October 2020—In-person and Online Art Exhibits & Happenings

The South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk is currently on hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions. In the meantime we would like to share some in-person and online exhibitions and cultural happenings that you can attend and or view. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you downtown. Stay healthy, happy and strong and keep an eye out here as our culture finds new and creative ways to help keep us all inspired.


OCTOBER EXHIBITION SCHEDULE (In-person)…





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

Artwork by David Choe, and Jessie Rose Vala

MMXX Anniversary Group Exhibit opens Friday September 11, 2020
from 5–9pm

Anno Domini Gallery is celebrating 20 years of moving independent arts and culture forward with two group exhibitions of artists we’ve had the honor to work with. Past exhibiting artists from 2000 – 2010 will be featured in the gallery September 11th–October 17th. Past exhibiting artists from 2011–2020 will be featured in the gallery November 6th–December 12th.

Gallery hours: Fridays 5–9pm, Saturdays Noon–5pm and by appointment. To request an appointment, please email: revolution@galleryAD.com


Art Ark Gallery – 1035 South Sixth St. map

Bahala na group exhibit opens first Friday September 4th, 6–9pm

Bahala na presents a multi-media art exhibition of creative action due to uncertain circumstances. The Filipinx mantra “bahala na” is associated with both a resignation that events will work themselves out as expected or proclaimed, as well as the certainty of a fully indeterminate outcome. This productive fatalism or yielding is based in an attitude of adaptation and use, common among the works in this show, which equally open onto wider, physical relationships with the built environment of the street itself. Time possesses an uncertain relationship in this space, as events can occur that seem both apart from time and completely of the present: with COVID-19 and the ongoing movement for racial justice as a backdrop, this exhibition touches multifaceted approaches to social observation, awareness and creation. 

Artists: Michael Arcega Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Karen Finley, Amy Hibbs, Luis G. Hernandez, Lordy Rodriguez, Charlene Tan, Andrew Woodward
Video Works: Em Jiang, Handsome Asian Motorcycle Club

Off-site installation at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
Mik Gaspay

Exhibition dates: September 4 – October 18, 2020
Gallery Hours: Thursdays September 7th, 14th and October 5th, 4-7pm 
Saturdays September 2nd, 9th and October 14th, 11am-3pm, or by appointment


KALEID gallery – 320 South First St. map

My 3 x 3 World; the Post-It Note Art of Ed Attanasio

KALEID Gallery is proud to present:

My 3 x 3 World; the Post-It Note Art of Ed Attanasio

Ed Attanasio, 62, started sketching as a form of rehab after he had a mini-stroke on August 4, 2009. Little did he know that eventually, his illustrations would lead to a career as an artist, astounding critics, gallery owners, his friends, and even himself.

Ed drew these characters only as part of his post-stroke therapy and today sells originals and prints for prices he could never envision. In 2013, Ed’s “Bushers” image became a graphic novel and shortly thereafter his art career really began to flourish. Known as “outsider art” or “folk art,” Attanasio’s Post-It creations have sold online and through galleries in the U.S., UK, Canada, South America, Australia, Germany and Russia, just to name a few.

KALEID Gallery is proud to present:

Wild Wire by Jonathan Kermit

Discarded twisted, rusty wire forms the basis of my current work. Working intuitively with a vague sense of plan, I coax and join bits of wire into anthropomorphic shapes, whimsical forms and dream like objects. I incorporate details on paper from other areas of interest which include drawing, collage, cyanotype and found images. I became a collector of urban flotsam at a very young age, picking up rusty bits and oddments that I would stash in small boxes. About a dozen years ago I started collecting rusty wire which turned into an obsession and eventually found its way into my artwork. As an ardent recycler, it gives me a certain sense of satisfaction being able to turn a small bit of landfill trash into something else.

Feature Exhibitions open first Friday, October 2nd from 5–9pm with
artists in attendance.
Exhibition dates: October 2–30, 2020 

We will have strict safety protocols including social distancing and masks required at all times in the gallery.

KALEID is open for viewing these feature exhibits (and 60 other resident artists on view) Fridays 5–9pm, Saturdays Noon–5pm and by appointment. Free admission.

To request an appointment, please email: info@kaleidgallery.com


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

Bendita by Jose Arenas, acrylic on paper mounted on wood panel, 12”x16” , 2014

22nd Annual Latinx Art Now! Auction and Exhibition

Exhibition Dates: September 28th – October 15th, 2020 
Live Auction: October 15th, 2020, 6:00 PM PT, Streaming live at Youtube.com/SJArte

MACLA’s 22nd Annual Latinx Art Now! live auction and exhibition will be held as a virtual experience on October 15th, 2020 at 6:00 pm. 

The event, originally scheduled in Spring 2020, was postponed due to COVID-19. Early bidding is available online and more information can be found at maclaarte.org. If you’d like to check out some of the amazing work available in person, the MACLA gallery will be open Friday- Sundays following all public health guidelines during limited socially distanced gallery hours. All guests must 
wear a mask, temperature checks and hand sanitizer application required upon entrance, and contact information will be recorded in case contact tracing is necessary. 

There will be art featured by incredible Latinx artists, and this year, due to the negative economic impact from COVID-19 on our communities, artists can keep 50% of the amount their piece sells for—so keep that in mind while bidding!  bidpal.net/LAN2020 

Gallery Hours at limited capacity: Fridays 5-8PM, Saturdays and Sundays 12-5pm. To schedule a private gallery showing please contact: maryela@maclaarte.org Free Admission. MACLA is following all public health guidelines. All guests must wear a mask, temperature checks and hand sanitizer application required upon entrance, and contact information will be recorded in case contact tracing is necessary. 


The OUTSIDER – located in the parking lot adjacent to 366 South First St. map

Artist Nathaniel Verbeck at The OUTSIDER

Join us for The OUTSIDER every Friday evening 5–9pm through October 16th.

Talented SJ artists have been utilizing a wide open parking lot to share their work and give our community a place to engage in a safe and creative way. Every artist is unique in their voice and expressive medium providing much-needed inspiration in these difficult times. 

Participating Artists:
• Agada Energy Healing crystal sound bowl healing at sunset
• Fernando Amaro, Jr. paintings
• Julie Barrett drawings
• Delilah Bender illustrations
• EOM Sessions featuring Jswizza, No Way Jose, and Notorious P.I.G.
• Cynthia Gonzalez paintings & clothing
• KathyKay custom shirts & kimonos
• Nao Kondo interactive digital art/tech
• Valentino Loyola mixed media & clothing
• LucidBeaming roaming art projection
• Gianfranco Paolozzi paintings
• Jean-Luc Pedanou paintings
• Al Preciado paintings & sculpture
• Shayla Putnam sculpture
• Francisco Ramirez paintings
• Marilyn Roaf knitted critters & jewelry
• Nathaniel Verbeck drawings
• Farm Fresh to You home delivery of fruits & veggies

KALEID Gallery and Anno Domini Gallery are also open Friday evenings from 5–9pm with amazing art exhibitions

Grab dinner from our neighborhood restaurants and dine al fresco beneath the murals of Anno Domini:
Culinary Corner Bistro 321 S 1st St,
LVL UP SJ 409 S. 2nd St.
Original Joe’s 301 S. 1st St.
Pizza Flora 78 S. 1st St.
SoFA Market 387 S. 1st St.
Uproar Brewing 439 S. 1st St.

Free admission (spend it with the artists). Family friendly. Social distancing and masks required.

A special “Thank You!” to Urban Community for the donation of the space!

Location is the parking lot next to
Anno Domini Gallery
366 S. 1st St.
SoFA District downtown San Jose


SoFA Market – 387 So. First St. map

Self Acceptance”  by Jada Wong

Jada Wong, a 17 year old artist from San Jose is an aspiring illustrator and uses her art to progress social change. Jada started art three years ago as a way to express her emotions during a hard time and hopes her art can have the same effect for others. She believes that art is the best healer and the tool to voice opinions.

“Self Acceptance” is a series that explores the stages one goes through as they morph into their desired identity. The series starts with hiding and feeling alone and broken then to a state of being stagnant and finally allowing yourself to be whole, give to others, and grow healthily. The red faces and color itself represents one’s true identity as it goes on this journey of being harnessed. The mini series “I Am Not a Virus”, which addresses the racism towards Asian Americans during the time of the Coronavirus,  has also been included to touch on the role of race in a person’s identity. 


OCTOBER EXHIBITION SCHEDULE (Online)…





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

Alice Beasley, She Refused to Walk Behind, 2019

Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage

This is a touring exhibition of studio art quilts to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Twenty-eight award-winning artists from across the United States accepted the invitation to create new works celebrating women’s suffrage.

Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Small World After All, 2020

I Was India: Embroidering Exoticism by Kira Dominguez Hultgren

Bay Area-based artist Kira Dominguez Hultgren explores what it takes to make an Indian. Her work incorporates cultural and familial materials, as she opens up her grandmother’s cedar chest to reveal two Punjabi phulkaris embroidered by her auntie Dalip Kaur around 1925. Phulkaris, or saloos as her family calls them, are commonly seen as head-coverings and shawls that typify the material cultural practices of pre-partition Punjab. In this exhibition, they become the process or treasure map by which themes of colonial and contemporary exoticism, handwork, and the spectacle are surveyed. Through woven sculpture and installation, Dominguez Hultgren invites visitors to step with her into phulkari practice as a transgressive process that challenges both personal identity and global histories.

More information and links to programming can be found at www.sjquiltmuseum.org


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The South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk is produced by Two Fish Design in partnership with the participating art organizations and independent businesses.