First Fridays ArtWalk SJ + Street Mrkt indie urban art faire
OCTOBER 2nd 5pm–10pm
SoFA District (& beyond!) downtown San Jose
Bring your family and friends out for a creative night of art and connect with our amazing creative community!
Galleries and museums are open late & free entry with great art exhibitions on view & special programming to experience.
LAST CHANCE to visit Street Mrkt an indie urban art faire where you can find something you love while supporting hyper-local artists & creatives out on So. 1st St. (in front of Anno Domini & KALEID Gallery).
All free entry(spend it with the Artists!).
Free street parking after 6pm. Free 90 minute parking in City garages (So. 3rd & San Carlos streets)
More info: www.southfirstfridays.com
SoFA District
ANNO DOMINI // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 S. First St. map
Blissful Rituals for a Mad World
Brandan Styles (Denver, CO.) Solo Exhibition
“Blissful Rituals for a Mad World” is a collection of mixed media works by Brandan Styles. The collection explores theatrical themes within the artists’ lexicon of weirdo spiritual characters and the mad world they inhabit, as a reflection of our own.
The world is mad and always has been. In that madness, one must find their bliss. An artist finds bliss through the ritual of art making, and while ritual doesn’t change the world, it changes the one who performs it.
About the Artist:
Brandan Styles (aka Bzurk) is a storyteller, tapping into the Universal Mythology that underlies all of our culture and humanity.
His work is about creating visual poetry through the language of mythology, symbols and characters. It invites us to explore our existence further, to question everything, seek Truths and to not be afraid to go into the dark night. He combines a mixed media technique of hand cut wood, graphic and rendered style of painting, flat and three-dimensional elements: roughed, beaten, withered, aged, yet contemporary. The past speaks to us in the present.
Special Performance: Phantom Down: Spirit Possession by Jay Golden
A Live, Atmospheric, Electric Violin, Soundscape performance by Jay Golden.
Inspired by Brandan Styles’ exhibit “Blissful Rituals for a Mad World” at Anno Domini..
Three improvised 15-20 minute sets.
Performance Times: 6:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm
KALEID Gallery – 320 S. First St. map
Artist’s Reception: In dialogue
Sarah Loyola Solo Exhibition
Join us First Friday October 2nd from 5pm–9pm for the opening of “In dialogue” a solo exhibition of new works by resident artist Sarah Loyola.
Through her new body of work, Sarah Loyola engages in a conversation with the natural world. By creating with light, water, and heat – through cyanotype and encaustic – the work takes on the perspective of two key organisms in the surrounding ecosystem: oak and kelp. We enter the world of these critical organisms, drawn into close contemplation, and strengthen our emotional connection.
About the Artist
Sarah Loyola is a San Jose based mixed media artist. Her work, combining cyanotype, encaustic, paper making, collage, and painting testifies to her love of the natural world and the diversity of Bay Area landscapes. She focuses on abstracted natural forms and processes – celebrating texture, natural materials, and creative reuse.
MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 S. First St. map
Poetic Utterances: Work by Viviana Paredes
A renowned figure in contemporary art, San Francisco-based sculptor and multimedia artist Viviana Paredes creates transformative works that honor Indigenous and Latinx ancestral traditions. Supported by the Creative Work Fund, Poetic Utterances uses glass, light, sound, and organic materials to explore Indigenous practices, language, and our relationship to climate change.
Artist talk with Viviana Paredes at 6pm.
Phantom Galleries at The Pierce Apts. Lobby Gallery – 2 Pierce Ave. map
Reimagined
Force129 Solo Exhibition
Inspired by getting paint on my favorite pants.
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art– 560 S. First St. map
To Give and Take by Greg Ito
To Give and Take is a new solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based, Bay Area–trained artist Greg Ito that explores cycles of sacrifice, inheritance, and renewal through personal narrative and collective memory. Drawing inspiration from The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Ito traces how the story’s meaning shifts over time: from a childhood story of generosity into a meditation on the emotional and physical exchanges that shape generations. Driven by his own recent experience of becoming a father, Ito creates work dedicated to the future, exploring what we leave behind for the next generation.
The exhibition features new paintings, sculptures, and a video installation alongside previous works, rendered in Ito’s signature graphic style. Using flat exterior house paint with meticulous precision, he builds layered, surreal scenes that move between domestic interiors and shifting environmental landscapes where time feels compressed and overlapping. Within these environments, carefully constructed paintings function as symbolic windows, inviting us to consider our relationship to climate change, resilience, and what we carry.
Special Programming: Join Queer American Memorials (QAM) and the ICA San José on Friday, October 2 from 5-9pm to celebrate QAM’s California debut! Visit the ICA to experience the exhibition, hear from the QAM co-creators, and honor Alina Marie Barragan. This event is happening as part of the First Friday ArtWalk SJ festivities. Enjoy food, music, and words from the project coordinators.
San Jose Jazz – 310 South First St. map
SJZ Break Room Jazz Jam featuring The Michael Webster Group and SJZ U19s
San Jose Jazz presents free live music with First Fridays ArtWalk SJ. This month, following sets by the SJZ U19s and the Michael Webster Group, our all-ages jazz jam brings out some of the finest amateur players in the South Bay. Grab your instrument and sign up, or just drop in anytime to hear some great jazz.
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map
Soft Structures: The Female Body as Labor and Resistance
Participating Artists: Flo Oy Wong, Kayla Dantz, Sydney Kleinrock, Maddie Duda, Zoey Mubiru, Rose Sellery, Victoria May, Robin Lasser, Tana Quincy Arcega, Tiersa Nureyev, Liz Harvey, Tien Chiu and artists from our collection
Soft Structures: The Female Body as Labor and Resistance examines the female experience through textile art, emphasizing work about women’s bodies, labor, and resistance. This exhibition brings together contemporary and historical female artists working with quilts, wearables, sculptures, mixed media, photography, hand weaving, and textile painting.
Symphony San José at California Theater – 345 S. First St. map
Have you ever experienced the magic of the Symphony? Step inside the majestic California Theatre during First Fridays ArtWalk on October 2nd 7-10pm for a special preview of Symphony San Jose’s opening night program, The New World:
Experience an open dress rehearsal where guest conductor Ken-David Masur, solo pianist Joyce Yang, and Symphony San Jose musicians come together to prepare for our 25th Season opening weekend (October 3rd and 4th). Discover the beauty of live orchestral music, witness the creative process behind the concert, and enjoy a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into how a symphony performance comes to life.
Celebrate 250 years of the American spirit with music that reflects the nation’s past, present, and promise. The program features the Bay-area premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Rhapsody on America, Aaron Copland’s Billy The Kid Suite, and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”).
Historic District
Chopsticks Alley Gallery – 38 S. 2nd St. map
Flavors of the Diasporas: A Culinary Journey of Belonging
Participating artists: Hadi Aghaee, Ryan Boun, Eileen, Wong Cervera, Hang Huynh, Saraswathy Lakshmivaraham, Pragati Sharma Mohanty, VC Tang, and Justin Tran.
Food carries memory. A familiar scent can recall a childhood moment, a dish can bring back a person or place, and a recipe passed through generations can keep traditions alive. This exhibition brings together artists from Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Iran, and India who now call the Bay Area home. What begins with food expands into an exploration of cultural memory, migration, identity, and belonging. Together, the artists invite us on a multisensory journey through food, movement, image, sound, and story, revealing the many ways we carry culture with us and make a place our own.
7pm Program: Dance performance and artists talk.
Works/San Jose – 38 S. 2nd St. map
Overtime: the Work of Living
Overtime: The Work of Living, genARTS Silicon Valley’s 6th annual experimental exhibition, is juried by genARTS and presented with and at Works/San José. The exhibition includes 38 artists examining life outside the conventional workday, and asks: what do we do when no one is managing, watching, or judging? The artists explore creative practice, domestic and emotional labor, rest, refusal, dreams, play, grief, care, the rhythms of everyday life, and the body outside of productivity. The work celebrates the quiet moments that sustain us, challenges systems that consume our time, and illuminates the richness and contradiction of life beyond the workday.
Martha Gardens District
Art Ark Gallery – 1035 S. Sixth St. map
Make Art for Life: a collection of paintings
Aster Vale Studio
Make Art for Life is about all the mysterious, beautiful ways art finds us. Sometimes we find the work, sometimes we find the artist, and sometimes we become artists ourselves and discover the work was waiting for us all along. And sometimes, after searching for something entirely our own, we discover that we have been surrounded by art all along.
Fuse Presents at the Citadel – 199 Marth Street map
Big Bad Bold
Cynthia Gonzalez and Timna Naim
This show is about big ideas manifested in all shapes and sizes. Bad as in atypical, funky, counter to the norm. And of course bold as in loud and colorful.
Machu Picchu Gallery of the Americas at The Citadel – 199 Marth Street map
Handwoven Huipil from Tacuate community, Oaxaca, Mexico
The Huipil has been an important and typical garment among the Indigenous women that live in Mexico and Guatemala since pre-Hispanic times.
Huipilis are finely woven clothing and are expressions of their ancient culture. In some cases, the huipil has deeper meanings that relate to stories, myths and legends of the past.
The Huipilis reflect the history of the people. Centuries later , women have maintained the exquisite art of Zapotec and Mayan weavings that are done on backstrap looms. The featured Huipil is from the Tacuate community in the Sierra Sur region. It is adjacent to Costa Chica in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.
It is made of three panels (lienzos) that are joined vertically with white cotton threads or manta decorated with high relief geometric brocade and embroidery in burgundy , magenta and fuchsia color. The seams where the panels are joined are often finished with vibrant satin ribbons. Historically, the Tacuate people share linguistic ties with the Mixtec civilization, yet they maintain a distinct identity. Consequently, the huipil is a living map of their ancient heritage. It is worth preserving for our present and future generations.
Brief talk by founder Olga Enciso Smith & Brian M. Smith at 6:30pm and 8pm
Last STREET MRKT indie urban art faire of the season!
Out on So. 1st St. (in front of Anno Domini & KALEID Gallery)
SoFA District downtown San Jose
Free admission (spend it with the Artists!) and family friendly.
We are proud to support hyper-local indie artists in our community by providing them with an event that connects them with ArtWalk patrons, collectors, curators and new fans. Meet these artists when perusing original paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and unique light projections and take home something you’ll love to live with!
Participating Artists:
Artin Cards
Bad Art by Nice
Purl Bailey aka Marilyn Roaf
Blunt Letters
BX Edits
Combsy
Crochetforloves
Crossroads Trading
Curent Tattooing
Joe Demaree
Emotional Software
Mahsa Emoventur
Evergreen College Art Dept.
Force 129
Leysar Garcia
Katie Green
Michael Green
Ground Up Music Bus
Hand in Hand Henna
Higher Fire Ceramics
Indian American Artists Group
Luxtriplicata by Johan Fredrik Källman (Sweden)
La Raiz Magazine
Lazy Daisy Designs
Joe Mandrick
Yasushi Matsui
Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo
Nuanez Artglass Studio 408
Phin & ernxde
Betty Proper
Steven Reece
Starbunny & Rue
YMCA Camp Campbell
Food Trucks:
3 Brothers Kitchen
3 Hermanos Mexican Grill
Luv’s Brownies
Me Oi Vietnamese Kitchen
First Fridays ArtWalk SJ & STREET MRKT is produced by CURATUS in partnership with the participating galleries, museums and the indie arts community.
Join us on Facebook ArtWalkSJ | Instagram @ArtwalkSJ
South FIRST FRIDAYS
366 S 1st Street
San Jose, CA 95113
408-271-5155
info@southfirstfridays.com