JOIN US for the next South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk on November 6th from 7–11pm. RSVP

The South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk is a self-guided evening tour through galleries, museums, and independent creative businesses featuring eclectic art exhibitions and special performances. All art venues are FREE & open to the public.

NEW EXHIBITS…

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

  
  

  Artist’s reception: Eminence Front new work by Bill Koeb.

  For this new series of monographs, Koeb asked people to share their stories, their secrets…the things no one would assume about them from just looking at them. The knowledge of this process puts our minds in motion to question and imagine these anonymous subjects through rich and often haunting hints at what may lie beneath the surface in others. It may also reflect back on us our own secrets and cause us to wonder if they are as well hidden as we’d like to think they are.

  Bill Koeb is a painter, illustrator and comic book artist well known for his work in the comic series “Hellraiser” by Clive Barker, illustrations for Allen Moore’s song “Hair of the Snake That Bit Me” and for his paintings in the film “The Crow City of Angels” (attributed to character Sarah).

  
  

  Also on view: “Orbital–Cut Up and Rewired” Dale VN Marshall (UK) solo exhibition

  Dale VN Marshall returns to Anno Domini for his second solo exhibition which documents a reflective journey through the painted object.

  Marshall has cut up and reworked parts of a 30 foot self portrait on recycled cardboard. It was first exhibited on the streets of Bristol with the title: “We need to transfer you home” which withstood torrential wind and rain leaving it in a demoralized state. The reworked paintings in this exhibition focuses on a personal trauma from nature’s wish to be treated, revised and reborn; a parallel for Marshall of once being sectioned in a mental facility during his formative years as a young graffiti artist.

• Art Ark Gallery – 1035 South Sixth St. map

  

  Opening Art Reception: The More The Merrier VI 2015; Salon-style Holiday Art Exhibition and Sale
  With live music by the Paolozzi Tango Trio

  Featuring original artwork by 50 local artists working in a variety of media with most work priced under $200, making this event the perfect place to find gifts for the holiday season.

  Participating Artists: Jackie Baxton, Amy Beans, Linda Benenati, Chris Veres Bunz, Alex Casbara, Shone Chacko, Alice Chen, Jonathan Chi, J. Duncan Cook, Lee Crowley, Carol Eder, Kelsey Eder, Dorit Elisha, Carolann Espino, Alyssa Eustaquio, Roberto Fierro, Sonia Garcia, Bea Garth, Monica Gonzales, Jason Hanna, Larry Harrell, Joella Kermit, Jonathan Kermit, Leslie Lambert, Anna Maiko, Gwen Mercado-Reyes, Theresa Merchant, David Nguyen, Avery Palmer, Gianfranco Paolozzi, Jeanine Parish, Elizabeth Patrician, Jane Patrick, Michael Perkin, Marina Povalishina, Elias Rivera, Diana Roberts, Bob Rose, Jamila Rufaro, Gerri Russell, Masha Schultz, Pragati Sharma, Michelle Shone, Robbie Sugg, Suha Suha, Hema Sukumar, Monica Tiulescu, Hein Tran, Christian Wicklein, Rosa Younessi and AP Art Students from Overfelt High School in San Jose

• Higher Fire Clayspace & Gallery – 499 South Market St. map

  TBA

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  Join us at KALED Gallery for the opening reception of two new feature exhibitions by Michael Foley, and Nadja Martens

  
  

  “Contes d ‘un autre monde” by Michael Foley chronicles the stories of those living in another world, one very similar to our own.

  Some of the works are part of Foley’s latest Life’s a Pisser Zine which will premiere at the Alternative Press Expo and will be available at the show.

  
  

  “Walk with me Where no one follows” an exhibition of new works by Nadja Martens

  Most of Martens’ works represent self portraits and show an internal scenario. At times her art depicts her observation of the world. “My art tends to speak about emotional conditions in respect to today’s world and its social and personal challenges,” says Martens.

  Martens use subjects from the animal kingdom to symbolize certain feelings and chooses an environment that suits the condition of that particular state of being.

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

  
  Image Credit: Aaron De La Cruz, “Migrate,” 2015. Acrylic on canvas.

  MACLA presents, “Found in Translation”
  Work by Pilar Agüero-Esparza, Aaron De La Cruz, Rogelio Gutierrez and Patrick Martinez

  The artists in “Found in Translation” transform everyday objects and materials (from street signs to crayons) to illustrate the complexities of the human experience in a multilingual and multicultural world.

  Live performance by Arenas Dance Company at 8pm
  Arenas Dance Company has expertise in both folkloric and popular Cuban traditions. Celebrated productions include Yo Soy Cuba and Dos Aguas, which received an award for Best Choreography from the SF Ethnic Dance Festival.

• Seeing Things Gallery – 30 North Third St. map

  Closed this evening.

• Works San Jose – 365 South Market St. map

  
  Art work by Charles Kraft

  “American Gun Show” group exhibition

  An intense exhibition of artistic responses at the intersections of free speech, personal liberty, and national identity. Guns are explored in societal, technical, and formal context to provide a much needed dialogue around an object rife with personal, cultural, and political meaning. This First Friday starts with short performances at 7pm!

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library – 150 E San Fernando St. map

  

  “Sugar Skulls” by Lisa Mejia

  Artist Bio: Lisa Mejia has traveled extensively throughout the States, and is now a resident of San Jose. She has been working for the San Jose Public Library for 10 years. She is known for her talents in costuming, jewelry design, henna artistry, and performing various dance styles, including Tribal Fusion belly dance. Her paintings focus on folk art traditions from throughout the world, especially Henna designs, colorful mandalas, Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs, and Mexican folk art. She loves the unique color and vibrancy of the world around her, and encourages others to travel and embrace knowledge.s to travel and embrace knowledge.

  

  “HareBinger of Civilization” by David Mejia

  Artist Bio: David Mejia is a San Jose native, who has been drawing since he was a young child. He has worked for San Jose Public Library for 15 years. His artwork has been displayed throughout the Bay Area in several art galleries, coffee shops, and restaurants. He has also contributed artwork to the library, having done the Conroy Cougar library card and coloring pages. In his spare time, he travels to many events throughout California (including Renaissance Faires, Steampunk conventions, Comic conventions, and art shows), doing quick drawn portraits of festival patrons. His work encompasses both Realism and Abstract, and conveys his perspective of the world.

• Downtown Yoga Shala – 450 South First St. map

  
  “Lion King” by Katrina Loera, acrylic on canvas

  Care for Kat Art Show

  A powerful collection of artwork brought to you in support for the healing and recovery of Katrina Marie Loera, co-founder of the Luna Park Arts Foundation and chairs the annual Luna Park Chalk Art Festival at Backesto Park. Katrina suffered a severe Traumatic Brain Injury earlier this year and continues her path towards recovery. She has touched many lives in profound and immense ways, inspiring the artist, animal lover, and humanitarian within all of us. Please learn more about Katrina and her recovery here: YouCARING.com/ CARE FOR KAT: Help Katrina Loera Recover from her TBI.

• LGBTQ Youth Space – 452 South First St. map

  Keep on Truckin’: Stories of Resilience and Self-Care by LGBTQ Youth

  Local LGBTQ Youth express themselves through mixed media, depicting their personal stories of resilience.

• TechShop San Jose – 300 South Second St. map

  

  “Spaces Within & Spaces Without” by Corinne Okada Takara

  This collection celebrates patterns in nature from various scales ranging from our human eye’s lense to macro and micro perspectives. Through the blending of traditional handcraft techniques and modern technology tools, I seek to create art that both honors traditional cultural crafts while also celebrating the natural world through the use of contemporary tools. By combining Japanese sashiko stitching and mizuhiki knot cording with laser cutting and 3D printing I hope to create works that are both familiar and surprising.

  The collection is knit together by themes alluding to Japanese textiles and decorative arts, but upon closer look, are blended narratives of micro and macro explorations. Discoveries in both microbiology and planetary science are reshaping our sense of identity. Only recently have we learned that we each are unique human biome that hosts bacterial cells that outnumber our human cells by ten to one. There is water on our neighboring planet Mars and perhaps microscopic life, as well. How might we creatively re-imagine ourselves as we grow in our understanding of ourselves in context of new scientific findings? How can we look to these discoveries to frame our commonality in new ways?

• Third Space Fitness – 550 South first St. map

  

  “Shrouded Identity” by Joe Barajas

  As I search the faces of my people, those who belong to a race which I also belong to: the race of human, I see a lacking in their many faces; a lack of identity, a lack of authenticity, a lack of confidence in what defines them, and a fear of being truly known. I long for the day when fellow human beings can look each other in the face and reveal to one another their true identities so that for the first time we can experience true empathy, true acceptance, and true love. Until then, we will never be truly recognizable; until then I will look upon the human race and see only a sea of blurred faces.

  Live music: David Knight will be providing an ambient soundtrack cohesive to the theme of Barajas’ new series.

CONTINUED EXHIBITS…

• Caffé Frascati – 315 South First St. map

  

  First Fridays is Caffe Frascati Opera Night presented by First Street Singers, with the Bay Area’s finest opera singers performing your very favorite classical arias and duets live in the cafe!

• The Craftsman – 399 South First St. map

  

  “Colony” by Lindsay Balfour

  The installation is a mysterious, beautiful medley of textures and shapes inspired by on deep sea creatures made out of paper. Each piece interlocks together using paper engineering techniques to compose a colonies to make up an imaginary marine organism.

  Lindsay Balfour is a paper engineer and designer who explores the mechanics of paper used in pop-up design, paper craft, and sculpture. She integrates electronics in her work to showcase technology as a tool and material to enhance ideas for creative expression. As an educator and artist, her work is an example of the intersection between fine art, physical computing, and fabrication techniques.

• Phantom Galleries at Pho69 – 321 South First St. map

  

  Blanketman

  
  

  “frag·ments” (frăg′mənts) by Robertino Ragazza

  “frag.ments” are a collection of travel images taken over the years. It is my travel journal and a reminder, a montage of my experiences and connectedness to a place or singular moment.

  For me, travel is the greatest experiment. It brings forth the curiosity and the urge to investigate the experience of being alive and it permanently influences our perspective on life. It offers a new beginning, new experiences, and endlessly changing horizon. In the beginning, there was no real plan, just a vacation that became a journey. As Henry Miller once said, “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

  In frag.ments, I explore and present photographs that attempt to reflect hidden meanings or just simply a literal representation of a place or singular moment that took my breath away. By definition, frag.ments be an incomplete and isolated portion or bits of pieces; a sliver or a shard, a flake or a morsel that makes up the whole experience with underlying undertones of mystery, building a narrative through contextualization and surreal juxtaposition. Inspiration comes in different forms and the book, “The Sun Also Rises” was the catalyst that inspired my sense of wanderlust, thus my journey began.

• Phantom Galleries at SoFA Market – 387 South First St. map

  
  

  Phantom Galleries presents: “String Theory” an installation by Anabella Piñon and Frances Marin at SoFA Market.

  Taking a nostalgic form of communication, the game of childhood game of ‘telephone’, “String Theory” conveys the dense, voyeuristic and sometimes overwhelming nature of modern connectivity where everyone is talking, listening and knowing what one another is doing at all times. Viewers are invited to play telephone with the set of cans displayed beside the artwork.

• Psycho Donuts – 288 South Second St. map

  
  

  “Monsters, Movies, and Mayhem (oh my)” group exhibit

  A collection of Movies, Monsters and zany art with a little bit of a macabre bent to it. Featuring works by: John Hageman, Michael Foley , Kori Thompson, Chris Shady, Lori Herbst and Vanessa Callanta.

• Studio Climbing Gym – 396 South First St. map

  
  

  “Vertical Wilderness Submersion” by photographer Dirk Summers

  These images come from climbing landscapes around the natural world. They were captured in all different seasons, in a variety of locations, and emphasize the great natural beauty inherent in many of the places in which we climbers are lucky enough to enjoy our passion.

• Vyne Bystro – 110 Paseo de San Antonio Walk map

  

  Tom Dytko Solo Exhibition

  “Today I use my creative energy and ability to create abstract representations of the visual events and places that have made a significant visual impact to me, or a significant discorporate memory of a reoccurring dream or fantasy. These visual memory representations come from somewhere deep in my subconscious as I do not consciously recall or visualize a completed painting before I start painting, and I begin each painting with only a faint idea or feeling for the shapes and colors that will ultimately go into the painting. However, once started, and the painting begins to take form, it becomes familiar to me and the shapes and colors put into the painting are put there almost without thinking. As the image appears it dictates to me what it needs; it is a very interactive session.” DYTKO.

  Over the past two years DYTKO’s paintings have started to gain some local popularity and he has shown his work at venues in Carmel, Sacramento, San Jose, and his home town of Morgan Hill. There he is a member of the Valle Del Sur Art Guild and the Morgan Hill Art Gallery, where his work is displayed when it is not in a show.