South FIRST FRIDAYS presents ArtwalkSJ & the 11th Annual SubZERO Festival

First Friday, June 1st & Saturday, June 2nd
from 6pm-Midnight (both nights)
SoFA District (& beyond) downtown San Jose
RSVP on our event page here.

The South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk is a self-guided, nighttime tour through galleries, museums, and independent creative businesses featuring eclectic art exhibitions and special performances. The SubZERO Festival is a DIY, artistically bent, hi/lo techno mashup where street meets geek. SubZERO features over 100 artists, performers and musicians celebrating the indie creative spirit out on the streets of SoFA District in downtown San Jose.

All Art Walk venues & the SubZERO Festival is FREE admission & great for all ages.

NEW EXHIBITS…

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

  
  

  Opening reception galleryTWO: “Film por Vida” print exchange program by Jai Tanju (San Jose, CA)

  The definition of exchange is the act of giving or taking one thing in return for another. The Film Por Vida print exchange program is an international exchange of photographic prints through the mail by all sorts of photographers from around the world. Jai Tanju has sent out thousands of photos to hundreds of photographers and received almost as much in return, and all the photographers exchange amongst themselves as well.

  It was started on a whim after seeing the movie “How to draw a bunny” (the Ray Johnson story). The artist Ray Johnson was into sending out what he called “mail art” to all his friends and peers and in the end he dies and all his friends sent the art back and had a massive showing in New York City. Sounds familiar? At the time Jai was working as a freelance photographer where he was spending way too much time in his office where one of two things happened that made it all come together: one was a Christmas card from Slap (a photograph with message on the back with a stamp) via Joe Brook was received then quickly framed and hung on the wall; and two was (and here is the clincher) he waited around way too much for the mailman to deliver paychecks which were always late and never accompanied by anything of substance?

  One day Jai looked up at that Slap Christmas card and wondered aloud why he never received photos from Joe anymore? The answer was easy and came to him quick! Why would he or anyone else send me anything since I never sent anything back! Right then he decided to make a conscious effort to send out mail to as many people he knew, or fellow photographers that he could get addresses for. He also decided to call it the “Print Exchange Program” and wrote that phrase on back of each photograph to encourage them to return the mail. His plan worked perfectly and from the get go he was receiving mail from half the people he sent mail to; the other half caught on quick. After four years of doing the P.E.P., Jai has sent out thousands of pieces of mail to people all over the world and gets almost as much mail back as he has sent out.

  After about a year he started to post all the mail he received on a blog called Film Por Vida! at www.filmporvida.blogspot.com and with the added traffic to the site, he saw an instant jump in amount of mail he was receiving…something hoped for but unexpected(?). Even the other members started getting addresses from the site and exchanging amongst themselves!

  “Jai Tanju & the Print Exchange Program has received so much mail from around the world that it’s hard for me to make a list of all the countries; but all I can say is; if I were to fly to almost anywhere in the world, I’d have somewhere to stay. It’s a wide web of friends and family all over the USA, England, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Norway….” ~ Jai Tanju

  Opening reception music by DJ Ray Stevens II.

  
  Heron Study by William Schaff, cut paper on wood, 21” x 20.5”, 2017

  On view in galleryONE: “I’ve got a message for you, if I could only remember…” a new exhibition of cut paper works and drawings by William Schaff

  Enamored with traditional Chinese paper cuts (of both the classic and modern age), I was moved to try my own hand at the medium. The challenge becomes to not simply mimic the style I have come to love, but to try and fine a visual vocabulary more true to me. It’s not that the traditional subject matter of animals and flora don’t hold an incredible power for me as well, but I felt to stick only with those subjects made it harder for me to break away from simply trying to imitate Chinese paper cuts.

  So I turned to the Bible – the book of my faith. I turned to the human/animal hybrids found in my other works. I included the nature I see around me, too, but I have looked to go further. Overall I feel this is a beginning. A strong beginning, but a beginning nonetheless. Thank you for sharing this experience with me. ~William Schaff

  William Schaff (b. 1973, Boston, MA) has been a working artist for over two decades. Known primarily for his mastery at album artwork, (Okkervil River, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Brown Bird, Songs: Ohia, etc) Schaff is also the founder of Warren Rhode Island’s “Fort Foreclosure.” The building, lovingly named without the least bit of irony, serves as Schaff’s home and studio as well as home and meeting place for other artists (most notably resident musicians MorganEve Swain, and the Late David Lamb, both of Brown Bird). William, recognizing the importance of art in this world, recently expanded his community to the West Coast, where he started “The Outpost” in Oakland, California. There–financial earnings be damned!–William fills his days drawing works of art for private commissions, bands, and his own examinations of human interaction. “I’ve got a message for you, if I could only remember…” is Schaff’s second solo exhibition with Anno Domini.

•  Art Ark Gallery – 1035 South Sixth St. map

  
  

  Opening reception: “Nature’s Colors” group exhibit featuring: Richard Fox, Fernando Escartiz, Francisco Ramirez, Joe Bastida Rodriguez, Jorge Mieses, Lourdes Morante-Mieses, Lucy Ghelfi, Masha Schultz, Misako Kambe, Brett Frazer, Teresa Kwon, John Gayler and Tulio Flores.

  “Nature’s Colors” is an exhibition that puts color on display via photography, paintings and multimedia works. Come explore these magnificent colors!

• Gallery Suha Suha – 45 E. Williams St. map

  
  

  Opening reception: “South Bay Show”
  Come and see our funny digital photography featuring South Bay neighborhoods @ South Bay Show. Share your San Josean/South Bay pride!

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

  Look for HigherFire Clayspace booth out at SubZERO Festival.

• KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

  Closed this evening. (We’ll be enjoying our artists out at SubZERO Festival.)

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

  
  

  In the DMC Studio at MACLA: Youth Showcase & Open Mic, 5:30-7pm
  Come kick it at our young community’s monthly Youth Open Mic and Art Showcase! We welcome all MC’s, Spoken-word Artists/Poets, Singers, Musicians, Comedians, and all performers. Enjoy live music, spoken word, an MC cypher, a showcase of downtown San José photography, and submit your application for MACLA & the DMC STUDIO’s ¿Que Onda? summer course series.
  June’s Guest Artist: Former Brave New Voices alum, novelist, and poet Santiago Villalobos

  Must be ages 13-20 to perform in the Open Mic. Sign up list opens at 5:30 pm; open Mic/Poetry Slam from 6–7pm. Each performer will be allowed to perform 2-3 pieces OR a 5 minute set.

  
  Image Credit: María María Acha-Kutscher, WOMEN WORKING FOR WOMEN / Indignadas

  In the MACLA Gallery: “We Interrupt This Message,” featuring artists: María María Acha-Kutscher, B-Side Brujas, Dignidad Rebelde (Melanie Cervantes & Jesus Barraza), Luis Pinto, and more.

  “We Interrupt this Message” looks at the role of artists as activists/disruptors.

  
  

  In the Castellano Playhouse: Calafia Armada, 8-10pm
  Calafia Armada is a musical project who play a range of traditional rhythms and melodies from across the Americas including Jarocho, Puya, Rumba, and especially Cumbia.

• PhantomGalleries at The Pierce – 2 Pierce Ave. map

  
  

  On view: “Cul-de-sac Cruisers” by Lost San Jose / Joshua Marcotte at the beautiful Pierce Apartments lobby gallery.

  Photographer Josh Marcotte is a fourth generation resident of San Jose, California. Inspired by the stories his grandfather told him about growing up in San Jose, Josh began documenting his views of the city through stories and photos. This selection of photographs focuses on automotive modern-ruins, mostly captured in present day Silicon Valley, and showcased at the site of a former car rental building which is now the newly constructed Pierce Apartments.

  Exhibition produced by Phantom Galleries guest curator Vivian Giourousis.

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

  
  

  Opening reception: “The Anatomy of Core Objects: A Piñata Sculpture Exhibition” by Patty Botello

  Phantom Galleries presents a new installation of piñata sculptures by artist Patty Botello that invites the audience to interact and travel through the artist’s imaginary piñata world.

  I love working with cardboard and other recyclables; to take a box that if often thrown away or underestimated and give it a second life in the form of a piñata gives me so much joy. I create piñata sculptures in my own unique style using upcycled material and adding details to my work that surpass expectations of what a piñata should look like. I hope to one day elevate the piñata to be viewed as art and not simply as a craft.

  Patty Botello was born in Los Angeles, California. At the age of three she learned how Piñatas were created from her next door neighbor and nanny.
  
Patty studied art at San Jose State University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts, Concentration in Studio Practice. While being immersed in studio art classes she fell in love with the creation of three dimensional art. Before graduating, she began Fuzzy Lollipop, a small online business in 2009 where she sells her piñata sculptures. An award winning artist, Patty has been making piñata sculptures in her own unique style for several years. She hopes to elevate the piñata to be viewed as art. They are high quality piñatas that blur the boundary between piñata and paper sculpture. Her recent work is made primarily with paper-mache and upcycled materials .She has also increasingly begun to incorporate plastics and found objects into 
her work.

  This Phantom Galleries exhibition curated by Robert Ragazza.

• Works San Jose – 365 South Market St. map

  
  Image credit: SJSU A/I class of 2018

  On view: Anticipation Now!

  Experimental animation, character development, and gaming design by 72 SJSU graduates representing the next generation of creativity in motion. From fantasy characters and cartoons to dramatic realism, the story, visual development, 3D modeling, and animation processes are exposed in detail with hundreds of images and on ten video screens.

• Caffé Frascati – 315 South First St. map

  

  Opening reception: “Lips Uncurled, Eyes Forward” by Quynh-Mai Nguyen

  “Lips Uncurled, Eyes Forward” is social artist Quynh-Mai Nguyen’s interactive and playful approach to visualizing micro-aggressions committed against people of color due to ignorance and miseducation. Within this project are two project series titled “Name Dictionary” and “Asian Eye Chart”. As an avid learner through visuals and first-hand experience, Nguyen uses her background in graphic design and passion to bring the POC narrative to the forefront by exploring the scrutiny, ridicule, and discrimination over one’s cultural heritage that does not coincide with “the norm” in America. The playful, yet assertive, rendering of her Name Dictionary pieces are a call for all people of color to proudly own their names by stating their cultural and personal definitions to educate the misinformed public. In addition, the interactive eye chart that displays Asian eyes from different ethnicities aims to dispel the stereotype that all Asians look the same by literally confronting the viewer directly in the eyes with diversity.

  The project series first debuted back in 2016 in an interactive social art exhibition focused on uplifting AAPI narratives. Nguyen opens the project once more for exhibition during the SubZERO Festival June 1st & 2nd through July 2018 in hopes to grow the series by encouraging more people faced with discrimination to become participants and empower themselves by telling their own stories in their own words as well as open space to explore unknown biases and prejudice. With lips uncurled, eyes forward, create the art and become the art towards cultural awareness.

  About the artist:
  Quynh-Mai Nguyen is a social artist, poet, musician, and creative producer from San José, CA with an imagination that dares to transform and nurture the world around her through her social art, graphic design, words, and civil interactions.

  

  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! for the South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk.

• LGBTQ Youth Space – 452 South First St. map

  We’re participating in SubZERO! Look for our booth in front of our building.

• Social Policy – 200 South First St. map

  
  

  Opening reception: “Syrarium Sessions” by Phil Leonard

  Syrarium Studios is a studio/workshop space where ideas manifest and find imaginative outcomes. Almost always using big color and layers of depth, Phil finds ways of luring you into the work by developing a sense of deep and endless space. The sculptural aspect of his work is impressive. Continually adding dimension to already dimensional work takes his art to the next level. Phil’s work is reflective of multi-layers of creative thinking and positive life analysis strategies. He takes satisfaction in creating art that is process based, but also leaves a ton of allowance for creative interpretation. The ability to create a successful art piece is to travel through the piece, finding your eyes’ next metaphorical bus top and waiting for the ride.

  Opening reception music by DJ @mlaine

• SoFA Market – 387 So. First St. map

  

  Opening reception: “Unforgotten” by Fanny Wu

  Fanny Wu is an Architect with an artist’s mind. She has lived in three very different countries – Taiwan, New Zealand and the United States. She studied Architecture at the University of Auckland and is currently practicing in the Bay Area. She believes that the building design and construction process can be quite lonely and daunting at times, but imagining people’s movement through sketch keeps her dream going. Fanny sees life in a different way, having relocated extensively, and being exposed to a multitude of cultures. She realizes the only treasure one can bring is the memories, even when they seem scattered.

  Fanny loves to encourage people to draw by freehand, without fear. In her spare time, she enjoys leading sketch sessions while reaching out to the community. She strongly believes sketching is therapeutic, that it can help reveal forgotten elements, and that it helps provoke and unfold the relationship of a person with the environment. Her work is inspired by the hidden colors, emotions, energy, and memories of her surroundings.

• Studio Climbing Gym – 396 South First St. map

  

  Opening reception: “Urbanization II: a process” by Peter Edwards

  Selected works focusing on urbanization and its destructive qualities on the environment; a dystopian look on the rise of civilization. Supplemented with a look into the artistic process of how the wood block prints were created.

• 11th Annual SubZERO Festival June 1st & 2nd, 6pm–midinightin SoFA District.

  

  Focused on emerging and present subcultures thriving in our region; the SubZERO Festival is a DIY, artistically bent, hi/lo-techno mashup where street meets geek.

  Come downtown on Friday, June 1st & Saturday, June 2nd to San Jose’s SoFA District from 6pm ’til midnight for an inspired evening of arts & culture. In addition to the South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk monthly art walk you’ll find 100 artists, performers and live music all celebrating the indie creative spirit!

  Enjoy a plethora of regional craft breweries in the Secret Garden on Friday night and a variety of beers on tap by our sponsor Lagunitas Brewing Co. on Saturday night with music by EOM Sessions and Simple Minded Beats plus delicious gourmet food trucks on site.

  All art walk venues and the SubZERO Festival are free admission and great for all ages.