Pellet's Gouache Workshop

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

What's gouache? Where did it come from? Who paints with this stuff? Why use gouache, and not another paint whose name I can pronounce easier? What can I do with it, and how do I get started?

Answers to all this and more at Pellet's Intro to Gouache!

Saturday, February 18th, 2–4pm
$30 for workshop, materials included
For inquiries or to sign up: call 408-293-1200 or email roanvictor@thearsenalsj.com

The Arsenal
1202 The Alameda
San Jose

Is the Future of the Bay Area Moving South?

Earlier this month there was a great post on The Bay Area Real Estate Blog about changes happening in the Bay Area. This is definitely worth a read, full post below:

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from The Bay Area Real Estate Blog by Josh Burroughs

Happy New Year Everyone! Enjoy our special guest blog post below by Jeff Current, President of the AIA Santa Clara Valley (American Institute of Architects). This is an excellent synopsis of real estate opportunities in the Bay Area 2012!
Cheers!
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San Francisco – The City by the Bay! Beautiful & stately it stands as a metropolis that lives, breathes and expresses its unique personality to the world. SF is a fantastic place surrounded by sparkling bay and majestic sea: a metropolis that superimposed an urban grid right over the tops of its hills and valleys as if it were the flat expanse of the LA basin. It is, and will continue to be a hub for culture and creativity in the Bay Area.

…But San Francisco has a cousin down the peninsula; the Santa Clara Valley, that continues to expand and grow and attract a life, culture and energy of its own. The business epicenter of northern California has shifted from the Financial District to Sand Hill Road and from the docks of Fort Mason to the disc drives of Silicon Valley.

Along with this shift in business comes a shift in population. A few years back San Jose passed San Francisco as the 10th largest city in the USA & 3rd largest city in California (behind LA & San Diego). In a new era of sustainability and gasoline prices approaching $5/gal, more people are choosing to live and work and play within a smaller circumference. This is building up the demand for ‘smart growth’ communities and the South Bay is home to quite a few of them. Looking ahead to Santa Clara Valley’s future is both exciting and dizzying.


We could have 3 brand new Sports Stadiums built in the next 5 years with 49ers Football, Earthquakes Soccer and Athletics Baseball venues. These new projects attract hotels, restaurants and retail. Pro sports franchises put their host cities on a world stage as media covers ALL THE ACTION, LIVE!

Our business and social lives continue to be shaped by products conceived and born in our valley. Huge new campuses are being designed by World Class architects for Apple Computer in Cupertino, Facebook in Menlo Park and Google in Mountain View. Apple’s Net Zero Energy “Spaceship” design by Foster + Partners of London will house up to 15,000 employees in a glazed donut ring set in a serene orchard. Google is creating a “LEED Platinum Campus” that not only provides office space for 2,500 to 3,000 employees, but will include housing, retail and entertainment to offer its workforce a home and activities close by.

Transportation is getting a huge makeover as BART presses south into Santa Clara County with a station in Milpitas (Great Mall), 3 stations in San Jose (Berryessa Swap Meet site, Five Wounds neighborhood and Downtown SJ) and Santa Clara (FMC site near Santa Clara University). California High Speed Rail is in the planning stages to provide 2 hour and 7 minute rail service between San Jose’s Diridon Station and LA’s Union Station.


Besides all this, Silicon Valley is attracting major auto-makers like Ford and GM with design and research facilities to connect them to the technologies that drive the future of transportation. The Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce has been working with the City of San Jose on ideas for a port in Alviso to allow for ferry service to once again connect Oakland and San Francisco with the South Bay. This plan could also include a marina with housing and hospitality uses, a Fisherman’s Wharf and restaurants, and recreation activities amidst the restored saltwater marshlands.

Alviso is linked to downtown San Jose by the Guadalupe River which plays host to pedestrian and bike trails and could even bring water taxi service from the Ferry Terminal to downtown (a la San Antonio’s Riverwalk). The Guadalupe River Park is one of the largest urban parks in the United States with opportunity to attract thousands for nature, recreation and sports activities.

This is OUR VALLEY! These projects are in our neighborhoods and districts. As architects and designers in this thriving expanse of humanity and creativity, we need to plug in and get involved in some of these activities. Many of these organizations and projects are searching for visionary individuals to provide leadership for the process of growth and development. I encourage each of you to get involved to whatever degree you can commit.
- Jeff Current, AIA
>Click HERE for more information on AIA Santa Clara Valley!

Wednesday Wishlist: LED Architecture

In the 19th century, San Jose had a massive electric light tower Downtown... a landmark I often wish we managed to keep. Awesome lighting I think is a great way to brand a city, especially one in the middle of Silicon Valley. With the latest generation of LED lights, you can do some pretty incredible things. Below is a cathedral called the Luminarie Cagna in Belgium. This is one of many spectacles in the city in preparation for the 2nd annual "Festival of Lights." Over 200,000 visitors are expected for the event.

As insane as the cathedral looks, the 55,000 LED lights only use about 20 kilowatts of power. Imagine something to this scale in San Jose with interactive elements (think The 88's lighting system).

Source: inhabitat

TWO BUCK Tuesday Today!

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

TWO BUCK Tuesdays is coming up soon, join us for a great night of live art, demos and music!


Shannon Amidon will demonstrate how to make non toxic, eco- friendly oil and egg tempera paint.

Paint By Color! (Interactive)
Collaborate on a pre-drawn original art piece with Lara Sophia


Brande Barrett will demonstrate how to make art into glass pendants.

LIVE ART by: Nik Caesar, 
John Hageman
, Jean Davis, 
Jehoiakim Santos
, Joanne Yada
, Courtney Thiesen, 
Leeonnista, 
Al Preciado & 
students of Bellermine and Notre Dame

MUSIC by: J Swizza

If you'd like to join in as an artist, performer or musician, email us: info@KALEIDGallery.com

Tuesday February 21st, 7-10pm

KALEID Gallery
88 South Fourth Street
Downtown San Jose

Fundraising Saved San Jose's Lake Cunningham Regional Skate Park

One of the largest skate parks in the US has just been saved by parents getting together and raising $30,000 to keep to park open a midst non-stop budget cuts. I have to be honest, I didn't even know this park existed before reading this article, but it looks pretty incredible. Definitely a hidden treasure in San Jose.

At 68,000 sqft, it is the largest skate park in California. It also features the world's largest "cradle," the largest full-pipe feature, and the tallest vertical wall in any skate park. It opened up in 2008, cost $6.4M to build, and now attracts over 40,000 visitors a year. To find out more about the park and it's "Women Skate It Up" contest, just click the source link below.

Source: The Merc

Photolog: Moveable Feast in Willow Glen

Food so nice, you’d sit on buckets for it. Seriously, buckets. They were handy, just flip & now you’ve got a garbage can. Of course, they also had regular seats, but with there being so many people buckets were the next logical choice.

The turn out was huge. There was probably even more people there, if I hadn’t shown up late. The line at Scoops was massive.

I dropped by the Hiyaaa truck for a Chicken Quesadilla while the line was still short. The quesadilla wasn’t bad, the side salad with it was limp.

A friend got some sweet potato fries at Sanguchon. It was different; I have never seen fries served with chopped salad in the mix with cheese. The rest of us were in line at KoJa. I was quite happy with the KoJa short rib burger due to its cleverness & nostalgic effect. The toasted rice buns reminded of when my mother uses a clay pot to cook rice & the rice at the bottom would become toasted & crunchy. I also ordered the Mochimisu, which just seemed to be a tiramisu with mochi chunks.

Overall, this moveable feast wasn’t bad. It was only my first one though. But it’s still a fun event to be out at. It’s a nice change of venue now & again instead of just a loud restaurant.

On a side note I had just finished a photoshoot with Ruak Styling using Oxford flats & so it was nice to see some girls out there wearing Oxford flats.

You can checkout more photos on the tru2lifepix FB page or thesanjoseblog FB

San Jose Stage Company presents Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize Winning Buried Child

San Jose, CA  January 26, 2012

 

Buried Child is the play that launched Sam Shepard’s career as a playwright with the Pulitzer Prize Winning story of the powerful exploration of the American Dream.

 

The San Jose Stage, the Bay Area’s award-winning off-Broadway theatre, holds the opening Gala on Saturday, February 18 at 8 PM with preview beginning Wednesday and Thursday February 15 and 16 at 7:30 PM and Friday, February 17 at 8 PM.

 

This powerful and brilliant play probes deep into the disintegration of the American Dream. Winner of the 1979 Pulitzer Prize, Buried Child is set in a squalid farm home, occupied by a family filled with suppressed violence and an unease born of deep-seated unhappiness, all the while harboring a dark secret.

 

“This ferociously comic play set in the rural economic slowdown of the 1970’, Buried Childseems pertinent to today’s global”, said Artistic Director Randall King, “and reflects the frustrations of the America’s 99%. Buried Child has been called a masterpiece.”

 

Directed by Kenneth Kelleher the cast includes Lyndsy Kalil*, Randall King*, Michael Navarra*, Tim Hart, Stephen Massott, Judity Miller, and Harold Pierce.

 

The Stage is located at 490 South Frist Street at William Street in downtown San Jose’s South First (SoFA) area. Tickets are available through the Box Office by calling 408 283 7142 or online at www.thestage.org between $20 and $45. Visa and MasterCard are accepted, and discounts are available for groups, students and seniors. The theatre is handicapped accessible.

 

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*Member of Actors Equity Association

 

About San Jose Stage Company:

Founded in 1983, San Jose Stage Company is recognized as The Bay Area's Premiere Off-Broadway Theatre, and known for its devotion to new and cutting-edge work and for its commitment to showcasing high-quality local talent. In 1986, San Jose Stage Company set precedence as the first arts organization to negotiate and receive support from the Redevelopment Agency and the City of San Jose when over $500,000 was appropriated in support of the development of a new 200-seat theatre featuring a 3/4-thrust stage, which opened in 1990. Now in its 29th Season, SJSC continues to center its operations in this facility and has successfully produced over 138 productions and premiered 44 new works, including 11 world premieres and is acclaimed for maintaining high artistic standards, investing in local talent and supporting the region’s community of working artists while taking artistic risks. In addition to its core programming, San Jose Stage Company offers five core education and outreach programs and has housed over 200 independent performance groups. San Jose Stage Company is a vital force in the community and has earned a reputation for artistic excellence by providing high-quality, edgy theatrical experiences that engage, educate and provoke audiences. San Jose Stage Company serves an audience base of 30,000 and is recognized as a leader in the arts for a theatre of its size. For more information www.thestage.org  

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the Best City to Find a Job

Here is another reassuring stat that the San Jose economy is picking up steam. Not only is the rate of unemployment dropping precipitously in the San Jose area, but now we're being ranked as the best city to find a job based upon the number of available job openings. Here is the list of how many job postings each city had for each 1000 residents between October and December 2011:

#1 - San Jose: 130
#2 - Washington, DC: 89
#3 - San Francisco: 54
#4 - Boston: 53
#5 - Baltimore: 52
#6 - Raleigh: 50
#7 - Seattle: 42
#8 - Columbus: 38
#9 - Atlanta: 36
#10 - Minneapolis/St. Paul: 35

As you can see, not only were we #1, but we absolutely dominated this list. In fact, there are not enough unemployed people in San Jose to fulfill all of the outstanding job openings based on that stat (there is an issue of qualifying for these jobs, but that is another story). Expect the unemployment rate here to drop substantially over the next 12 months.

Source: Forbes, Dan thanks for the tip!


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