Join us for a festive evening at the FIRST FRIDAY ArtWalk, where the arts and community come together in downtown San Jose’s vibrant SoFA District (&beyond!).
Check out new exhibitions, indulge in unique holiday shopping, and enjoy live music inside the galleries, This is the perfect creative night out with family and friends, as all venues offer free admission and are open to all ages.
See you downtown Friday, December 6th 5pm–9pm!
SoFA District
ANNO DOMINI // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 S. First St. map
On view in galleryONE:
Arbitrary Holiness Heiko Greb solo exhibition
Heiko Greb is a conceptual artist, sculptor and molecular biologist based in Santa Clara, CA. Greb’s artwork challenges the viewer to reconsider their initial perceptions and encourages us to broaden our curiosity and imagination by finding personal meaning and connection with his creations. Greb is a fascinating thinker and creator and we are looking forward to some very interesting conversations and revelations around his work in this exhibition. ~Anno Domini
“Arbitrary Holiness is as much about what happens when you create the ‘same’ sculpture every day for a year, as it is about facilitating the exploration of your inner cathedral.
In this exhibition, over 300+ wood-spirits watch over a diverse collection of evocative pseudo-Christian ARTefacts. These ARTefacts invite the viewer to stroll through our collective memory of thousands of years of spiritual iconography. I invite you to take that stroll and explore that memory.” ~Heiko Greb
On view in galleryTWO:
Triumuti: a Love Supreme
featuring tattoo artists: Salty Walt McDonald, Djene Toure Lerma & Kirk Wilken
This exhibition brings together the work of three visionary artists: Salty Walt McDonald, Djene Toure Lerma, and Kirk Wilken from the Lifetime Tattoo Shop in Denver, CO. Each channel spiritual and creative energies in their unique artistic practices. Like the Hindu Trimurti representing the three aspects of the divine, these artists form a trinity exploring the mysteries of creation, preservation, and transformation through their art work, each tapping into primal and universal forces while remaining deeply personal.
“Sometimes it’s a direct channel to the source of absolute truth and creation and the mystery behind the art and the process of uncovering or allowing that mystery to unfold is as important as what it might look like; other times it is just like taking a shit or something you do every day involuntarily..
“The Primitive gets to the essence of the spiritual.
“”Art can be like music and affect us profoundly, yet seemingly be meaningless…
To make the Soul vibrate ,, the rule of the surprise move,, to make a painting of something that doesn’t exist. To listen to the windless wind that blows 4 ways. Art is a cosmic vision of Everything and Nothing.” ~Satly Walt, D’jene, and Kirk
KALEID Gallery – 320 S. First St. map
HARK! Holiday Show & Sale
Join us for the opening of HARK! Annual Holiday Show & Sale here at KALEID Gallery on First Friday December 6th! This highly anticipated event showcases the talents of 50+ artists from KALEID Gallery and other invited artists from our broader regional arts community.
Hundreds of unique artworks, including paintings, sculptures, photography, and jewelry at affordable gift-giving prices from $12-$250. All available artworks are first come, first served and you can take your purchases home immediately.
Featuring Artists:
Always Hungry,, Deborah Anderson, Delilah Bender, Sandi Billingsley, The Blunt Letters, Julianne Bonnet, John Cambra, Emmanuel Cervantes-Mejia, Robert Chavez, Jennifer DeChenne, Sylvia De La Garza, Joseph Demaree, Jemal Diamond, Mario Dimas, Doug Edwards, Angela Elsey, Jannis Espinoza, Fail Pail Press, Force129, Jared Gochuico, Kyle Harter, Diana Hartman, Xuan Ho, Maureen Holcomb, Jonathan Kermit, Natasha Kramskaya, Sarah Loyola, Valentino Loyola, Mahsa Emoventur, Joe Mandirck, Gilbert Marosi, Julie Meridian, David Mejia, Jorge Mieses, Lourdes Morante-Mieses, James Morgan, Laurus Myth, Karen Oeh, Gianfranco Paolozzi, Jonathan Perea, Betty Proper, Eddie Ramirez, Francisco Ramirez, Robertino Ragazza, Steven Reece, Marilyn Roaf aka Purl Bailey, Mason Roberts, Judy Rookstool, Steven nizzotes Rubalcaba, Eve Schwartz, and Heylu Wheat with custom poems during the opening reception.
Don’t miss this opportunity to support local artists and find one-of-a-kind gifts for your loved ones. See you at KALEID Gallery for an inspired evening of art, creativity, and holiday cheer!
MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 S. First St. map
Exhibition Opening: Mírame
Abby Aceves (Los Angeles), Tiffany Alfonseca (New York), Ruby Bloo (San José), Monica Hernandez (New York), and Elba Raquel (San José) examine how cultural beliefs have shaped and constrained women’s roles. Through painting and mixed media, the transformative power of breaking societal confines celebrates a collective movement towards liberation.
FREE performance at our Castellano Playhouse: San Cha
Using her Mexican American upbringing, San Cha channels a wave of cultures to beautifully collide in a mix of genres. As eclectic in sound as she is in emotion and storytelling. At times haunting and full of ache and quickly thereafter an unstoppable dance force. San Cha is performing two free 45-minute sets December 6 starting at 7:30 pm and at 8:30 pm in our Castellano Playhouse.
Phantom Galleries at The Pierce – 2 Pierce Ave. map
Phantom Galleries is proud to present:
The Women Judy Rookstool solo exhibition
For San Jose-based artist Judy Rookstool, art-making is a means of exploring what she observes and communicating her observations to others in conversation with paint. Her art encourages the viewer to see beyond their personal realm to engender empathy for and understanding of the human journey – especially womankind.
Whether combining joyful colors or moody chromas, her paintings transcribe emotions and render a history of unexpected elements in a manner that elicits thoughtful introspection and compassion.
For The Women, Judy probes multiple aspects of what it is to be female: celebrating their public strength in the In Her Element series, illuminating their private struggles in her Faces series, and depicting their resolve to transcend earthly restrictions in BirdWoman.
These are women who will be heard.
About the Artist:
Judy is active in the local arts community. Her work is held by private collectors and over time exhibited at: The Triton Museum, Mineta San Jose International Airport Showcase, Kaleid Gallery, WORKS Gallery, Mexican Heritage Plaza School of Arts & Culture Gallery, Phantom Galleries, Campbell Museums, San Jose Jazz Public Art Gallery, Cathy Down Gallery, University Arts, Evergreen Valley College Library Gallery, San Jose City College Gallery SVOS, Silicon Valley Virtual Open Studios, Marin Society of Artists Online Gallery, O’Hanlon Center for the Arts Online Gallery, Las Lagunas Online Gallery, and ArtFluent Online Gallery.
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art– 560 S. First St. map
Allegedly the worst is behind us
featuring: Razan AlSalah, Demetri Broxton, Arleene Correa Valencia, Paola de la Calle, Mik and May Gaspay, Pantea Karimi, Suchitra Mattai,Tricia Rainwater, Trina Michelle Robinson, Shirin Towfiq, Livien Yin
Allegedly the worst is behind us highlights the practice of twelve contemporary artists who pursue personal and collective acts of rebuilding fractured memories and stolen histories. Positing the body as an archive with generations stored achingly inside, the exhibition prompts examination on the toll of historical trauma and how to recover fragments of disrupted pasts.
San Jose Jazz – 310 South First St. map
Holiday Concert & Jazz Jam: SJZ U19s and Michael Webster Quartet
Bring your Santa hats and join us for a special winter season holiday concert! The SJZ U19s will start at 6pm, with classic jazz standards from legendary originators and modern masters.
Then, the Michael Webster Quartet will perform at 7pm.
The jam starts at 7:40pm and goes until 9:30pm, during which time we’ll cover jazz standards, Real Book charts, and the good old 12-bar blues. Admission is free. Don’t forget your instrument! We’ll have a drum set, a piano, and amplifiers for bass and guitar players. Pop in and out anytime from 6pm–9:30pm to hear the future of jazz. Intermediate and advanced youth musicians in their teens or early twenties are invited for this jazz jam, free and open to the public in conjunction with South First Fridays ArtWalk SJ.
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map
25 Million Stitches: One Stitch, One Refugee
Created and curated by Jennifer Kim Sohn
25 Million Stitches was initiated and conceived in May 2019 by Jennifer Kim Sohn, a multimedia artist and activist, to visually document the enormity of the number of refugees in the world and to sustain the concern for the refugees in the minds of global citizens.
Historic District
Chopsticks Alley Gallery – 38 S. 2nd St. map
Under One Moon Immersive Video Mapping Exhibition
Chopsticks Alley Art is pleased to present Under One Moon, an immersive experience celebrating the traditions of the Mid-Autumn Festival. This unique blend of contemporary visuals, poetry, and music highlights the moon’s significance among various cultures and histories. Featured artists include Illuminate SJ Now!!!, Cynthia Cao, Sabrina Kwong, and Robin Lasser, with an original score by Troy Truong.
The storyline highlights our connection to the earth, moon, water, animals, plant life, and each other, and calls viewers to take action and protect our water, juxtaposed with animations from Moon Festival folklore and myths from various cultural traditions. Personal narratives are synthesized with iconic folklore – we have collected stories from the San Jose community in person and via social media to infuse our community’s lived experience into the exhibition.
Chinese Tea Ceremony with Tea Master Rouxi at 7:00 and 7:30 pm.
Hammer2 Gallery – 101 Paseo de San Antonio map
Perspectives
Featuring: Carlo Ricafort, Tovah Cheng, Dani Torvik, Peter Moen, Josie Lepe, Ian Fabre
The Hammer2 Gallery features a rotating display of artwork by San José State University alumni. The current exhibition brings together the work of five alumni artists: Carlo Ricafort, Dani Torvik, Peter Moen, Josie Lepe, Tovah Cheng, and Ian Fabre. These artists explore work in a variety of media, including watercolor, oil paint and mixed media, and diverse subject matter, including personal identities, cultural symbols, family history and abstract forms.
Works/San Jose – 38 S. 2nd St. map
Close to the Skin
Featuring artists: Sydney Brown, Katharine T. Jacobs (guest curator), Jackelin Solorio, Dani Torvik, Laamsha Young, and Lucia Znamirowski
Close to the Skin speaks to the raw, intimate nature of the work presented by the True Thing Collective, an all-female identifying group whose creations delve into the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of the human experience. Through diverse media, the collective explores themes of strength, fragility, sexuality, pain, and the complex desire to make sense of the body and its narratives. This exhibition is an intensely personal exploration of what it means to be human, told through works that confront illness, identity, family, and the often contradictory forces that shape us.
Martha Gardens District
Art Ark Gallery – 1035 S. Sixth St. map
More the Merrier
featuring: Jan Aiello, Irene Berrones-Kolb, Jacey Bullock, Chris Cassell, Jennifer DeChenne, Megan DeLeon, Miguel Espinosa Studio, Vera Fainshtein, Roberto Fierro, Will Francis, Branden Frederick, Gabe Galen, Gianfranco, Liz Godbey, Sher Harvey, Jaben Hastings-Melville, Roberta Kiphuth, Ally Kraus, J.B. Lambert, Kevin Luck/ghost, Hargun Mahal, Sandra Murphy, Christine Oliver, Jim P., Francisco Ramirez, Conreis, Tom Shulruff, SIMPLEREASON, Michael Stewart, Nina Ulett, Isaac Villanueva, Jennie Villanueva, Nona Weiner, Robert Windle, Eileen Wong Cervera, Rosa Younessi
Join us for our annual exhibition and art sale! Come support local artists and enjoy live music and great company!
Live Music by Gianfranco and Griff
MACHU PICCHU Gallery of the Americas, Est 1974 – 199 Martha St. map
Exquisite Holiday Gift Ideas from the Americas
Indigenous and Latin American artists, from Mexico, Central and South America as well local creators.
Various artists such as Robert McColley from New Mexico, Sra. Rosalba Porras from Zacatecas, Mexico, Hector Urquidi from Bolivia and many others.
Handwoven wool shawls from the Mapuche Indians in Chile, hand embroidered runners and blouses from Mexico, soft alpaca and wool scarves, ceramic nativities, sterling silver earrings from Peru and Mexico. Beaded earrings and necklaces from Arizona, New Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia. Colorful cloth dolls from Mexico and much more including watercolors and oils with Andean, peasant and abstract scenes from Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia and Mexico.
The art collected are from remote areas of Mexico, Central and South America.
Olga Enciso Smith the gallery’s founder and director has traveled for over 50 years meeting and interviewing the artisans, acquiring their creations to showcase them in California to make the artisans sustainable so they can continue their ancient crafts. It is her mission that they could make a decent living from their handiwork.
FIRST FRIDAYS ArtWalk SJ is produced by CURATUS in partnership with the participating galleries, museums and independent creative businesses.
Join us on Facebook ArtWalkSJ
South FIRST FRIDAYS
366 S 1st Street
San Jose, CA 95113
408-271-5155
info@southfirstfridays.com