Mosaic Portraiture Workshop at Higher Fire Ceramics

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Higher Fire is hosting a Mosaic Portraiture Workshop with Delaine Hackney. What a fabulous way to honor a loved one, be they pet or person. Typical finished size for each student's project is 12" x 14". This fun-filled workshop is designed for beginners and continuing students.

Two Saturdays, 10am - 4pm, Jan. 22 & 29, 2011

Instructor Delaine Hackney helps students create a realistic, texture rich, colorful and whimsical mosaic portrait made with ceramic and glass. Each student's portrait project (based on photo submitted before class) will strongly resemble their subject! Class includes lecture and demonstration on how to translate a photo into a mosaic template, use of basic mosaic tools and techniques. (visithttp://www.delainemosaic.com for more info.)

Registration fee of $180 includes all materials and tools.
Photograph of subject must be submitted at least 10 days prior to class.
Register online at www.HigherFireStudios.com (click on Workshops --> Schedules & Pricing).

Call or email for more details:
Dan Dermer
Higher Fire Clayspace & Gallery
499 South Market Street
San Jose, CA 95113
408.295.5765
info@higherfirestudios.com

The 88 Interactive Art Codes

One of my favorite art projects downtown is the LED light installation at The 88. It happens to be completely dynamic and interactive. Have you ever wanted to change the way a high-rise looks with a push of a button? All you need to do is dial (408) 287-0128, wait for the tone, then enter any 3 digits (including # or *), then press 0 and hang up.

Here are the codes I was able to find online so far:

*25 - Xmas Dance
*14 - Valentine's Day Beat
*88 - The 88
*** - Ship's Wheel
168 - Green with Red Bolt
182 - Happy
193 - Rainbow Chase
194 - RGB Down
197 - Rainbow Sweep
228 - Yellow Sweep
268 - Brackets Out
311 - Cyan Sweep
323 - Red Pulse
341 - Slow Easter Sweep
486 - Arrows Going Down
555 - Green Warp
666 - Bright Red
526 - Red with Blue Sweep
541 - Easter Sweeps
565 - Green Pulse
766 - Snow Falling
919 - Blue Flutter
927 - Mom's B-Day
931 - Rainbow Left to Right

My favorite is one I discovered on my own: *#*  I won't spoil what this one does!

If anyone knows of any others, I would be happy to add them to the list =)

Phantom Galleries: Variety Show & Poetry Slam

The Oversocial MoFo Revue_Jan. 14th

Save the date! The third installment of the Oversocial Mofo Revue is pleased to present the poetry of Laura Yes Yes, musical guest Emerald Hill, and burlesque with a twist from the lovely Laika Fox.

Note that this is the Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWPS) qualifier. That means the highest scoring female poet earns the right to represent San Jose at WOWPS 2011. It also means ALL LADIES get a discount at the door.

More details will be posted soon, or visit the Facebook event page here.

SoFA is Getting a New Gallery in Time for February's First Friday!

Call for Art at new Pho69 in SoFA District

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Phantom Galleries will be coordinating on-going art exhibitions at the newest SoFA District restaurant PHO69 (located next door to Caffe Trieste). The restaurant has been getting great Yelp reviews since their opening last month with special mentions of their contemporary decor, great food and friendly staff. It's just missing your art on their large spacious walls!

We are looking for large scale contemporary art work that will add to their overall ambiance and customer experience. Exhibition duration will be 2-3 months (yet to be determined) and will be a participating venue in the South First Fridays monthly art walks. Art may be available for sale.

Art work will hang from a professional hanging system that the restaurant installed (no screws/nails in the walls.) Hanging areas are: (2) 20' wide x 6' tall and (2) 12' wide x 6' tall.

To be considered for exhibition, please email 5-7 jpgs (sized no larger than 900 pixels wide at 72dpi), with short bio and exhibit history toinfo[at]phantomgalleries.com

We'd like to start their exhibitions by First Friday February 4th, so please respond soon if you're interested.

Feel free to pass this opportunity onto other artists you feel would be a good fit!





For more information, contact us at info@phantomgalleries.com

Wednesday Wishlist: San Jose Marina

Few people know that San Jose actually has direct access to the bay though Alviso. In 2010, we received some water access for small boats and kayaks, but in theory the area could support a full blown marina or port. Imagine one day taking a ferry ride from San Jose to other parts of the bay!

San Jose seen as #1 US Rental Market

There's an interesting article in the San Jose Business Journal saying rental pricing is expected to go up in 2011, and San Jose is expected to be the "best performing" for the year. By best performing, they means rents will likely go up the highest out of all markets in the US. San Jose currently has 97.1% rental occupancy and that is forecasted to rise to 97.7% in 2011. That in turn is expected to drive rents up 9.6% this year. Sounds like it's a good time to put up some shiny new apartment buildings. Click here to read the full article.

BTW, happy 1/11/11 day.

January 2011 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• The City Council asks the California High Speed Rail Authority to continue evaluating an underground option for High Speed Rail and approves a $200,000 visual guidelines study for the aerial bridge option.
• The San Pedro Square Market construction is preceding nicely (should be open late Spring, one of the key buildings is already up).
• To recruit more businesses to San Jose, the city and RDA have launched www.choosesanjose.com, a site filled with success stories and tips for business owners.
• Good Karma now serves Barefoot Coffee at the "Barefoot Karma Bar"
• Parking after 6pm is now $4 (up from $3 last year) for most city owned garages. The lot under 280 in SoFA continues to be the only city lot that is completely free after 6pm every night. It is also easy to get validation for any of the other lots.
• The second generation of downtown residential buildings is coming soon, starting with a 3 high-rise 736 unit project in North San Pedro.
• Downtown Doors is now open for competition and plans are to install new local art on 25 doors such as the ones on the Fairmont.
• Koalas are coming to Downtown San Jose =). To help beautify the area and surprise downtown patrons, 13 metal koala sculptures are being placed on eucalyptus trees. You can already see 4 of them on San Carlos between 2nd and 4th.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

New Incubator in Town: Semantic Seed

San Jose is one of the must entrepreneurial cities on the planet. We have an amazing ecosystem in place to help budding entrepreneurs shape their ideas, find capital, and launch companies that may one day change the world. Every time a new start-up incubator pops up, it strengthens our innovation/start-up community and helps increase our competitive advantage against other cities vying for the founders of tomorrow's Facebooks and Googles. When entrepreneurs are deciding where to launch their ideas, we want them to be here.

Semantic Seed is a new incubator right in the middle of downtown (12 South 1st, Suite 318) whose mission is to become a catalyst of early stage companies to graduate into venture capital-ready companies. The verticals they focus on are Social Media, Search and Discovery, Consumer Infrastructure, Platforms, and Evangelical. For more information on the incubator side of things, click here.

They also have coworking space available which is a really interesting concept. Professionals and entrepreneurs that typically work from home or coffee shops can instead work in an environment with like-minded individuals. You have the cost benefits of sharing office resources with others while being part of a community where innovation is embedded in the culture and you have startups launching all around you. For more information on coworking, click here.

Thanks to Peter Smith from el408.com for the info!