The San Jose Phantom Galleries program was launched in 2000 as a partnership between Two Fish Design, San Jose Downtown Association and the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. It was (and still is!) our intention to utilize empty downtown storefronts as local artists exhibit spaces in an effort to minimize the bleak scenery of vacant ground floor windows with the maximum impact of celebrating the creative talent that resides here.

It is true that there is much progress being made downtown with new residential developments that will include "mixed use" ground floor retail and there are fewer empty windows that are in the state of blight as was the case five years ago. But it also means more and more construction walls that can be activated as temporary murals, private buildings that could house exhibits in between tenants and Phantom Galleries can provide a referral service to business owners that would like art exhibits in their spaces as a way to support local artists, but also provide their customers with interesting atmosphere that changes throughout the year.

This evolution of the Phantom Galleries' website will focus more on the activities from this day on (as opposed to archiving the last six years) there will be updates each week in the form of current exhibits, artist's news, exhibit opportunities and calls for entries submitted by third parties. We'll also point to examples of other cities utilizing the Phantom concept.

Feel free to contact us any time with news, feedback and/or comments to our posts, we'd love to hear from you.

peace and care,
Cherri Lakey & Brian Eder

A man walks by the Kaleid Gallery in San Jose, Calif., March 22, 2007.

"In a city that nurtures its art institutions, an underground art scene has also taken shape. Vacant buildings, which still blemish many downtown blocks, have been transformed into temporary exhibit space for local painters and sculptors, attractive place-holders until permanent tenants arrive." (Peter DaSilva/The New York Times)

The San Jose Public Art Program has created a temporary, one-year position for a Senior Project Manager in Public Art. This position will be responsible, mainly, for construction management on projects already underway and will ‘sunset’ after a year unless there is a need to extend it.

They are looking for a candidate with experience in construction management, who likes working with a variety of disciplines (e.g. artists, landscape designers, architects); and is local if possible, since this is not a permanent position.

For more information, visit the city's website here.

Fellow Phantom Galleries artists Beth Mostovoy and Julie Goodenough are putting together an art market for downtown Redwood City. "Art on the Square" will take place in July, August and September.

Redwood City is fast becoming the peninsula’s epicenter for the arts with new galleries and great places to hear live music. This summer Art on the Square joins the mix. Courthouse Square will be transformed as artists and artisans exhibit their work in the heart of the beautifully renovated downtown. Presented by the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission and the Redwood City Redevelopment Agency, the three juried outdoor shows will complement Music on the Square, the city’s Friday evening summer concert series. And, Redwood City’s downtown galleries will stay open late for ArtWalk during Art on the Square.

Clik here for more info and vendor applications.

We encourage you to participate in the following Call For Entries. This is a great opportunity to exhibit at a great gallery.

Call for Entries – Share Your Stories!

Gente, Casas y Barrios: A community participation exhibition about people & neighborhoods

Exhibition: June 27 - July 14, 2007
Opening Reception: Friday, June 29, 6:00 to 8:00pm

MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana is inviting the larger community to participate in the exhibition, “Gente, Casas y Barrios.”

This exhibition is open to all media including photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, video, etc. that deals with the theme of people, houses and neighborhoods. The idea behind this exhibition is to allow the community to express itself and allow people to engage in a visual conversation about what makes their neighborhood unique.

How to submit:

28 North First Street - figura il musica acrylic paintings by Harriet Helfricht.

49 North First Street - Little Inferences An installation of encaustic and mixed media small paintings on canvas intended to convey the landscape around us, including mountains, glaciers, forests and oceans by Wendy Lowengrub.

55 North First Street - Death Lurks mexican folk art inspired paintings by Christine Benjamin.

And on going is 64 artists exhibiting at KALEID gallery.

UPDATE: The exhibit is entitled Intersections and it will feature artwork and a feature performance by Art Ark residents as well as artwork from neighborhood artists. They do request that you RSVP to Jgeracie[at]thecorecompanies.com or call 408-292-7841, ext 11 as they'll have lunch and beverages.

Save the date: Art Ark's grand opening is going to be Thursday, August 9th from 11:30am - 1:00pm. There will be a new exhibit that I believe will involve artists from the Martha Gardens area. The Art Ark Apartments is an affordable housing complex designed with the artist in mind. It's recently been announced that it's 100% leased and has a common house gallery on site. It's located at 1035 South 6th St. (btwn Bestor Park and Keyes Blvd.), downtown San Jose. We'll keep you posted!

Steven Tran came by our offices to let us know that the California Lawyers for the Arts have set up an office here in San Jose. They felt that artists here in the South Bay weren't using the resources available to them in San Francisco. Their site is definitely worth visiting to keep up on all the work they are doing on the arts' behalf as well as services they can provide. Steven said they will be hosting a workshop in July, with more details to be announced. Visit their site here, and if you need their assistance, please email them at sanjose(at)calawyersforthearts.org or call them at 408-998-2787 ext. 216.

Carlos DaSilva is a local photographer that did a series of screenprints onto plexiglass and exhibited them in his garage that he converted into a one night gallery. It was a great casual atmosphere with really interesting work. To see images from the exhibit, click here.

UPDATE: Photos of the exhibition posted here.

Long time Phantom artists Jason Arnold and Tim Leirman will have a duo exhibit at Black & Brown on Saturday June 23rd, from 8-11pm. We're looking forward to seeing what these two have been up to!

Black & Brown Clothing
1225 W. San Carlos, San Jose

Angela Buenning Filo (Phantom Galleries artist 2003) has a photographic exhibit up at San Jose City Hall thru September 21, 2007 entitled The Story of a Silicon Valley Orchard. Inspired by a news article in 2002 about a prune orchard that was "the last in Silicon Valley", Angela made the trip south on Hwy 85 and found the orchard, and committed herself to take a portrait of each of the 1,705 trees in the orchard. Three winters later, with the orchard land now slated for development, she photographed the final tree. These 1700+ images are on view in the lobby of the tower building and continues on Floor 18 where the city council offices are.
San Jose City Hall
200 East Santa Clara Street (btwn 4th & 5th Streets)
open 9-5pm, Monday - Friday.

Inna Razmakhova, Los Gatos Art Association Open Juried Show 2007 winner, has a solo exhibit at Barefoot Coffee Roasters called Travel Treasures showcasing "stunning photographs from our favorite National Parks of South West California and Hawaii." Enjoy the exhibit (on view thru June 30th) at the best coffeeshop in South Bay!

Barefoot Coffee
5237 Stevens Creek (@ Lawrence Expwy)
Santa Clara

Ellie Brown (Phantom Galleries artist 2002), exhibits her photographs that are excerpts from the body of work, About My Sisters 1996-2006 (which will also be a self published book). Ellie has been photographing her half-sisters' passage through childhood, into and out of adolescence for ten years. The work chronicles the quest for identity, changes in voice and confidence through adolescence, the strong influence of media, peer groups and an eating disorder. (from YO Gallery's press release.)

(Ellie has always done beautiful relevant artwork and installations pertaining to girls and women and how they are perceived. Ellie's Phantom exhibit (on South First next to Bella Mia at the time) was an installation of numerous pink dresses that ranged from the cute frilly little girl dress to an underslip of lingerie.)

YO Gallery
113 N 23rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19104

Charlotte Kruk n' Kempken

Ema Sintamarian

KALEID Gallery's April 2007 Featured Artists (and long time Phantom artists) Charlotte Kruk n' Kempken and Ema Sintamarian will be featured on KQED's art and culture television program SPARK on June 27th, 29th and July 2nd. To sign up for an email reminder, please visit their site here.

The Center for Fine Art Photography and CameraArts Magazine are partnering to bring photographers a unique opportunity to promote their work and talent. Those working in all styles and schools of thought are invited to submit their work for consideration in this cooperative call for entry. Traditional, contemporary, avant-garde, creative and experimental works that include new processes, mixed techniques, and challenging personal, emotional, or political statements are welcome.

The theme is open to all subjects and the exhibition is open to all professional and amateur, domestic and international photographers working with digital or traditional photography or combinations of both.

Jurors: Tim Anderson, Publisher/Managing Editor, CameraArts magazine and Larry Padgett, Executive Director, The Center for Fine Art Photography.

Grand Prize recipient will be given an eight-page portfolio, plus the front cover of the 2007 November/December CameraArts issue.

Deadline to submitt is Sept. 04, 2007 and more info can be found here.

Sheau Lee and Ethan Miller, Surface, video projection still, 2007

We received two very nice notes today from Michelle Waters and Sheau Lee that each will be in the forth coming MACLA's Gente, Casas y Barrios exhibit as a result of a call for entries by MACLA that we relayed to our artist list.

The exhibit, whose theme is People, Houses & Neighborhoods, will include a collaborative project by Sheau Lee & Ethan Miller called Surface (above image) which is an interactive audio/video installation using a table with a contact microphone, a series of macro photos of urban surfaces in downtown San Jose. The location of each surface is cataloged with latitude and longitude data. Organic materials are also collected from the urban environment (rocks, seed pods, branches, etc.) and form an interface into the exploration of place and surface.

Michelle Waters' painting is entitled the Undevelopment Agency and is a satirical piece addressing the environmental consequences of rampant development.

Gente, Casas y Barrios opens this Friday, June 29th with an artists' reception at 6pm with the exhibit on view through July 14th.
MACLA is located at 510 South First Street, downtown San Jose

Larry Reibstein, Cleopatra, 2006

Art of Digital Show CALL FOR ENTRIES! Deadline August 15, 2007

An international exhibition of digital art at the elegant Lyceum Theatre Gallery in San Diego's historic Gaslamp Quarter. $3000 cash awards, 20,000 expected views of the exhibit, and show catalog.

Judge: Neal Benezra, Director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Curator: Steven Churchill

Art created or manipulated via any form of digital technology will be accepted for consideration.

This includes: Digital painting, computer based illustration, digitally manipulated photography, fractals and algorithmic imagery, digital manipulations of traditionally created art, digital montages and collages, mixed media with digital elements, digital video art, computer animation, CGI, etc.

This does not include: Photographic images which are simply captured with a digital camera. This does not include: Photographic images which are simply printed with a digital printer.

For the complete application, visit the Art Of Digital Show website here.

Donna Orme - Featuring 5" x 5" Monoprints with Chine Colle
Experimental artist, Donna Orme presents 5" x 5" monoprints produced from aluminum plates that have been submerged in a copper sulfate solution. The copper sulfate bites into unprotected parts of the plates and produces the tonal values and thick/thin lines.

Ms. Orme adds color, rhythm, texture and mood to these monoprints by the use of chine colle. Some etchings are run on Asian papers. The Asian papers are incorporated with the inked aluminum plates in a technique known as chine colle (Chinese collage) to produce soft, collage effects.

Possibilities Art Studio & Gallery
311-A Forest Avenue
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
831.643.9392
August 10-September 29, 2007
For more information visit _www.donnaorme.com

Free copyright workshop with attorney David Morales
Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 7:00-8:00 pm
Works/San Jose, 451 South First Street in San Jose

Please join us at this free event, to celebrate the opening of California Lawyers for the Arts' satellite office in San Jose. This workshop is an introduction to copyright issues suitable for all artists. What can you protect? How do you register your copyright? What are the benefits? This workshop answers your questions!

Call Steven Tran at (408) 998-2787 ext. 216 or email sanjose@calawyersforthearts.org to register or for questions.

Presented by California Lawyers for the Arts, with Works/San Jose, Arts Council Silicon Valley, Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, and Phantom Galleries.

California Lawyers for the Arts — San Jose
4 North Second Street, Suite 500
San Jose, CA 95112
Office: 408-998-2787 ext. 216
Direct: 408-568-6639

Expressions’ Gallery Owner, Gail Faris, has sent us two calls for entries for fiber artists for upcoming exhibits at their gallery space on The Alameda in San Jose.

Due to the July Fourth holiday, there will be no First Friday gallery walk downtown for July. The galleries will resume First Friday August 3rd at 8pm til late.

The two featured artists for First Friday August at KALEID gallery is Joe Claus and Mary Medrano. For more information, click here.

Have a wonderful, safe holiday!

San Jose urban artist and muralist (and long time Phantom participant) Dee Jae Paeste is leaving the San Jose area to live in Japan for the next year or so. Dee Jae says: It's time i get out there and explore more of the world and experience all i can while i have the energy and time.

We will miss him, his amazing talent, and his abundant energy. We wish you the best Dee Jae, and appreciate all the vibrancy you've added to our lives in the years we've known you!