  

  Chicana/o Biennial Artist’ talk at MACLA. Friday, August 7, @ 7 pm , MACLA will host selected artists for a gallery walk through and an engaging conversation about their work currently on view through Saturday, August 8th. The 2009 Chicana/o Biennial is a juried exhibition conceived to take inventory of, and invite reflection on contemporary Chicano art. (above image: Ester Hernandez, Sun Raid, screen print, 25/50)

• METRO Photo Exhibit – 550 South First St. map

  

  The Metro Photo Exhibit is a photography gallery based on a monthly theme showcasing local Bay Area photographers of all levels. Visit the artists and their work, also participate in voting on the piece that best represents the given theme of the month.

• Phantom Galleries – temporary exhibits in vacant storefronts

  

  386 South First St.: Alta Modern Graffiti by ARMOgedon 2057
  Armogedon blurs the line of typography and graffiti striving to find relationships between the two forms of communication.

  

  386 South First St.: Eddie Flores – an art exhibit in the medium of photography, illustration, and graphic design.

  

  388 So. First Street: An Initial Approach to Knowing Everything by Blaise Rosenthal
  Painter Blaise Rosenthal has fused post-pop iconographic sensibilities with an expressive and painterly style to create a dynamic and fresh body of work. And a body of work it truly is as the paintings work together to create a greater context, within which each individual painting communicates its message and achieves its goal.

• San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art – 560 South First St. map

  

  NextNew:Green surveys fresh perspectives from nine emerging artists on climate change and related environmental and conservation issues. Artists include Michelle Blade, Colette Campbell-Jones, Misako Inaoka, Vanessa Marsh, Carson Murdach, Sandra Ono, Ryan Pierce, Rebecca Rothfus, and Michael Ryan. Christel Dillbohner:Ice Floe is a solo exhibition featuring a large-scale installation, and multi-media prints and paintings referencing the melting glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Both exhibitions run through September 20th. Night Moves, after-dark video programming in the ICA’s front windows presents Gail Wight’s National Agenda – part eco-political activism and part Theater of the Absurd – through September 30th.

• San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map

  

  On view: Fabric Tattoos: The Spirit of the Mola will transport you to the Kuna Indians’ world of winding snakes, birds, plants and myths. These designs were originally realized as tattoos and body painting. Now evolved into a sophisticated textile technique called ‘molas,’ these bold geometric shapes and vivid colors are surprising and stunning. In the main galleries: The World According to Joyce Gross is an exhibition of important historical quilts collected by one of the first quilt scholars.

  From 8-11pm renowned face and body-painting artist Christopher Agostino will transform faces in minutes with his imaginative designs and knowledge of world cultures and their body painting traditions, and henna artists will create mola-inspired henna tattoo designs just for you. All face and body painting is for a $5 donation to the Museum. Agostino will also be signing his book, Transformations! the story behind the painted faces.

• SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery – 577 South Market St. map

  

  Opening reception: Make a Jazz Noise Here – Jazz and Comic Books are tow distinctly American artforms and in the month of August the SLG Art Boutiki pays tribute to both as comic book artists celebrate the opening of the San Jose Jazz Festival.

  Live music by experimental Jazz group SLAB YARD.

• SoFA Mural Unveiling & Celebration – South First at San Salvador St.

  

  You are invited to come and celebrate the completion of “A Place In Mind”, a large-scale mural in downtown San Jose’s SoFA District by artist José Arenas.

  For José, this mural evolved conceptually from the idea of looking back – “growing up in downtown San Jose, I recall many childhood memories that were deeply connected to the places and people around me. In my mind they reflect innocence, hope, and of trying to reconcile a longing for ones past while navigating the present reality.”

  José started working on the mural six weeks ago and it was recently completed with the help of two gifted artists, Michael Torchia and Oscar Lopez, and a host of enthusiastic volunteers. José will lead a tour of the mural and light refreshments will be served at the mural site.

• South First Billiards & Lounge – 420 South First St. map

  

  SFB and HOC present: JAZZ OF COLOUR A homegrown jam and live art session, celebrating local Jazz & RB talent like never before!
  Musical Guests: Doug Ellington (trumpet), Ron Scott (keyboards), Jonah (vocals), , Matt Gonzales (keyboard and upright bass), Ryan Arellano (drums) and more guest appearances through the night!
  Guest Artists: Miguel Machuca, Jaclyn Alderete, Rod Santos, Diana Medrano, Minal Jeswani, Carolyn Espino

  21+ venue

• Space 47 – 47 East William Street map

  

  Opening reception: San Jose Yacht Club: An Installation by Christopher Reynolds. This exhibition is in conjunction with Space 47’s Mentoring Artist Program (M.A.P.). The San Jose Yacht Club (SJYC) is inspired by acts of camaraderie, tradition, and the ritualistic actions involved in obtaining a right of entry and membership to traditionally exclusive societies. The SJYC introduces a social environment not unlike an exclusive brotherhood by employing acts of initiation, role playing, and mergers, which result in hybrid sculptures, photographs, and paintings of time-honored traditions that investigate rank, identity, and fantasy, while questioning the social impact and relevance of exclusive societies. Welcome to the San Jose Yacht Club.

• Works San Jose – 451 South First St. map

  

  Join us for the opening reception of ‘Polar Identity’ in which six artists explore the North and South Pole. Global climate change has far reaching ramifications, and as a result the world as we know it will not be the world of 100 or perhaps even 10 years. Armed with awareness of how our actions impact the environment, how will this affect our ideas about who we are? Friday August 7th meet artist Phil Boissonnet with his work “CP/TOMS” and “Total Ozone”. In the Paulette Peterson Gallery see an installation by artist Margo S. Jones.

On South Fourth Street…

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  

  [7-9pm] Featured Artists’ Reception for TANGLE: wandering off trail by Janett Peace and Matthew Bailey Seigel.

  Matthew Bailey Seigel’s new paintings are a reinvention of the Japanese scroll in modern materials. And like their Muromachi era (1336-1537) counterparts, his themes are of local plants, flowers and animals. But unlike traditional kakejiku (hung scrolls), Matthew’s are less formal, and more of a tangled log of his wanderings off trail.

  Inspired by Matthew’s view of nature, Janett Peace has created a series of glass pieces in response. She evokes Matthew’s style in 3D while adding a luminous quality only possible with glass. While her interpretations are meant as a tribute to Matthew’s eye for color and composition, she further explores drawing in glass using techniques that give her work a painterly quality.